GEDmatch

GEDmatch logo

GEDmatch is an open data personal genomics database and genealogy website based in Lake Worth, Florida.[1] The website gained significant coverage in April 2018 after it was used by law enforcement to identify a suspect in the Golden State Killer case. Other law enforcement agencies started using GEDmatch, making it "the de facto DNA and genealogy database for all of law enforcement," according to The Atlantic's Sarah Zhang.[2]

History

GEDmatch was founded by Curtis Rogers and John Olson in 2010, with its main purpose being to help "amateur and professional researchers and genealogists".[3][4] GEDmatch users could upload their autosomal[5] DNA profile from commercial DNA companies, with or without a GEDCOM file, to identify potential relatives who had also uploaded their profile.[6] Names of participants could be hidden by the use of aliases but each account had to have an email address attached to it.[7] Tools available on the GEDmatch site included sorting results by the closest matches to a user's autosomal DNA, whether one's matches match each other, genetic distance calculator, estimated number of generations to a common ancestor, whether one's parents are related and ethnicity calculator.[7] These tools do not disclose raw genetic data to other users.[8] Tier 1 premium membership included triangulation[9] matching segment search and a custom comparison system.[7] By May 2018, the GEDmatch database had 929,000 genetic profiles, with 7,300 users who paid $10 a month for Tier 1 premium membership.[10]

Usage by law enforcement

  • California law enforcement investigating the Golden State Killer case uploaded the DNA profile of the suspected serial rapist/killer from an intact rape kit in Ventura County[11][12] to GEDmatch.[13] It identified 10 to 20 distant relatives of the Golden State Killer, and a team of five investigators working with genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter[14] used this to construct a large family tree, which led them to identify retired police officer Joseph James DeAngelo as a suspect.[15] Investigators acquired samples of his DNA from items he discarded outside his home, one of which definitively matched that of the killer.[16][17] The process took about four months, from when the first matches appeared on GEDmatch, to when DeAngelo was arrested in April 2018.[12]
  • In September 2018, Roy Charles Waller was arrested for a series of more than ten rapes between 1991-2006 in Northern California after DNA evidence from crime scenes were matched on GEDmatch to a relative.[18]

In cooperation with American law enforcement organizations, Parabon NanoLabs started uploading DNA evidence from crime scenes to GEDmatch in an attempt to identify perpetrators. Parabon said they found matches in 20 cases as of 2018.[19]

  • In 2018, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of William Earl Talbott II, a former truck driver, as a suspect in the double murder of murder of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg.[20] Law enforcement investigators from the state of Washington investigating the murder had worked with Parabon NanoLabs to assemble a digital DNA profile of the suspected murderer and uploaded it to GEDmatch. The website had two relatives who were a close match to the DNA profile, and within three days the genealogist CeCe Moore was able to narrow down the profile to one suspect.[21]
  • Law enforcement officers also used GEDmatch to narrow down suspects to two brothers in the 1986 rape and murder of 12 year old Michella Welch in Tacoma Washington. Gary C. Hartman, one of the brothers, was arrested and charged in June 2018.
  • GEDmatch was also used to identify the murderer of 40 year old Virginia Freeman in Brazos, Texas in 1981, as James Otto Earhart, who had been executed in 1991 for another murder.[23]
  • Spencer Monnet was identified using GEDmatch and arrested in July 2018 for the burglary and rape of a 79 year old woman in Utah, 14 weeks after the crime had been committed.[24]
  • In August 2018, Darold Wayne Bowden was charged with being the Ramsey Street Rapist, a serial rapist who assaulted women in Fayetteville, North Carolina from 2006 to 2008, when DNA samples uploaded to GEDmatch were linked to him.[25]
  • In August 2018, Michael Henslick was arrested for the murder of 22-year-old Holly Cassano in 2009 in Champaign, Illinois, after DNA evidence left at the scene was linked to him through GEDmatch.[26]
  • In September 2018, Marlon Michael Alexander was arrested for a series of rapes in Montgomery County, Maryland between 2007-2011 after DNA samples from the rapes linked the perpetrator through GEDmatch to two relatives, one of whom, a female relative in Georgia, helped the local police identify Alexander.[27]
  • Luke Fleming was arrested in September 2018 for the 1999 rape and murder of Deborah Dalzell in Sarasota, Florida. Using autosomal DNA from his sperm and GEDmatch, Parabon constructed a family tree which pointed to a Florida resident Joseph Fleming, who was dead, but had two living sons, one of whom, Luke Fleming matched DNA from the crime scene.[28]
  • In October 2018 Parabon used GEDmatch to identify Robert Eugene Brashers, a "violent serial rapist and murderer," as the 1990 killer of 28 year old Genevieve Zitricki in Greenville South Carolina,as the rapist of a 14 year old girl in 1997 in Memphis Tennessee and the murder of 12-year old Megan Sherer and her mother 38-year-old Sherri Sherer in Portageville, Missouri in 1998.[29] Brashers had committed suicide in 1999 after he was approached by police officers in Kennett, Missouri. His body was dug up in 2018 and confirmed a match to DNA from the crime scenes.[30]

