How They Caught The Golden State Killer

This video includes a discussion of serious crimes that some viewers may find disturbing, so I wanted to let you know up front, but I think it's necessary to talk about these crimes in some detail for reasons that will become apparent. In the small town of Visalia, California, in the mid-1970s, one of the most prolific criminals in the

state

began. He repeatedly broke into homes and stole small items such as cash, coins and jewelry. He was nicknamed the Plunderer of Visalia, but soon his crimes increased. -Six months later, in 1976, he moved to Sacramento and over the course of the next three years, he moved throughout Northern California committing numerous sexual assaults, more than 50 sexual assaults. -Here

they

called him the rapist of the eastern area. - The police say to close it tightly.

The infamous east Sacramento rapist may still be in town. -And then in 1979, he moves to Southern California, starts in Santa Barbara and starts killing. And he was known as the original night stalker in Southern California. - Known as the East Area Rapist and the original Night Stalker, these were meticulously planned brutal crimes that spanned numerous California counties between 1976 and 1986. - Police believed that all of these crimes were committed by the same person now known as the State

golden

.

killer

. How did it become known that these were committed by the same person? - The researchers trusted MO.

MO, modus operandi is basically how a criminal will commit a crime. -He was wearing some type of mask or hood. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. - The Golden State Killer had a very distinctive modus operandi. What he would do is break into a house with a gun, a house with a man and a woman. He would tie them up and tell the man I'm going to put plates in your back. If I hear those plates move, I will kill your wife and then I will kill you, take the wife to another room and sexually assault her.

Then he would walk around the house for as long as he wanted, eating, stealing things, stealing little things or whatever and then he would leave. - How did

they

not catch him based on fingerprints? -Well, he didn't leave any fingerprints on him. He always wore a mask. He always wore gloves. He was a criminal who did everything possible to avoid being

caught

. - The Golden State Killer has been linked to at least 12 murders, 50 rapes and a series of robberies throughout California. -Very well, how is he doing? - How are you? - Good. - That's why we supply DNA sequencing solutions to forensic laboratories that process DNA from crime scenes.

At a crime scene, there's typically less than a nanogram of DNA left and it's usually degraded, right? Then it breaks down. - Why is there so little? at a crime scene? One nanogram? - Yes. - That's crazy. -Yes.-It's no coincidence that it stops in 1986. 1986 is when the first DNA case of a murder case is actually solved with DNA and he, I think he's following that and he's saying, you know what? What I'm doing here, I'm leaving my DNA. I can not do this anymore. - Investigator Paul Holes tracked the Golden State Killer for decades. -He couldn't explain DNA technology and that was really his big mistake.

That was the critical error. He left his DNA all over California. And it turns out that in three of the cases, he had three sexual assault kits and that's where I got the DNA of the Golden State

killer

from Northern California. - But having the DNA of the unknown killer was not enough. They needed to compare it with a known sample. In 1990, the FBI began work on what would become a national genetic database. It primarily stores DNA profiles of convicted criminals and persons of interest. It's called the combined DNA index system, or CODIS for short. In each of your cells, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes, one from your mom and one from your dad.

And in particular places on some chromosomes, there are short sections of DNA that repeat like A A T G, A A T G, A A T G, etc. These are called short tandem repeats or STRs and different people have different numbers of repeats. Forensic laboratories produce STR profiles by counting the number of repeats at each location. Initially, there were only 13 places in the DNA where STRs were counted, but in 2017 this was expanded to 20. It seems to me that is not that much information. - It is not. - But the chances of two people having exactly the same number of repetitions in all places are incredibly small.

The CODIS database now contains more than 18 million STR profiles. - The Golden State Killer's DNA profile has been in the FBI-run national DNA database called CODIS since 2001 and has been searched ever since with no results. We did a search on Interpol, trying to search DNA databases from other countries thinking well, maybe he came from outside the country, so after all this time we still haven't been able to identify him and obviously we didn't get any results. - But genetic sequencing technology was advancing rapidly. - The genome project was completed. Since 1986, scientists have been mapping and sequencing the three billion nucleotides contained in the human genome.

It is anticipated that private companies will soon begin offering genetic testing directly to consumers and provide much more genetic data than is found in the CODIS database. I traveled to Houston, Texas to visit the Family Tree DNA headquarters. - We will go to the laboratory and start talking about the life cycle of a sample. There you go. - Thank you. These samples, what are they? - So they are cheek cells. They just scrape the inside of their cheek, put a cap on it, and give it back to us. - It's like a robot ballet. - Yes, for DNA extraction, we have to remove all the protections that are on the DNA and just separate it so we can run tests on it. -Instead of looking at 20 places on his DNA, these tests examined between 700 and 800,000. - The Family Finder test is based on what is called a microarray and this is what a microarray looks like.

