DNA holds promise in finding fugitive Lester Eubanks but FBI rules, privacy questions loom.
This report is part of the ABC News podcast,"Have You Seen This Man?," hosted by 'The View's' Sunny Hostin. The podcast follows the U.S. Marshals' ongoing mission to find Lester Eubanks, a dangerous convict who escaped from police custody in 1973 and has never been found.
“We’re going to do everything within our legal means to uncover the identity that Lester Eubanks is utilizing,” said Peter Elliott, the U.S. Marshal for Northern Ohio. Natalie Ram, a University of Maryland law professor who is a leading expert on the laws surrounding DNA data and privacy, said “Familial searches are a touchy subject.”Ram said the policy is intended to prevent law enforcement from overstepping during an investigation, and violating the rights or privacy of someone who is merely related to a criminal suspect, but not under any suspicion themselves.
“This case is very unusual,” said David Kaye, a Penn State Law professor who studies the use forensic science and genetics in criminal cases. By peeling out the parts of the biological son’s genetics that trace to his father, his DNA could become a substitute for his father’s – and using that profile to try and match Eubanks to unsolved crimes would be “groundbreaking,” Murphy said.
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