Despite recent uproar surrounding the use of genealogy sites to help solve cases, Dr Ray Wickenheiser told The Sun that criminals have 'no right to privacy'
CHILLING cold cases around the world are finally being solved with at-home DNA tests, a forensics expert has revealed.
Thanks to the kits, partnered with AI and algorithms, blood-thirsty killers are being caught at rapid rates via family members who send their DNA off to discover their ancestry or find long-lost relatives.
DNA testing, otherwise known as genetic genealogy, is one of the techniques that was used to help find the accused University of Idaho quadruple homicide killer.
A knife sheath found in the apartment where the killings took place in 2022 was linked to accused 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger through genetic genealogy.
A trial date has still not been set in the case against him.
And a notorious 27-year-old murder mystery was recently solved after an Ancestry DNA test resulted in an arrest.
TikToker Jenna Rose Gerwatowski, 23, revealed in a video that a DNA test led to her grandmother's arrest in an open cold case.
An actress also found a suspect in a cold case murder of teenage sweethearts using a DNA ancestry website.
Even the Golden State Killer was found after genetic experts and investigators found and studied his third cousins.
Then other information like genealogical records, approximate age and crime locations helped to narrow the search down to the sick murderer, his real name Joseph James DeAngelo.
He terrorised the state of California for more than two decades - earning other monikers such as The Night Stalker, The Visalia Ransacker, and The East Area Rapist.
Dr Ray Wickenheiser is a recent retiree from the New York State Police Crime Laboratory System where he has been incredibly active in the forensic investigative genetic genealogy department.
He told The Sun that cops are moving away from the usual law enforcement databases that store DNA, and trying new routes to catch the world's most heinous criminals.
At-home DNA tests have become an extremely effective way to track down those who have spent years hiding away from serving time for their crimes.
Dr Wickenheiser explained how normally using law enforcement databases, cops do what is called "direct matching".
This is where if somebody is in your "national DNA index" and cops also have DNA from the crime scene, they're able to "look for exactly that individual".
But cases have turned cold and victims have not had justice served as an exact match is needed to find those in the police database.
And Dr Wickenheiser said if it doesn't match, "well, you're pretty much done".
A lot of criminals would not be in the cop's database if they're first-time offenders, nor their relatives - leading experts to publicly access information on genealogy sites.
While there has been uproar in the past on how ethical the method is, Dr Wickenheiser argues that using the sites is justified as those directly involved in a crime have "no right to privacy".
He said: "Genealogy is one of the biggest hobbies in the US and probably around the world.
"People want to know where they came from, who their family tree is. It's just a very interesting thing.
"So using essentially what's already in place for a hobby enterprise, and it's the same concept - I'm searching for a long lost relative. I have this profile that's at the crime scene. I want to find a related individual because that's a known person.
"And then through building the family trees, I can figure out who this unknown person is.
"So when you have unknown DNA at the crime scene, there's no right to privacy for that individual. The existing profile we put into that DNA database, we didn't get a direct match.
"Now, what we're doing is using the existing tools of genealogy, searching for a long lost relative, and then using those known people to build a tree, to then try to get back to who could this person be, who was at the scene of the crime, do they have the right age, the right sex, the right location.
"We're using existing tools, but we're applying it in a new way."
There are currently two sites which, with informed consent, put forward kit users' DNA to law enforcement - GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA.
Both sites also allow users to transfer DNA data from other sites like Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe into their database.
These can then be accessed by law enforcement who are looking to identify perpetrators of crimes.
GED match website reads: "Your kit WILL be compared with kits submitted by law enforcement to identify perpetrators of violent crimes.
"The operators of GEDmatch encourage everybody to select this option."
AI and algorithms have created a quicker process of catching those at the scene as they map out different DNA before searching and comparing it to others on the database.
Dr Wickenheiser explained: "You have search algorithms that do things that we could never do.
"You can appreciate there are at this point, for different companies, a total of 40 million people worldwide who have done the same thing.
"The idea is you're doing this very complex DNA comparison, but it distils down to a simple number."
But Dr Wickenheiser pointed out how there are drawbacks from using AI and various algorithms to catch criminals using genealogy.
He described how "so many errors" can occur and potentially catch the wrong people, like those who have been adopted into families.
Dr Wickenheiser said: "Genetically there's going to be nuances, there's going to be misappropriated parentage, those things happen and people have to be able to know."
While modern tech and genealogy data work hand-in-hand to solve crime - this would not be possible without experts looking over it too and comparing it with other evidence.
Dr Wickenheiser said: "We're really cognisant of how big of a deal it is. The fact that every country, including England and their match rate, maybe it's 70 percent of the database.
"It still means that you have 30 percent of cases where you have a perpetrator at large, you have their DNA at the crime scene and you haven't been able to find a match.
"So those are the cases that we can solve with this technique.
"We just want to make sure we know what's going to be scrutinized.
"We just want to make sure it's done right and that people can see that it's done right.
"It's those fail safes that you want to use technology.
"But we have this new magical tool that using the relatedness, other pieces of DNA, other features of DNA, the fact that you share that DNA with your family tree is allowing us really, frankly, to do our job."