A laboratory at the University of Nebraska Medical Center recently became one of seven in the United States accredited to use the type of genetic analysis that helped authorities catch the Golden State Killer.
Scientists will initially use the lab help Omaha police with cold case investigations.
The Human DNA Identification Lab at UNMC obtained $500,000 from a private donor early last year to add technology that would allow it to perform the analysis, known as Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy, or FIGG for short, said Mellissa Helligso, the manager, technical lead and forensic DNA analyst with the lab. The donor wished to remain anonymous.
The lab, directed by Dr. Jesse Cox, has worked with the Omaha Police Department and other law enforcement agencies for nearly three decades to conduct forensic DNA analysis in cases ranging from homicides to sexual assaults.
The same technology also is used in UNMC’s molecular diagnostics laboratory to match patients with organs for transplants, identify tumor types and predict what drugs will work best in different patients.
The new technology, Helligso said, will allow the Human DNA Identification Lab to assist law enforcement with identifying unknown DNA, which could help solve cold cases.
After testing the technology for most of last year, the lab sought accreditation in November from the American National Standards Institute National Accreditation Board, which gave its approval after completing an audit.
Since the lab obtained the new accreditation, Helligso has been working with the police department, which received a federal grant to examine cold cases, to identify DNA profiles to use with the new FIGG technology. They have identified 15 to 20 homicides they can analyze and have begun working on two. Investigators declined to indicate which cases they are working on.
“I would love if my DNA solved every case, but it doesn’t,” said Helligso, noting that investigators sometimes don’t get any DNA when investigating crimes, and in other cases they don’t get enough. “This is giving us another opportunity to bring justice to victims, which they deserve.”
Nationwide, more than 300 cases have been solved with the FIGG technology over approximately the past five years, she said. The Golden State Killer was identified in 2018. The technology also is used to identify remains. There are some 40,000 sets of unidentified remains in the United States.
“That’s another way our technology could be used, and I fully anticipate doing those as well,” she said.
Chris Spencer, a sergeant in the OPD homicide unit’s cold case squad, said more law enforcement agencies are using the technology to solve crimes. For some older cases, police have exhausted all leads and there are no new ones coming in.
“It’s interesting to be a part of it and see it from start to finish,” he said. “Our goal is to get some of these cases solved with FIGG.”
Perhaps the best known case solved with the help of the technology was the apprehension of Joseph James DeAngelo, known as the Golden State Killer. He was sentenced in 2020 to multiple terms of life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to a series of murders and kidnappings that terrorized California for decades. The technology also was used to identify a suspect in the slayings of four University of Idaho students.
Investigators start with DNA samples associated with unsolved homicides that have been entered into the national DNA database used by law enforcement, the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS.
The DNA profile from the crime scene then is uploaded to public databases, such as GEDMatch, that house DNA data from people who have taken tests through commercial testing services like 23andMe and AncestryDNA. The system searches for potential close relatives and builds out possible family trees.
Initially, Helligso said, GEDMatch had a clause in its contract that automatically opted in users of the commercial testing services for law enforcement use. Later, the company created a new version of the database for law enforcement called GEDMatch Pro which only includes those who manually opt in.
Helligso acknowledged that there has been some controversy with the use by law enforcement of data from commercial genealogy databases that were initially designed to help hobbyists trace family trees. Some users, though, want to help law enforcement. The more users who opt in to the database, the more suspects who may be caught.
In general, the FIGG process identifies people who might be as remotely related as third or fourth cousins, who have a great, great, great-grandparent in common. That could be between 2,000 and 3,000 people on a family tree.
The technique generates what are known as “investigative leads,” that might point toward a suspect, she said.
But Spencer said investigators still have to do a lot of old-school detective work to track down those leads.
Helligso said much of that work involves tracking potential relatives through public records such as marriage licenses and birth certificates. In the Golden State case, investigators also were able to show that the suspect was in the area at the time specific crimes were committed.
In the end, she said, a potential suspect’s DNA still has to match the original DNA test for law enforcement to go forward with prosecution, so there’s no risk of identifying the wrong person.
“It’s pretty exciting,” she said of her work. “I do think you have to have a passion for it. It can be stressful. It can be really exhausting ... But ultimately, you are bringing justice for someone who can’t speak for himself anymore. And I guess I just have a heart for that.”