Two genealogical researchers, Colleen M. Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press started the DNA Doe project in 2017 to identify unknown bodies using Gedmatch.

  • They identified the "Buckskin girl," the body of a girl found dead beside a road in Miami County, Ohio in 1981, as Marcia King using autosomal DNA and GEDmatch in March 2018.[31]
  • They also investigated a man called Joseph Newton Chandler III, who had stolen the identity of an eight-year-old in 1978 and committed suicide in 2002, obtained a sample of his DNA and uploaded it to GEDmatch. The results helped the researchers identify him as Robert Ivan Nichols. This finding was revealed in late June 2018.[32]
  • They found, in April 2018, the identity of "Lyle Stevik" a 25 year old man who had committed suicide in an Amanda Park, Washington motel in 2001.[33]

Data policy

In April 2018, GEDmatch's privacy statement said it "exists to provide DNA and genealogy tools for comparison and research purposes." The statement said that this, "by its very nature, requires the sharing of information. Because of that, users participating in this site should expect that their information will be shared with other users."[4]

After the arrest of the suspect in the Golden State Killer Case, co-founder Curtis Rogers, said he spent weeks trying to figure out the ethics of the situation and legal options to pursue. He concluded that they did not have the resources to require police to obtain court orders to use the website.[24] Rogers said, "It has always been GEDmatch's policy to inform users that the database could be used for other uses, as set forth in the Site Policy," and that "While the database was created for genealogical research, it is important that GEDmatch participants understand the possible uses of their DNA, including identification of relatives that have committed crimes or were victims of crimes."[34] In late May 2018, GEDmatch updated its policy to say law enforcement could use the database to identify perpetrators of a "violent crime", meaning "homicide or sexual assault", or to identify the remains of a deceased individual.[35]

Civil libertarians have said the use of websites such as GEDmatch by law enforcement raise legal and privacy concerns.[36]

