DNA Manipulation

by Andrea Campbell

When technology gets better, there will always be someone who wants to defeat the system. It’s comforting to know that progress is continually being made in order to stay ahead of the criminals.

We’ve talked a lot about biometrics and DNA. These are thought of as irrefutable biological characteristics that help to define and identify just who we are. That’s why when I saw the headline, “DNA Paternity Test Almost Fooled,” I had to know more.

Who’s Your Daddy?

Paternity tests use DNA to allow people to discover their origins, such as who are my mother and father? DNA has longed been used for this process and there are reasons that someone would not want to be found—mainly child support payments. In 2007, someone found a way to confuse the identification system temporarily and it has now prompted a new methodology because of this person’s brash moves.

Apparently the fraud attempt was predicated by a DNA paternity test.

The paternity test is done just as one would do for a crime suspect—samples of saliva cells are collected from the mouth. In this particular case, Dr. José Antonio Lorente Acosta, Director of the Laboratory of Genetic Identification at the University of Granada, carries out forensic tests just like these as commissioned by the court in cases of paternity, and for the identification of possible criminals, or else to contribute to DNA databases such as in the case of trying to locate missing relatives.

In this 2007 case, epithelial cells were collected from the interior of the mouth by a person undergoing a paternity test, which gave an incongruous result. The research team questioned their procedure and found they had not changed anything. The suspect washed his mouth and, “... after repeating the analysis, there was only one possible conclusion: In the mouth of that man there was DNA from two different persons,” says Dr. Acosta. They, of course, arranged to meet the subject again and found out that shortly before he took the test, he mixed his saliva with someone else’s that he had concealed on his person in a small container, hoping to mislead detectives. As it turns out, the test was repeated and he was found to be the biological father in that particular case of judicial investigation. This case prompted a modification of all future tests, as now it would be compulsory for the donor to wash his mouth out, but this time in the presence of a witness.

The Grim Sleeper Case

A Los Angeles' serial killer who was thought to have killed at least 10 people, was caught by detectives who used a familial DNA search and that, and new databases, has made somewhat of a breakthrough. Only Colorado and California currently have laws specifically allowing the use of familial DNA match. The practice has drawn criticism from privacy advocates who fear that innocent family members will be targeted if they have the misfortune of being related to a criminal.

The research policy, however, is restricted to major violent crimes, and only after all other investigative methods have failed. Apparently the majority of the Grim Sleeper’s killings were committed in the 1980s. Unfortunately the crimes restarted after a 13-year absence, with the latest one occurring in 2007. This prompted Los Angeles' police to look for a “similar” DNA profile. Hoping they might find a relative for leads, after running several tests, some DNA was identified as the suspect’s son. The after-effects of this case and use of familial DNA will surely set precedents for its future use, as well as new policies as other states adopt the process. First published in Forensic Magazine.

Take That Robbers: DNA Mist

This new technology is fairly genius and was discovered in the Netherlands. We’ve all seen in films where the bank puts explosive dye packs in the money bag in order to mark the criminal after it explodes. They open the bag to get the money and are showered with indelible ink. Now there is a DNA spray mist! The applicator is positioned on the door of a bank or other business that has funds. Every person who enters is misted with a DNA spray that has no odor and is completely unnoticeable. The synthetic DNA compound settles onto hair, clothing and skin without knowledge. Of course, somewhere on this person is a trail that has a fluorescent marker that can be detected using ultraviolet light. Not only that, but the DNA can be made unique to a particular location. Good thinking that.

All photos are Clipart.com

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The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

by Donna Pendergast

The development of DNA databases is helping investigators solve crime by looking for genetic near-matches -- results close enough to an already-stored DNA profile to suggest the crime was committed by a relative. Familial DNA database searches are based on the fundamental principle that DNA profiles of persons who are related are likely to contain similarities. Parents, siblings, and even more distant relatives such as aunts, uncles and cousins can be linked to crimes because a relative's DNA closely resembles DNA left behind at the crime scene.

