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A comment on Open-source DNA website GEDmatch helped crack Golden State Killer case. Parent comment

Re:Open-source DNA website GEDmatch helped crack Golden Stat... by tathougies on Saturday April 28, 2018 @12:44AM (#16946101)
They never collected the rapist's family's DNA. All the FBI has ever had access to was the rapists DNA (from his semen). They matched it using a service that his relative opted into. The rapist has no right to control relative's DNA.
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Re:Open-source DNA website GEDmatch helped crack Golden Stat... by pfdietz on Saturday April 28, 2018 @10:39AM (#16947830)
And I believe it wasn't even a close relative. DNA matching can identify relatives many generations separated from someone, by finding stretches of DNA with the same set of specific mutations (haplotype) that have not yet been broken by recombination.

What this means is that getting just a small fraction of the population into this database will enable it to provide leads for any DNA sample.

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