A change to GEDmatch, a third-party genealogy site that's helped crack cold cases through user's DNA, may hinder law enforcement's ability to use the database to catch killers. Now, GEDmatch participants will have to upload their personal DNA to the database and manually 'opt in'
A change to GEDmatch, a third-party genealogy site that's helped crack cold cases through user's DNA, may hinder law enforcement's ability to use the database to catch killers.
Direct-to-consumer DNA companies, including AncestryDNA and 23AndMe, do not allow their DNA samples to be searched by authorities, Moore said. 'It could leave a murderer running on the streets'GEDmatch's new policy requiring participants to manually allow law enforcement access to the information will make it harder to solve crimes, according to one police officer.
In November 2018, after police say they used the unknown killer's DNA to trace a family tree through GEDmatch, a suspect was arrested. Story continues"It's going to make our cases a lot harder to solve," Detective Fields told ABC News of GEDmatch's new policy."It's a shame it could leave a murderer running on the streets, but I perfectly understand why they'd want to change that."
Vera Eidelman, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union , told ABC News via email,"GEDmatch’s decision is a good and important step—but it is not a decision that should be up to a private company. Lawmakers and courts need to step in."
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