Each of those boxes is an individual. We can accommodate 24 people here. And within that box there are approximately 710,000 positions of your DNA that we are measuring and obtaining data for. - 710,000? - Yes, and they are called scissors. - Wait, it's like 710,000 individual bases, like ATGC? - Yes. - For each person, 24 can be measured on that single chip? - Correct. - The human genome consists of three billion bases. All people share about 99.9% of exactly the same DNA, which means that, on average, only about three million differ from one person to another. These individual letter changes are known as single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs.

So there are a lot of little bits of DNA? - Yes, so what we have is a short fragment of DNA that is specific to a SNP. It is a position in the genome where we know there may be a difference. - Well. Is there an example of a simple SNP that confers some type of? - Actually blue eyes are a unique base change. - Actually? - Yes. - So everyone who has blue eyes has this letter change? - mm hmm - You can see that it is now starting to scan the first frame. - The results of your 710,000 SNPs can tell you about your geographic ancestry or possible medical conditions, but they can also quantify how related you are to another person.

The genetics of having a child are a bit like cutting up two decks of cards. The resulting deck will share approximately half of its cards with each parent and there will be long sequences of cards that will match identical sequences in each parent. Now, if this deck has a child, then their offspring will share only about a quarter of their cards with each grandparent and the sections of identical cards will be shorter, and that's how it works with DNA. The more closely you are related to someone, the more DNA you share and the longer the blocks of identical DNA.

But to compare the DNA of two people, it is not necessary to read every letter. Clippings are spread throughout the DNA approximately every 2,000 bases. So if you find long sections where the clippings match, you can bet that the DNA in between is identical too. By comparing hundreds of thousands of clippings scattered throughout the DNA, you can see where these identical blocks begin and end, and therefore how much total. DNA is shared. - Everything that is highlighted in blue is where I share DNA. - With your father? - With my father that is exactly what you expect because I should share DNA with him everywhere because he gave me 50% of my DNA.

So this is a second to third cousin. I have no idea who this person is. And you can see here, we're definitely not as closely related as my dad and I because where the blue is, those are the only regions of the chromosome where we share DNA. - We all know that these genetic tests can help identify our relatives, but the question is, can the same be done with law enforcement databases? Can you identify family members using the CODIS database? - You can and is only limited to first and second order relatives. - That means if I'm looking for the Golden State Killer, I'm looking for his father, his brother or his son.

We did it again and again without success. - Why is it so limited? - Because you only have 23 loci. If you want to do a proper parentage analysis, you need to evaluate more points in that genome to see how related they really are. - We know the answer is behind a closed door and the answer is behind the closed door of 23andMe and Ancestry.com. We know that they have millions of profiles. Someone related to him, a second cousin, I suppose, would be there. - Sure. - And that was very difficult to face. You know, the answer is there behind this closed door. - Authorities can't search the 23andMe and Ancestry.com databases, but fortunately for researchers, there was another way.

A separate website called GEDmatch was created to allow people to connect with family members. You can upload the raw data from any of the large genetic testing companies and search for matches. - So when we initially searched the GEDmatch database, our top hits are third cousins, which means they shared, you know, our top hit, I think they shared about 1% of the DNA. There is very little DNA that is shared, but that is a starting point. And, in theory, by taking several of these individuals who share DNA and building their family trees using traditional genealogy and documents from public sources such as census records, obituaries, newspaper articles, and findagrave.com, you build this family tree until they get two of these relatives. of the

golden

state

killer, you make them cross paths where now you see, oh, they have, they share great-great-grandparents together.

Theoretically, the Golden State Killer is a descendant of those same great-great-grandparents. So once I identify that common ancestor, I'm now identifying each descendant of those great-great-grandparents and this becomes a huge process. In the 1840s, people usually had 15 children. You have to identify each of those children and then all of their children and then all of their children. Now we have this family tree that grows exponentially. -How wide did that tree become? - I think we had more than 1000 people in that family tree but we knew a lot about our attacker. We were sure he was born between 1940 and 1960.

