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Global DNA Database: Solving Crimes & Saving Lives

This conference highlights the recognition, awareness, and promotion of DNA databases as powerful tools in solving crimes and saving lives. It showcases the progress made in Argentina, Brazil, Philippines, Texas, India, and Central America. The conference also includes the selection and announcement of the Hit of the Year, featuring top cases from around the globe.

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Global DNA Database: Solving Crimes & Saving Lives

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  1. 2019 Presented by Tim Schellberg, President Gordon Thomas Honeywell, Governmental Affairs HIDS Conference  - Kobe, Japan -  June 18, 2019

  2. DNA Database Hit of the Year Recognition Awareness Larger DNA Programs Solve Crime and Saves Lives

  3. Awareness and Promotion of DNA Databases Causes Action Highlights from the last 12 months ARGENTINA BRAZIL PHILIPPINES ARGENTINA State of Mendoza urging rest of Argentina to move forward Brazil’s government investing heavily in database implementation Police leadership declares database a priority TEXAS, USA INDIA October 11, 2018 - Governor of Mendoza, Argentina makes plea to rest of the nation to implement DNA database programs while hosting international DNA experts CENTRAL AMERICA June 4, 2019 - Philippines National Police leadership hosts a national symposium to promote national DNA database legislation Texas passes arrestee testing legislation. Texas will become USA’s second largest database Databases advancing throughout the region Legislation positioning to pass Parliament soon

  4. Selecting the Winning Case Criteria: Cold hit against a reference database; and Hit or a conviction within the last 60 months GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT Sent to Forensic DNA and Police Communities 70 Cases from 20 Countries Top 17 cases presented by GTH to 7 judges 7 Finalists selected, discussed and evaluated by judges ONLY ONE VOTE SEPARATED THE FIRST AND SECOND PLACE CASE

  5. 2019 Hit of the Year Judges Peter Gill Professor of Forensic Genetics, University of Oslo Hospital Based in United Kingdom Stephanie Stoiloff Commander, Forensic Services Bureau Miami-Dade Police Department Miami, USA Simon Walsh National Manager Specialist Operations Australian Federal Police Canberra, Australia Miguel Marino Director, Provincial DNA Database, Public Ministry of Mendoza Mendoza, Argentina Rashed Alghafri Deputy Director of Specialized Forensics Evidence Department Dubai Police Dubai, United Arab Emirates Nor Aidora Saedon Director, Forensic DNA Division Center of Analysis for Forensic Service Department of Chemistry Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Rock Harmon (retired) Senior Deputy District Attorney Alameda County District Attorney’s Office California, United States

  6. Case Submission Highlights: Rapid DNA is already having an impact 2018 Assault – Orange County, California • Rapid DNA used on blood found at assault • Within a few hours of crime, Rapid profile hits to suspect in local Orange County District Attorney’s Office database • Arrested suspect the same day Other Emerging Applications of Rapid DNA • DNA at booking • Suspect elimination • Local volunteer databases

  7. Case Submission Highlights: Genealogy DNA Searching “Hits” in the USA 14 of 70 cases were hits to the genealogy database Suspects identified in over 60 unsolvable cases in one year SIGNIFICANT IMPACT: A big win for public safety, but not without controversy Future path uncertain as policies are debated and refined • Young couple murdered and sexually assaulted • CODIS searching for decades with no results • DNA entered into Genealogy database in 2018 • Hit to second cousin – Suspect identified through genealogy research within days 1987 Murder of two Canadians near Seattle, USA Stolen Identity Opens up Missing Persons Case – Ohio, USA • Man commits suicide in 2002 – fake identify discovered. In 1987, he stole identity of boy killed in 1945 • Cremated: However, preserved biopsy from 1990s was used to find degraded DNA sample • 10 ng sample used to compare to genealogy database • 3000 hour genealogy effort

