B.C. mother succeeds in quest
Lobbying helps create DNA databank of missing persons
Judy Peterson has spent the last 25 years looking for her daughter and while her efforts have been unsuccessful, she hopes her work will bring solace to others.
Lindsey Nicholls was 14 when she went missing Aug. 2, 1993, near Comox.
Since then, Peterson has spent 18 years lobbying the federal government for the creation of a DNA databank of missing persons, hoping that a match between DNA evidence collected at crime scenes across the country might reveal some clues about her daughter’s case.
Peterson entered her daughter’s DNA into a provincial database operated by the coroner’s service. She knew that could be a critical step in finding her, even though it felt like she was giving up the search. It’s also when she started looking into the creation of a national database for missing persons, which was created in mid-March.
“I don’t think I understood that I could have any effect at the time, but I did in the end,” she said in a telephone inter- view from Sidney.
Lindsey had been missing for five years when Peterson was told she could not enter the DNA into existing national databases for crime scenes and convicted offenders because of privacy concerns. At first, Peterson thought the privacy issue was because Lindsey might still be alive and making her DNA publicly available would violate her privacy.
When she tried again to enter Lindsey’s data in 2000, she made what she said was a “horrific” discovery.
“It was only then I understood that the DNA databank doesn’t exist because of privacy. And I went ‘Oh you’re kidding me.’ ”
Peterson provided a sample of her DNA to the B.C. Coroners Service in the hope of finding a link to her daughter. The coroner confirmed there were no matches to its unidentified bodies.
She said once B.C. was crossed off the list it only made sense to keep searching for matches across the country. Unfortunately for Peterson, no national database existed, and the RCMP couldn’t find a DNA match.