We knew he was a white man. We knew he was between 5'8" and 5'10". You know, he's in California. He's in Sacramento in 1976. He's in Southern California in the '80s and we basically narrow it down to about five guys and then it's just investigations. -With a suspect within reach, this spring they followed him to a Sacramento-area Hobby Lobby store and took a DNA sample from the door handle of his car. Days later, investigators recovered another DNA sample from discarded tissue that matched DNA evidence left at one of the crime scenes. - California investigators say DNA evidence led them to one of the country's most notorious serial killers.

Former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested yesterday and is believed to be the so-called Golden State Killer. - For 44 years, countless researchers have worked on it and have not been able to solve it. In four and a half months, a team of six people was able to discover who the Golden State Killer was and that was Joseph DeAngelo. - After the Golden State Killer was identified, the floodgates opened and we saw every week that not only individual killers were identified, but multiple killers, serial killers, from cases from the '70s and '80s. - Because, There have been over 70 cases that they have resolved this way and they continue to resolve them at a fairly regular rate and I think...

Presumably that rate will just increase. - Yes. - And there will be more because it is working and we are going to help find these people. - But the scary thing is that in the United States there are 100,000 unsolved murders with DNA. There are more unsolved cases, but those with DNA are estimated at around 100,000. There are approximately 650,000 sexual assaults, unsolved cases with DNA. - With DNA? It seems like a real paradigm shift. - Es. Multiple police agencies havesaid that this is the most revolutionary tool they have had since the adoption of fingerprinting. - With traditional DNA, it was necessary to obtain a sample from the actual individual.

It's a one-to-one type of process. And then these criminals who say they've committed crimes and they haven't been

caught

and they're just living their life and they think, well, they've never taken my DNA. I may have left DNA in the case I committed in 1975, but they never got my DNA, they won't find me. But now we don't have to depend on that. Someone distantly related to that criminal has put his DNA in a database and he has to start getting nervous because that is out of his control. They cannot account for a third cousin or what that third cousin is doing.

And then they start to get nervous. And I've wondered how many of these individuals recognize that law enforcement is eventually going to come knocking on their door as a result of a third cousin putting his DNA in the database? -Each person who uploads their information into a database illuminates the identities of hundreds of people around them, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. A DNA ancestry study found that the average person in the UK has 175 third cousins ​​and it doesn't end there. One person's DNA will be shared by hundreds of people who have not yet been born.

Children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins ​​removed once or twice. Realistically, each person shares identifiable DNA with nearly 1,000 people from the past and future. Therefore, it does not take many people to upload their data to reveal the identities of all the people living in a country. In 2018, a study found that using an existing database of just 1.3 million people, they could identify 60% of all Americans of European descent. And they estimated that with a database containing only 2% of the population, a third cousin or closest match could be found in 99% of cases. - DNA storage is one of the things we have that is really unlike anything else.

If you look inside, the temperature is -20 degrees Celsius. - Does that keep DNA in good condition for a long time? - We have DNA samples here that are probably about 15 years old. - How many samples are stored there? - Just over 2 million. - Wow. - Yes. So the capacity is just over 2 million. - Two million people's DNA stored in this small room? - Correct. - Wow. As of 2021, more than 30 million people worldwide have undergone direct-consumer genetic testing, most of which is done through Ancestry and 23andMe, which do not currently work with authorities, but Family Tree DNA Yeah. - If you ask Americans, should we have a national database that everyone can log into? - Like your DNA? - Yes, because of your DNA and your name, most Americans will be somewhat uncomfortable or potentially very uncomfortable with that.

But we are sleepwalking towards that stage. - There are some people who are concerned about privacy. If someone chooses or decides that they do not want their results to be used for police matches, they can opt out. - I am concerned that genetic information will be used to discriminate against someone. - The most important thing is health insurance. I'm concerned that if you have someone's DNA profile and some laws are made, it falls into the wrong hands and they say this person has a propensity, he's headed toward Parkinson's, he's headed toward this, he's headed toward that, and then he qualifies. rocket.

That's the biggest place I see as a privacy concern. - Once your genetic information is available, it is available. It's not like a credit card where you can get a new one. Yes, you are giving away something that you don't know what it can do. - Well, yes, our information is not ours in the first place. - Good. - Our information is shared. - Yes with your relatives. - Yes. - And even though you may be adverse to this kind of thing, if they've already done it, if so, you know, in some way you're out there. - In today's society, there are clearly two sides.

There are those who feel very comfortable with having their genome available to search for for law enforcement purposes and there are others who do not feel comfortable at all and that is okay. - The problem is, of course, that those people who do not want theirs to be searchable could have their DNA uploaded without realizing it by their relatives. You know what I mean? So, if I don't want the authorities to look for my DNA but my sister uploads hers, - Yes. - It's almost as good as if I did it myself. - At this time, Family Tree DNA's policy is that we only accept samples from authorities under certain circumstances.