  8. United Kingdom Recreates RFLP Case Submission Highlights: Going backwards on DNA technology to move forward & The Impact of Retroactive Database Policy • 1988: Home invasion, Rape – Nottingham, UK • RFLP used to test rape evidence - most of the evidence consumed • 2014: Enough DNA left to get low copy number STR profile • Suspect identified in UK database through STR search, but low copy number policy prevents admissible match • Eurofins recreates Alec Jeffrey’s lab at Leicester University so RFLP reference sample could be created and compared to RFPL casework Sir Alec Jeffreys Other USA states impacted by Nevada retroactive database policy Gypsy Hill case causes Nevada to change its retroactive database policy in 2016 • 1984: Four murders – Colorado, USA • Undetected murderer in Nevada prison since 1984 for unrelated crime • New Nevada retroactive database policy allows hits to Colorado murders 1976: Gypsy Hill Serial Murders (5 dead), San Mateo, CA • The undetected murderer in Nevada prison for unrelated crime • Transferred to Oregon Prison in 2014 • Oregon has retroactive policy. DNA collected and hits to CA murders, and a Nevada murder • Women exonerated for Nevada murder

  9. Case Submission Highlights Mother sexually assaulted and murdered during evening run in Budapest park 2013 • Two male DNA profiles found: (1) faint blood stain on body; (2) touch DNA on rope used as murder weapon • No hits in Hungary or Interpol database • 1,700 mass screen database created • Familial search hits to sister of blood stain profile, but brother died before murder • Blood stain profile came from autopsy table transfer • Hit to rope profile in 2018 when murderer was convicted of unrelated burglary placed into Hungarian database Contamination in Hungary Ends Well Terrorism in Bahrain DNA Human Trafficking Programs Work Guangdong Province, China Check your old suspects Tacoma, USA Detective Victim 1986 murder - 2018 hit Tenacious pursuit by police of DNA wish list 2017 Terrorism - 2018 Hit Touch DNA on Explosive Materials Women reunited with family after being trafficked for 26 years

  10. The Seven Finalists Massachusetts, USA Dubai Austria New York, USA South Africa Brazil California, USA

  11. 6th & 7th Place Cases 7TH PLACE 1994 Murder of Three Young Women Suffolk County (New York), USA - Hit in 2013 • Three young women working as prostitutes murdered • Task force created – Intense investigation • 20 years later, Tim Bittrolff was put into the New York database for violating a protective order, a misdemeanor. A partial match suggested the killer was closely related to Tim Bittrolff. • DNA recovered from garbage of John Bittrolff, brother of Tim. • Direct match to murder scene DNA • Convicted July 2017 6TH PLACE 1989 Murder of Angela Fritsch Steyr, Austria - Hit in 2014 • 81 year old woman; sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten • Vaginal swabs tested in 1989. No results. All evidence consumed • Cold case review in 2013: Touch DNA advancements cause police to look at crime scene photos in new light • Touch DNA from bra and mixture technology produce hit to a prisoner due to be released for other crime in just a few weeks • Immediately confessed to crime

  12. 5th Place Case Sexual Assault and Murder of Jane Britton (1969) Cambridge (Boston), Massachusetts Hit in 2004 and 2017 • Degraded biological sample from 1969 preserved; first tested for DNA in 1998 • Partial DNA matches to multiple people in 2004 when Massachusetts turned on the database. Matches were not conclusive • Evidence retested in 2017 and found full Y-STR profile, but not a useful STR profile • Y-STRs compared to all suspects, including 2004 non-conclusive matches • Michael Sumpter, a deceased convicted felon was one of the partial matches. Retrieved Y-STR from Michael Sumpter’s CODIS reference sample • Michael Sumpter’s Y-STR matched the crime scene Y-STR profile, but investigators needed to exclude relatives that lived in Boston area during the time of the murder • Found brother; he was excluded • November 2018 – District Attorney declares case solved

  13. 4th Place Case 2011-2015 Serial Rapist of 30 Women and ChildrenCape Town, South Africa Hit in 2015 • Serial rapists terrorized the Western Cape region of South Africa for five years • DNA collected in 26 cases and put into crime scene database. All cases matched one unknown offender • The criminal offender law did not begin implementation until 2015 • SikhangeleMki convicted of assault and went to prison in 2014 • On the day they took his DNA and entered it into the database, Mki’s DNA hit to 26 of the rapes • Sentenced to multiple life terms in prison

