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Idaho —
A source close to the Idaho student murders investigation says it only took genetic genealogists a matter of days to identify Bryan Kohberger as the suspect.

According to one expert, genealogy, while often used to solve cold cases such as the Golden State Killer, has never been used in a real-time, ongoing investigation to lead police to a suspect.

The source tells WPBF 25 News Investigative Reporter Terri Parker the genealogy part of the investigation went remarkably quickly, but police first had a daunting task of collecting DNA in a chaotic crime scene.

Crime scene investigators scoured the Moscow, Idaho, house where four college students, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found stabbed to death in their beds.

Retired FBI special agent John MacVeigh said it is likely crime scene technicians had to first separate out the victims' and other people's DNA from the killer’s – which was a huge undertaking.

"They're going to have to analyze that and they're going to have to go through every droplet and things like that. Because if the suspect cut himself, he clearly wasn't bleeding as bad as they were. So you could have one droplet somewhere, and you're looking at a room and there's droplets all over the place — you're testing every single one of them," MacVeigh said.

Police ran the unknown DNA through the national CODIS DNA database but came up empty because Kohberger had no criminal history.

That’s when sources say police had genetic genealogists upload the samples to a public database such as Family Tree DNA, looking for matching relatives.

Genealogists then built a family tree using birth and death records, census records and other hints until they had a whole tree of that extended family going back generations.

At that point, they move downward from great, great-parents to living people looking to see who is the right age, lives in the area, and could be a possible suspect.

Sources said they narrowed the possible suspects down to Kohberger, and police determined he drove a white Elantra like that seen near the crime scene.

That’s when the FBI started tracking him and apparently collected some discarded item with Kohberger's DNA on it which police say they’ve positively matched to the crime scene.

That’s their clincher evidence — the genealogy is just the amazing tool that got them there.

https://www.wpbf.com/article/bryan-kohb ... y/42389434

…What we do know is DNA evidence played a key role in identifying Kohberger as a suspect. An anonymous law enforcement official confirmed to the Associated Press last week that investigators were able to match his DNA to genetic material recovered during the investigation.

Interestingly, CNN has reported that a credible source with knowledge of the case said it was genetic genealogy that was used to connect Kohberger to the still-unidentified DNA evidence. The DNA obtained from the crime scene was run through a public database to find potential family member matches, and subsequent investigative work by law enforcement led to Kohberger as the one and only suspect, the source told CNN said a few days ago.

If/when that aspect is confirmed by court documents or law enforcement, it’s quite the turn of events for investigative genetic genealogy.

Presently, almost every case solved via genetic genealogy is a cold case. Despite its immense success since 2018, investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) is still often considered a last-ditch effort for identification, be it a suspect or Doe. The assumed use and possible success of investigative genetic genealogy in a present case of this magnitude could be a game changer for the technique.

“Today, IGG addresses a lot of old and cold cases. The decision to use IGG is made after the CODIS pipeline is exhausted. Only then do investigators look to IGG in help closing the case. As we look into handling more recent cases, we need to look into making the decision to use IGG upfront, incorporate it at the earliest stages of case submission,” IGG pioneer Colleen Fitzpatrick told Forensic way back in 2020.

By all accounts, Kohberger has never been arrested before, thus his DNA would likely not be in CODIS. When Idaho police could not—presumably—match the DNA retrieved from the crime scene to anyone in CODIS, did they immediately turn to IGG?

It’s an interesting question the forensic community hopes to have an answer to soon, as it not only has an effect on justice served for the four slain students, but also the DNA community as a whole.

Within law enforcement and forensics, it feels like we may be at a turning point for IGG. Since it burst onto the landscape so quickly and in such a mainstream way, it was developed—for the most part—outside of the conventional framework. Given its success, the community has mostly looked past that for the last four years, however, it feels like the time has come to reassess.

For example, the Board of Certification for Investigative Genetic Genealogy launched this past summer. The independent, non-profit board is comprised of experts and stakeholders who have developed a set of professional standards they deem critical to the field of IGG. The group, including Margaret Press of DNA Doe Project and Parabon’s CeCe Moore, published their first paper—"The need for standards and certification for investigative genetic genealogy, and a notice of action”—in Forensic Science International in October.

Universities and colleges have also started offering the study of IGG, adding an air of formality to the technique, especially with the December launch of Ramapo College of New Jersey’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center.

Fitzpatrick herself has aided the standards process with the creation of OCIG—Operational Casework Implementation of Investigative Genetic Genealogy. The group, which includes multiple other experts and stakeholders, seeks to “demystify the complex scientific solutions to solving crime by integrating conventional crime lab protocols with investigative genetic genealogy methods to create a streamlined approach to identification using the best of both approaches.”

“We need to understand where we are going and the practicalities of how IGG can be implemented,” said Fitzpatrick. “We have to understand this is a learning curve for everyone...This is a new era we are in.”


https://www.forensicmag.com/593423-Will ... Genealogy/

Kohberger was taken into custody at about 1:30 a.m. Friday after authorities matched DNA from the crime scene to a sample submitted by one of his immediate family members to a genealogy testing website….

https://www.foxnews.com/us/bryan-kohber ... ers-report