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Thread: Another 1970s California murderer nailed thanks to DNA of relatives in geneology databases

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    Another 1970s California murderer nailed thanks to DNA of relatives in geneology databases

    In what might become a powerful tool to solve cold cases, DNA from relatives uploading to geneology companies has been used to catch a 1970s murderer.

    The Golden State Killer was nailed this way last year.

    Now, in 2019, they have arrested 72-year-old James Neal for murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1973.

    The girl, Linda Ann O'Keefe, disappeared walking home from school. There was some DNA on the body, which was preserved and then uploaded to a police database in 2001. However, this yielded nothing, as Neal's DNA was not on file anywhere.

    This year, Newport Beach Police decided to take another crack at it, checking the DNA against the databases of DNA people voluntarily submitted to geneology companies.

    They received a hit through some of Neal's relatives, and started studying that family to figure out a suspect.

    James Neal was in his mid-20s in 1973, and lived in Orange County. Shortly after the murder, he inexplicably changed his name and moved out of state.

    They got a sample of his DNA, and it was a match. He was arrested.



    The girl's parents are already dead. She would be 56-57 years old today if still alive.

    However, she has two living siblings, who were notified of the arrest.

    https://www.denverpost.com/2019/02/2...d-case-murder/

    I wonder how many other 1970s murderers they can nail before these guys croak.

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    They got one exactly like this in Minnesota a week or two ago.

    Murder from 93, completely cold case, but DNA from genealogy website points finger to the guy, and cops follow him until he throws a napkin away that he had used to wipe his mouth.

    https://www.twincities.com/2019/02/1...jerry-westrom/

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    I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to see some scumbag who killed a kid die in prison.

    My buddy’s brother, who I used to stay with in Orange County, is in a SoCal prison for murder. He was thrilled to be turning 55 this year because it’s considered retirement age where they don’t fuck with you and ask you to engage in prison fights and such.

    I hope they make an exception for this guy.

     
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      Lord of the Fraud: satisfying indeed. just so sad the parents can't share the satisfaction

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    Weird gamble should these be publicized.

    You win some "prevention points" of future crimes.

    You lose on solving some past crimes.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gimmick View Post
    Weird gamble should these be publicized.

    You win some "prevention points" of future crimes.

    You lose on solving some past crimes.
    Thing is, they're catching them with the DNA of relatives, not the actual suspects. Say if a sister gets her DNA profile done at 23 and me or whatever, the DNA shows similar, and they can even tell the uploader has the same parents as the killer, so they just try to grab DNA from any known siblings and match it. You can't stop your relatives from using these sites.

    Hey lil sis, don't ever do one of those DNA research things, ok?
    Why not?
    uhhh.....

     
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      gimmick: that is better obv
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    Maryland trying to make this practice illegal:

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...506147871.html

    DC and Maryland are the only two jurisdictions in the US with laws barring using familial DNA in investigations.

    Are there a bunch of politician serial killers or something? What's the down side to this practice? Locking up a deserving piece of shit?

    Bad look imo.
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    Quote Originally Posted by wrenchjockey View Post
    Maryland trying to make this practice illegal:

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...506147871.html

    DC and Maryland are the only two jurisdictions in the US with laws barring using familial DNA in investigations.

    Are there a bunch of politician serial killers or something? What's the down side to this practice? Locking up a deserving piece of shit?

    Bad look imo.
    I'm not a scientist, and I know DNA provides like a 99.99999% match and what not, but I've seen enough true crime shit where DNA samples were contaminated, planted, etc.... I just feel like this opens the door for more innocent people having their lives ripped open and apart.

    Again, not a scientist, but just seems creepy.

    Here in Arizona, they tried to pass a bill that anyone working with the public had to pay a company $250 a year to take a DNA sample and store it. Thankfully that shit got shot down with the swiftness, but the new age is here, and it's only a matter of time until this stuff is implemented worldwide, or at least in any first world nations.

     
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      gimmick: exhibit A and not even saying it's unreasonable

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    Platinum gimmick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wrenchjockey View Post
    Maryland trying to make this practice illegal:

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...506147871.html

    DC and Maryland are the only two jurisdictions in the US with laws barring using familial DNA in investigations.