  14. 3rd Place Case 2012-2015 Serial Rapist of up to 50 Women and Children Central Brazil Hits in 2018 and Ongoing DNA Legislation Starts to Show its Value in Brazil • Serial rapists constantly moving throughout central Brazil to commit many sexual assaults • In 2015, Célio Rodrigues placed into database for arrest in rape of a dental assistant in a dental office in the state of Rondônia. • DNA sent to Mato Grosso State to complete testing and matched to four rapes • Mato Grosso State uploads to National Database • and hit on three rapes from state of Amazonas • February 2018 – two more hits when Goiânia State uploaded rape kit DNA • Government initiative to test rape kits, which is expected to identify more victims of Célio Rodrigues • Currently suspected in 50 cases, perhaps many more

  15. TOP TWO FINALISTS California, USA Dubai, UAE

  16. 2019 DNA Hit of the Year California, USA

  17. 2nd Place Case 25 May 2016 Headless and handless woman found in Dubai Desert Who am I? Phenotype SNP testing suggested East Asia/Filipino Ancestry Focused on 37 recent Filipino missing persons cases Developed mass screen DNA missing persons database from 322 samples Led to hit, Manormeeta Dadi

  18. 2nd Place Case Male DNA found on Manormeeta’s clothing – No matches to UAE database Y-STR Haplotype on the global Y-STR database indicated origin of Filipino population Who killed me? Investigation then focused on Filipinos in UAE known to the victim Mass screen of 533 Filipino males Nephew of Manormeeta confessed to killing her due to financial debt

  19. 1973 - 1986 “The Golden State Killer” Case 13 Murders and more than 50 Sexual Assaults California, USA Hit 2018 HIT OF THE YEAR

  20. HIT OF THE YEAR Three separate crime sprees linked to one offender Visalia Ransacker 1973 - 1975 120 Burglaries 1 murder East Area Rapist 1976 – 1979 50 Sexual Assaults 2 murders Original Night Stalker 1979 – 1986 10 murders Sexual Assaults

  21. HIT OF THE YEAR Golden State Killer– Terrifying Predator Psychopathic Sophisticated Planning Taunting Stalking

  22. HIT OF THE YEAR Photo credit: McNamara, Michelle, “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” Pub. Feb. 2018, HarperCollins

  23. HIT OF THE YEAR The DNA path of the Golden State Killer Case East Area Rapist Original Night Stalker DNA Links cases to one offender Brother of victim advocates for large California DNA database 2000 - 2004 CODIS/Interpol searching Began in late 1990’s No hits 2004 - Proposition 69 passes requiring all felons arrested to provide DNA After two decades of trying, government DNA database searching fails to produce a suspect California becomes 5th largest DNA database in the world Y-STR, voluntary samples Phenotype SNPs likely tried No success Familial searching No useful matches Despite larger database no, matches in CODIS

  24. HIT OF THE YEAR Golden State Killer Investigators Introduce the World to Genealogy Database Investigation “Plan B” Consumer Genealogy Databases Police/Crime Scene DNA Police/Crime Scene DNA Match to Distant Relatives Genealogy Activities to Find Suspect

  25. HIT OF THE YEAR Golden State Killer Arrest 24 April 2018 Case Publicity Creates a Cold Case Arrest Phenomenon Across the United States Over 60 cases have identified suspects with genealogy searching since the Golden State Killer case arrest

  26. Acknowledgments Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County District Attorney Greg Totten, Ventura County District Attorney Kirk Campbell, Investigator Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office California Law Enforcement Investigators DNA Hit of the Year Judges Miguel Marino Director, Provincial DNA Database Public Ministry of Mendoza Mendoza, Argentina RashedAlghafri Deputy Director of Forensics Specialized Evidence Department, Dubai Police Dubai, United Arab Emirates Datuk Hussein Omar Khan Nor AidoraSaedon Director, Forensic DNA Division Center of Analysis for Forensic Service Department of Chemistry Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Rock Harmon (retired) Senior Deputy District Attorney Alameda County District Attorney’s Office California, USA Kyle Schroeder Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs Hanna Jones Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs Thermo Fisher Scientific Peter Gill Professor of Forensic Genetics University of Oslo Hospital Based in United Kingdom Stephanie Stoiloff Commander, Forensic Services Bureau Miami-Dade Police Department Miami, USA Simon Walsh National Manager Specialist Operations Australian Federal Police Canberra, Australia

  27. Investigative Genetic Genealogy… Revolutionizing Crime Solving

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