Data from open-source ancestry site GEDMatch has led to more arrests

28 Jun Data from open-source ancestry site GEDMatch has led to more arrests

In the last week, police have arrested two suspects in unrelated cold cases thanks to data gleaned from open-source ancestry site GEDMatch, reports the New York Times. That’s the same open-source ancestry site that was used to track down the alleged Golden State Killer earlier this year. One of the arrests this week was of a 66-year-old nurse who is suspected of killing a 12-year-old girl in 1986. The other arrest is of a 49-year-old DJ who strangled a schoolteacher in 1992. Thanks to data from GEDMatch, Texas law enforcement also thinks that a man who was executed in 1999 for killing a 9-year-old girl was now also behind the murder of a 40-year-old realtor in 1981.

GEDMatch contains around a million genetic profiles that people have freely uploaded to the site after having their DNA analyzed by companies like 23andMe. Since law enforcement has begun using data uploaded to GEDMatch, the site has updated its privacy policy, now explicitly stating that data uploaded to it may be used by law enforcement.

Source: Fast Company