It has to be a sexual assault, identification of remains, DNA recovered from the scene of a homicide. And we also kidnap children. So if there is a kidnapped child and there is DNA evidence, we will process the DNA so they can try to find out who the kidnapper is. Those are the only cases we will accept. - I understand. - Unfortunately, now GEDmatch has turned off the switch and GEDmatch has said that it is not necessary for everyone to search for their information without subscribing. - Correct. -Was that GEDmatch decision a direct result of this Golden State Killer case? - No, it was not. - No. - Do you want to tell the story? - You know, it had to do with a Utah case. - Where an old woman played the organ in a church. -And there was an individual who broke in and attacked her. - But it was not a sexual assault, it is a serious crime. -I think she believed it, tried to strangle her and left her for dead.

I think he thought she was obviously dead and left. I think the police approached GEDmatch because they were worried he would commit other crimes. - But GEDmatch's terms of service said they would only help authorities in cases of rape or homicide. -Her problem was that she didn't die. - Why if she died then? -If she died she would have met the conditions and then they would have uploaded the sample because she complied with the terms of service and everything. - So what happened? Did they not accept that case? - They did it. - They later captured the individual in that search they carried out on GEDmatch. - But people within the world of genealogy had their passions and calls saying that this tool is outside of what should be used and they ended up putting a lot of pressure on GEDmatch. - They pressed the switch because they were scared. - But at the end of the day, it was a violation of the terms of service.

And I think it ultimately led to something good. Everyone was reset and then everyone can log back in. - GEDmatch was later sold to Verogen. - I can tell you that today a new user, when they register on GEDmatch, about 73% of them register to allow the authorities to conduct searches. We're pretty happy with that. - Yeah, I mean, it's a high number. - It's a high number. - And it suggests that people want that innocence. -How many second cousins ​​or third cousins ​​do you have now? You know what I mean? You don't know many of them.

Without even knowing it, you are helping justice. You're helping a victim's family get some peace, not closure, but some peace, and why not? - They receive a response. - In part, you could argue that if you want to be an activist who helps catch criminals, one of the best things you can do is encourage everyone you know to get tested and included in the database. - Correct and you know, there are millions of people who have carried out tests in other companies that do not work with the authorities. And if they want to help, all they have to do is download their raw data and upload it for free to our database. - I absolutely believe in a person's right to privacy.

But I also absolutely believe that we have the right not to be murdered or sexually assaulted, or that will be part of violent crimes being committed against us. There has to be an equal balance. -That scale of my privacy has been taken because a third cousin has been identified versus a mother who is talking about her daughter having been murdered, that scale is like that. - We are at a point where, in many ways, technology has surpassed the laws. I truly believe that ultimately this tool and all the concerns related to it will likely end up before the nation's Supreme Court and there will be a decision.

My final message: If you are going to make a decision, if there are going to be laws that restrict the use of the law by authorities, make sure you make an informed decision and don't assume what is based on your DNA, your genetics and its laws. law enforcement because it really isn't what you think it is. - I have to keep a couple million people happy to have access to identities, in a sense. - In a sense, right? - Of millions, of hundreds of millions of people. - Good. - And that's a pretty selective sample. They are people who are willing to give up their information.

Give up, yes. - Find your ancestors. - Yes. - There may be many others who are militantly private but do not have a say in the decision of whether they will be searched through that person or not. - It's true, that's the choice you make. - That's the choice you don't make. - It is a choice that is not made, but it is also the choice that we have to make as a society, what is that balance. There will always be winners and losers in my mind, right? And I don't want to use losers in a negative sense, but in a decision at the end of the day, in my opinion, you have to balance public safety with public privacy. - Is DuckDuckGo, is it good? - I use it.

I'm a little paranoid. I guess it's not supposed to track you that much, but yeah. - I've been working on this video for a couple of years, so I really want to thank Brilliant for sponsoring it. I appreciate his willingness to support me in tackling complex and important stories. Brilliant is a website, an application that teaches you all kinds of basic concepts in an interactive and deep way, if you want to learn more about DNA or solve mysteries with deductive reasoning, I would recommend their courses on biology and computational logic. Check out this interactive logic puzzle.

You have to figure out if the light is on or off, knowing that some of the characters may be lying to you. And instead of just telling you the solution, Brilliant lets you try different settings and discover the answer for yourself.