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Familial DNA analysis holds promise, and potential hazard, for law enforcement
Like father like son? Or perhaps vice versa in the case of the suspected Los Angeles serial killer dubbed the "Grim Sleeper."
The recent arrest deserves the nation's rapt attention. But not only for the reasons most are listening: the shocking details of 10, possibly 11, people murdered and the relief an arrest brings for the victims' loved ones.
No, the national focus ought to linger because of the legal door that flew open when the cases were cracked. Detectives nabbed the father thanks to the crime of the son.
For nearly three decades LAPD were stumped by the murders of mostly poor black women, many sexually assaulted, some strangled and shot. When even a special task force couldn't solve the case, police used DNA taken from the crime scenes and cross-referenced it with DNA of convicted criminals. In June, they hit with a close match, a man who had been convicted of a felony weapons charge.