Dear David, My speculation that the path to the killer might have come through one of the conventional DNA analysis providers [FTDNA, Ancestry, 23and Me, etc.] was incorrect. Additional information has now come out to the effect that the track the police used was a separate website, GedMatch, that offers the service of pooling reports from the basic providers and attempting to locate matches. Although I joined GedMatch some time back (so some of my data is there), I don’t really use it for much. GedMatch’s attraction for the investigators was that it’s apparently an open-source volunteer service without much in the way of privacy protections. Jack > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Jack Fallin <jakff@astound.net> > Subject: Digest, Vol 14, Issue 119; DNA and the Golden State Killer > Date: April 27, 2018 at 7:18:43 PM PDT > To: fermanagh-gold@rootsweb.com > > Hey David, > > We can expect to see a lot of this sort of publicity. I would imagine that they searched for Y-DNA matches (perhaps by just signing on using the crime Y-DNA as that of a customer). With matches in hand they likely split it geographically and looked hard at families in roughly the right locations. Still, it was a shot in the dark because, compared with the overall population, very few people have actually tested. > > What the quoted story doesn’t include, as some do, is that they then captured some actual DNA from the suspect and that’s what is going to convict him. The DNA used by the FBI and others is a different test from any offered by the commercial companies. It’s essentially an STR test that tests fast changing locations on autosomal chromosomes. Because the locations change quickly they are poor candidates for the kind of long-range connections genealogists are looking for - but they are precisely what is needed to pinpoint a single individual. > > The quote from a “public defender” (i.e. a defense attorney paid by the state) that “[p]eople who submit DNA for ancestors testing are unwittingly becoming genetic informants on their innocent family,” is just silly - it’s the positive identification through fast changing STR sites that will convict a person, not the slow system genealogists use. Finding criminals like this one benefits all of us, and those who contributed deserve credit for ‘unwittingly’ helping to capture a monster. > > Jack Fallin > Walnut Creek, CA > >> On Apr 27, 2018, at 5:02 PM, fermanagh-gold-request@rootsweb.com <mailto:fermanagh-gold-request@rootsweb.com> wrote: >> >> Today's Topics: >> >> 4. Genealogical Websites, DNA & the Golden State Killer (DSA2003) >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2018 08:01:56 +0800 >> From: DSA2003 <dsa2003@iinet.net.au <mailto:dsa2003@iinet.net.au>> >> Subject: FERMANAGH-GOLD -Genealogical Websites, DNA & the Golden State >> Killer >> To: Fermanagh Gold <fermanagh-gold@rootsweb.com <mailto:fermanagh-gold@rootsweb.com>> >> Message-ID: <5B5405DB9F944887A51FE4CCF35DB377@DavidHP> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" >> >> G’day everyone >> >> Over recent years, there’s been a lot of talk about DNA on FG, so I thought that members may be interested in this story about the recent arrest of the “Golden State Killer” in San Francisco. >> >> < https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/27/golden-state-killer-caught-using-genealogy-website-police-reveal/ <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/27/golden-state-killer-caught-using-genealogy-website-police-reveal/> > >> >> >> >> Regards >> >> David Armstrong >> >> Maylands >> Western Australia >> >> --- >> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. >> https://www.avast.com/antivirus <https://www.avast.com/antivirus> >> >> End of FERMANAGH-GOLD Digest, Vol 14, Issue 119 >> *********************************************** >