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The controversial company using DNA to sketch the faces of criminals

Parabon Nanolabs shot to fame using DNA and genealogy analysis to solve cold cases. Then it hit a setback.
  1. Carrie Arnold

    1. Carrie Arnold is a science journalist based near Richmond, Virginia.

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Two people wearing orange tinted goggles, lab coats and gloves use a UV torch to find traces of DNA on a piece of fabric

Traces of crime-scene DNA have been matched to suspects using genealogy databases. Credit: Jochen Tack/imageBROKER/Alamy

It was May 2019 when Parabon Nanolabs ran into a major controversy. At the time, it was the most famous forensic-genetics company on the planet. From its headquarters in Reston, Virginia, Parabon was helping police to crack cold-crime cases almost weekly, such as the murder of a Canadian couple in 1987 and the case of a young woman who was sexually assaulted and killed in the 1960s.

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Nature 585, 178-181 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02545-5

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 23 September 2020: An earlier version of this Feature erred in saying the Golden State Killer case was solved using data from two second cousins; they were distant cousins. It also mistakenly said that the assault of Margaret Orlando would have been a crowning achievement for the company, as the first active case that it had helped to solve. In fact, Parabon had helped to solve other active cases — this was the first to contravene the GEDMatch terms of use. Finally, the story stated that the restrictions on GEDMatch data forced Parabon to return to an earlier business strategy of using DNA to reconstruct faces. However, Parabon says that the restrictions were a temporary setback and didn’t significantly affect its business.

References

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