    Are there a bunch of politician serial killers or something? What's the down side to this practice? Locking up a deserving piece of shit?

    Bad look imo.
    Guessing it's the usual paranoia about the government.

    There's other stuff that would be easier with less paranoia. Like you could have made it harder for businesses to hire illegal immigrants decades ago. Or for illegal immigrants to even stay with relative ease.

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    Has to be some of the most satisfying detective work in the history of the world.

    Catching bad guys who think they got away decades ago, making other bad guys who thought they got away but haven't been caught yet shit their pants, and making any future potential serial killer at least think twice.

     
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      MumblesBadly: Love watching Cold Case!

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    True about the government getting involved can fuck up pretty much anything I guess. Color me naive.
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    Hopefully the 1st thing that happens to him once he gets to the joint is a good old fashioned gang raping

    too bad it took so long to catch this piece of trash but @ least they got him

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    I wouldn't worry too much about these cases being abused due to planted evidence. Nobody planted DNA evidence in the 1970s because it wasn't used to solve crimes then. It didn't come into criminal justice use until the mid-80s, which makes it impressive that DNA samples were saved before that by forward-thinking law enforcement officers.

    In the Golden State Killer case, they had a sole sample to use, despite the numerous murders and rapes. One lab technician in Ventura got a good sample and stored it well in 1980, and it was the only sample in good condition by the time they re-investigated last year.

    Also, they don't just use DNA evidence to bust these guys. They look up other factors which match, and then get the DNA after that to verify.

    For example, the Golden State Killer once cried into a pillow and yelled, "I hate you Bonnie!" during a 1976 rape, which the woman reported at the time. When they found him in 2018, they located a 1970 announcement in a newspaper that he was engaged to a woman named Bonnie, but records showed he never married her. He also lived in all of the areas where the murders took place during those many years, was the proper height of 5'8-5'10, and looked just like one of the composite drawings at the time.

    In this case, the guy lived in Orange County where the murder took place, and he inexplicably moved out of state and changed his name shortly after the killing took place. That plus the DNA match should be good enough.

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    Silver JohnCommode's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Avon Barksdale View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by wrenchjockey View Post
    Maryland trying to make this practice illegal:

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...506147871.html

    DC and Maryland are the only two jurisdictions in the US with laws barring using familial DNA in investigations.

    Are there a bunch of politician serial killers or something? What's the down side to this practice? Locking up a deserving piece of shit?

    Bad look imo.
    I'm not a scientist, and I know DNA provides like a 99.99999% match and what not, but I've seen enough true crime shit where DNA samples were contaminated, planted, etc.... I just feel like this opens the door for more innocent people having their lives ripped open and apart.

    Again, not a scientist, but just seems creepy.

    Here in Arizona, they tried to pass a bill that anyone working with the public had to pay a company $250 a year to take a DNA sample and store it. Thankfully that shit got shot down with the swiftness, but the new age is here, and it's only a matter of time until this stuff is implemented worldwide, or at least in any first world nations.
    While it's always good to maintain a healthy skepticism when it comes to law enforcement, this method is such a great investigative tool. It seems like most evidence planting is of the drugs and weapons type. What's great about this is that it is a completely open search tool, unbiased by any preconceived ideas that investigators may have about the case. I'm curious about this guy's criminal record and if he will be linked to other crimes. A stand alone crime like this seems odd to me.

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    This is what James Neal looked like when he was younger, though the photo is undated.



    I agree with John Commode that there's a good chance he had other victims.

    I don't think it's likely a guy attacks and kills a random 11-year-old girl and then stops committing crimes like that going forward.

     
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      splitthis: Crazy eyes

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    My friend Ging got one of these for Christmas. She isnt crazy about handing her Dna over to who the fuck knows who. I told her to swab her poodles cheek and send it off. My bet is she will have French roots. Anyone who does this shit is a dumbass.
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    Quote Originally Posted by splitthis View Post
    My friend Ging got one of these for Christmas. She isnt crazy about handing her Dna over to who the fuck knows who. I told her to swab her poodles cheek and send it off. My bet is she will have French roots. Anyone who does this shit is a dumbass.
    Who here would love it if Druff does this using his pug and then reports the results on the radio show? I’d be willing to kick in $10 towards that prank. Anyone else?
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