Jennifer Odom case finally solved

Jeffrey Crum arrested.



His son's DNA was entered into the state's CODIS database and there was a hit. The son would have been 10 at the time of the crime, so that led investigators to his father.

 

So far every DNA database investigative break I have read about has been welcome, e.g., the Golden State Killer. But I do worry about abuse long term.

Check that - that was the criminal database. I'm talking about the 23 and me effect.

 

This whole thing is mystifying to me. Investigators got a full DNA profile of Jennifer’s murderer sometime back around 2015. Around that time, Crum was arrested, and, subsequently, convicted for the brutal rape of a teenage girl in Pasco County. That crime was similar to the Jennifer Odom crime. The authorities would’ve gotten a full DNA profile of Crim at that time. I am failing to understand why the DNA match wasn’t made back then. Maybe, we will find out more about it.

 

We lived in South Tampa at the time and I remember the case. Jennifer was a doppleganger for a friend's daughter.

 

Glad they caught the murderous scumbag. Science is such a beautiful thing.

 

Scum.
Bottom of your shoe, peel off with a stick, scum.

 

Glad family has some closure. Dude is already serving life for a another heinous crime. I’m not a death penalty advocate because of the error rate in convictions but in this case…

 

what sort of abuse are you worried about?

 

Given that the comparison in extended families are more tenuous, the same type of abuse you see in "bite mark" experts and other prosecution experts routinely hired by prosecutors. Radley Balko has reported on "experts" that always find for the prosecution. Defendants almost always lack the resources to hire their own expert

 

I live 2 miles from the spot where he grabbed her. Think about it all the time when I drive by there. Hope this scumbag rots in hell.

 

I could be way off base but I always just assumed the science behind dna testing was much more ironclad than bite mark experts of handwriting experts which seems much more subjective. The probabilities involved here seem hard to dismiss.

 

That is my understanding that as well, but I think it's when you're comparing sample DNA from the alleged defendant versus DNA found at the scene. In this case, from the criminal database, it was from his son. I think that's still pretty close. But here is what I am referring to. I have not read this title seems to concern I read about elsewhere:

The break in the Golden State Serial Killer case came when DNA from the crime scene deposited by the assailant was further analyzed and compared to an open source genealogical website, GEDMatch Presumably GEDMatch was used in favor of other ancestry and genealogical websites as other providers had more restrictive policies on law enforcement access and GEDMatch aggregated data from these other providers, with participants moving their data to GEDMatch specifically to search for relatives. On the website, individuals affirm a privacy statement acknowledging their genetic DNA information will be available for searching for the purposes of being located. Upon learning of the Golden State Killer case, GEDMatch updated their confidentiality statement to include information that genetic information can be searched by law enforcement Police investigators, with the assistance of a genealogist, reconstructed the family tree that included the crime scene profile, which matched to a probable 4th cousin [4]. It took approximately 4 months of family tree construction and investigative legwork to narrow potential suspects in the tree to males of the age and geography that could have committed the crimes. Among candidates developed as investigative leads, there will be those who may fit the profile, whose DNA does not match a direct comparison to the crime scene profile. Such was the case for a 73-year-old male at an Oregon nursing home who had his DNA sampled and was eliminated from suspicion [19]. While police had obtained a court order signed by a judge compelling provision of a reference sample, the man allegedly provided a sample with consent once investigators informed him of the purpose. The man's daughter was notified after the elimination and worked with police to help them rule-out additional people who could conceivably be the killer.

Eventually investigators narrowed their search for male relatives fitting the age and description to Joseph James DeAngelo. Placing him under surveillance, discarded DNA samples were obtained without the suspect's knowledge, including a discarded tissue and a swab taken from the handle of a car door. Once these samples were found to directly match those from the crime scene, DeAngelo was arrested and charged.

Forensic genealogy, bioethics and the Golden State Killer case.

I'm confident they got the right name of the Golden State killer station, which obviously justified significant resources. But when you get to 4th° cousins, I think it's lesser of the possibility plus there are some other ethical issues is that with in the piece. Again, I have not read it, but here is the abstract

A case study will be used to examine specific issues of bioethics and forensic science that occur in forensic investigative genealogical searching, which include genetic privacy, discrimination and public safety concerns. The forensic investigative process and various investigative DNA tools will also be described. The Golden State Killer Case (1) will be examined to highlight and discuss forensic ethical issues to develop an ethical framework, as well as provide recommended solutions to pressing public safety and privacy issues facing crime laboratories and criminal investigators. Use of the ethical concept of proportionality (2) will be utilized to contrast and balance competing ethical concerns.

 

Not sure I see the issue. What are the public safety concerns? Genetic privacy? What does that even mean? Can you provide a hypothetical where someone’s rights are violated using this technology?

 

Two major scenarios I see. First, in scenarios where you are not dealing with a direct comparison but one from fourth degree or something similar distant relations, the scenario where you get a so-called expert to say whatever the prosecution wants them to say come up because they already have decided who they just know is guilty.

Second, while the individual who submitted the DNA sample did so knowingly, the rest of the family did not. This is especially of concern when the police have not independently established probable cause, and have not delineated other reasons for suspicion and specifically what they are looking for.

 

Valid points. It seems like there should be some sort of third party control DNA testing in place provided for the defendants who cannot afford it to corroborate the findings of the state’s professionals.

 

And I’m far less concerned about the second point. I get that it’s a violation of privacy but who is worried about this aside from those that have something terrible to hide?

 

that's always the rejoinder, but it's never been especially persuasive if you believe that the law enforcement system is flawed and corruptible as I do. I don't mean directly corrupt, although that also occurs. What I mean is prosecutors and police who decide who is guilty and then act accordingly, ignoring and concealing contrary evidence.

 

Fair. Something to keep an eye on. But if we are performing a cost benefit analysis on this it’s a godsend to the police investigating these crimes.