References

  1. ↑ Paluska, Michael (April 27, 2018). "Florida open source DNA company helped break 'Golden State Killer' case". ABC Action News. WFTS-TV. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ Zhang, Sarah (May 19, 2018). "The Coming Wave of Murders Solved by Genealogy". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  3. ↑ Emerson, Sarah (April 27, 2018). "Public DNA Database Cracked the Golden State Killer Case, Police Say". Motherboard. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Farivar, Cyrus (April 27, 2018). "GEDmatch, a tiny DNA analysis firm, was key for Golden State Killer case". Ars Technica. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  5. ↑ Russell, Judy G. (August 12, 2012). "Gedmatch: a DNA geek's dream site". The Legal Genealogist. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  6. ↑ Creet, Julia (April 30, 2018). "How cops used a public genealogy database in the Golden State Killer case". The Conversation. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Russell, Judy G. (March 26, 2017). "Updated look at GedMatch". The Legal Genealogist. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  8. ↑ Sills, Jennifer; Greytak, Ellen M.; Kaye, David H.; Budowle, Bruce; Moore, CeCe; Armentrout, Steven L. (30 August 2018). "Privacy and genetic genealogy data". Science. 361 (6405): 857. doi:10.1126/science.aav0330.
  9. ↑ D., D. (August 16, 2016). "DNA Triangulation on GEDMatch". Find My Family Magazine. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  10. ↑ Brown, Kristen V. (May 29, 2018). "DNA Website Had Unwitting Role in Golden State Manhunt". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  11. ↑ Stirling, Stephen (April 26, 2018). "How an N.J. pathologist may have helped solve the 'Golden State Killer' case". NJ.com. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  12. 1 2 Arango, Tim; Goldman, Adam; Fuller, Thomas (April 27, 2018). "To Catch a Killer: A Fake Profile on a DNA Site and a Pristine Sample". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  13. ↑ Lillis, Ryan; Kasler, Dale; Chabria, Anita (April 27, 2018). "'Open-source' genealogy site provided missing DNA link to East Area Rapist, investigator says". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  14. ↑ Murphy, Heather (2018-08-29). "She Helped Crack the Golden State Killer Case. Here's What She's Going to Do Next". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  15. ↑ Jouvenal, Justin (April 30, 2018). "To find alleged Golden State Killer, investigators first found his great-great-great-grandparents". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  16. ↑ Mossburg, Cheri (April 26, 2018). "Police used DNA info on genealogy sites to track down Golden State Killer suspect". CNN. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  17. ↑ Dan Barry; Tim Arango; Richard A. Oppel Jr. (April 28, 2018). "With Taunts and Guile, the Golden State Killer Left a Trail of Horror". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  18. ↑ Stanton, Sam (2018-09-21). "Sacramento police, DA announce arrest of NorCal Rapist suspect Friday morning". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  19. ↑ Aldhous, Peter (May 17, 2018). "DNA Data From 100 Crime Scenes Has Been Uploaded To A Genealogy Website — Just Like The Golden State Killer". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  20. ↑ Jacobo, Julia (May 18, 2018). "Investigators use genetic genealogy to arrest suspect in cold case of 1987 murders". ABC News. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  21. 1 2 Jouvenal, Justin (July 16, 2018). "The unlikely crime-fighter cracking decades-old murders? A genealogist". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  22. ↑ Hawkes, Jeff; Knapp, Tom (June 25, 2018). "Raymond 'DJ Freez' Rowe arrested for 1992 killing of schoolteacher Christy Mirack". LancasterOnline. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  23. ↑ Murphy, Heather (June 27, 2018). "Genealogists Turn to Cousins' DNA and Family Trees to Crack Five More Cold Cases". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  24. 1 2 Whyte, Chelsea (August 11, 2018). "Family-tree forensics". New Scientist. 239 (3190): 20–21. doi:10.1016/s0262-4079(18)31430-1. ISSN 0262-4079.
  25. ↑ Fortin, Jacey (2018-08-23). "In Serial Rape Case That Stumped Police, Genealogy Database Leads to Arrest". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  26. ↑ Shapiro, Emily (2018-08-29). "Genetic genealogy leads to arrest in 2009 murder of 22-year-old mother". ABC News. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  27. ↑ Jones, Erica (2018-09-14). "DNA Database Led Montgomery Co. PD to Cold Case Rape Suspect". NBC4 Washington. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  28. ↑ Augenstein, Seth (2018-09-19). "Genealogy Cracks 1999 Florida Rape and Murder". Forensic Magazine. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
  29. ↑ Gearty, Robert (2018-10-05). "1990s cold case murders in South Carolina, Missouri solved through DNA breakthrough, police say". Fox News. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  30. ↑ Gross, Daniel J. (2018-10-06). "Greenville cold case solved: Jenny Zitricki killed by serial killer Robert Brashers in 1990, police say". The Greenville News. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
  31. ↑ Augenstein, Seth (April 16, 2018). "'Buck Skin Girl' Case Break Is Success of New DNA Doe Project". Forensic Magazine. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  32. ↑ Swenson, Kyle (June 22, 2018). "He stole the identity of a dead 8-year-old. Police want to know what he was hiding from". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  33. ↑ Zilber, Ariel (May 18, 2018). "Mystery figure who committed suicide using alias is finally identified". Daily Mail. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  34. ↑ Gafni, Matthias (April 27, 2018). "Here's the 'open-source' genealogy DNA website that helped crack the Golden State Killer case". The Mercury News. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  35. ↑ Skwarecki, Beth (May 21, 2018). "Public DNA Databases Are Now Crawling With Law Enforcement and We Better Get Used to It". Lifehacker. Gawker Media. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  36. ↑ Balsamo, Michael (April 27, 2018). "Genealogy site didn't know it was used to seek serial killer". Phys.org. Associated Press. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
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