In one of the earliest high-profile cases to use familial DNA, Dennis Rader, the BTK (Bind, Torture and Kill) killer, (right) was apprehended in 2005. Rader, who eluded authorities in the Wichita, Kansas, area for more than 30 years while killing 10 people, was ultimately tied to the crimes by his daughter's DNA sample. Law enforcement authorities had a suspect and were looking to tie him to the various crime scenes. Rader's daughter had given a Pap smear at a university clinic five years before. Investigators obtained a search warrant for that DNA specimen and determined that her DNA profile almost perfectly matched the DNA profile taken from several BTK crime scenes.

In a more recent case, Los Angeles police arrested 57-year-old Lonnie David Franklin Jr., a suspected serial killer, earlier this month by comparing DNA found at some of his crime scenes with the DNA of his son. The son was incarcerated in a California prison on a weapons charge. Franklin, known as the "Grim Sleeper" because of a 12-year hiatus between crimes, is accused of killing 11 people since 1985. The successful arrest was the end result of a controversial policy enacted in 2008, when the California Attorney General approved running a familial DNA search through the state's databases for major violent unsolved crimes.

The police found Franklin (left) by running a random comparison search throughout the databank that keeps DNA information for the California prison system. Franklin himself was not in that database, because despite two arrests, because he had spent his time in county jails rather than the state prison system. After zeroing in on Franklin's son and a near DNA match, investigators began following Franklin. They obtained his DNA from a discarded napkin and plate which he threw away after eating pizza.

The use of familial DNA searching has been a common practice in Europe, Australia and New Zealand for years. Since 2004, British authorities have conducted multiple investigations resulting in 18 matches and 13 convictions. The United States has been slower to embrace the practice because of technical, legal and ethical issues. To date, only Colorado and California have made wide use of the practice.

California allows near-match searches in major violent crimes where all other avenues have proven fruitless. Police are required to pursue all leads before a search is allowed. Colorado has allowed more widespread use of the practice to include nonviolent cases. Maryland, the only state to have addressed the issue statutorily, has banned the use of familial DNA searches altogether.

Last year, the F.B.I. decided not to reconfigure their CODIS DNA search software after hearing concerns of critics of familial searches. Thomas Callaghan, the former head of the F.B.I.'s national DNA database, worried that familial DNA searches may be legally vulnerable. He has said he fears that the courts may not look kindly upon using for one purpose samples originally collected for another. Civil libertarians cite constitutional guarantees against unwarranted searches and concerns about invading the privacy of persons whose only crime is having a relative in the database. They argue that it amounts to guilt by association. They also note that innocent family members could become unwitting informants against other relatives.

Denver District Attorney Mitchell R. Morrissey, an enthusiastic proponent of the use of familial DNA, defends the practice by arguing that it increases public safety. He believes that law enforcement has a responsibility to use available technology, in a constitutional and legal way, to protect communities. But Colorado ACLU Director Mark Silverstein questions the practice: "The use of so-called familial DNA matches dramatically expands the potential for invasion of privacy posed by law enforcement's ever-growing DNA databases."

No state has specifically allowed the use of familial searches, but 16 now permit the use of partial matching obtained through fortuitous circumstances, while prohibiting the use of deliberate familial searching. In addressing the controversy, Peter Marone, director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, says: "This is much more than a scientific issue. There are other policy issues involved."

It is clear that there must be safeguards to ensure that the technique is not abused, and to minimize the potential for erroneous matches merely because a DNA profile is similar. However, the use of familial DNA searching could revolutionize criminal investigations. It is hard to ignore a technology that has the potential to apprehend violent predators before they have the chance to prey on additional victims. How does one tell a victim or surviving family member that we had the technology to prevent the crime but we couldn't use it?

Try telling that to the family member of what could have been a future victim of BTK or the Grim Sleeper.

Statements made in this post are my own and are not intended to reflect the views, opinion or position of the Michigan Attorney General or the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

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