Genetic genealogy a crime solver
DNA Investigations builds family trees to shake loose the truth
Tobi Kirschmann describes learning of the Golden State Killer’s identity as a “gut punch.”
She was thrilled the serial killer and rapist had been caught, but because she worked as a DNA analyst for the California DNA Databank, she was disappointed neither she nor the hundreds of detectives who worked on the case found Joseph James D’Angelo Jr. sooner.
It was DNA that broke the case, but not by comparing the killer’s DNA to samples in a databank. Those samples were from known criminals, and D’Angelo had never been arrested so his DNA wasn’t in the databank.
It was DNA from D’Angelo’s family tree that led police to the killer. D’Angelo was arrested in 2018 and pleaded guilty to various crimes in 2020. It was the first high-profile case where genetic genealogy — the same thing behind familial searches led by Ancestry or 23andMe — was used to solve a crime.
Kirschmann worked at the DNA databank for 10 years before moving to Saratoga Springs, where she was living when D’Angelo was arrested. She worked at the Forensic Investigation Center in Albany, where all the evidence in criminal investigations by the State Police is processed. Once it was revealed the Golden State Killer case was solved using familial search, she knew it would change how crimes and missing-person cases where DNA was collected were investigated, forever.
“All unsolved crimes with DNA can be solved in hours, not months or years,” Kirschmann said.
She left the state lab to start her own business, DNA Investigations. Once the DNA is sequenced, Kirschmann’s job begins. Law enforcement and other agencies bring DNA reports to Kirschmann, who then checks databases and builds a family tree in an attempt to find a match to the sample.
She soon found the path to solving crimes through genetic research wasn’t clear. A web of laws prevented familial searches. Until April of last year, the state didn’t allow police to compare DNA from an unidentified body to samples in state and federal databases of potential relatives. At the beginning of 2022, Bethlehem police revealed the identity of remains found 41 years ago — made possible by genetic research. The FBI took on the case in 2020 and found a match to two elderly relatives, al
lowing police to announce the remains found all those years ago belonged to Franklin Feldman, although how Feldman ended up in Bethlehem and how he died is still a mystery.
Kirschmann expects more cases like Feldman’s to be solved.
“All the laws are in place, we’re just waiting on someone to try it,” she said.
Genetic genealogy may also be used in at least one other Capital Region cold case: the 1980 killing of Sheila Shepherd in Saratoga Springs. Investigators are going back over evidence gathered at the scene in hopes of extracting DNA from someone who could’ve been Shepherd’s attacker. Kirschmann said it is possible to find viable DNA in old clothing.
In the meantime, Kirschmann has been working with adoptees looking for their biological relatives and speaking to law enforcement groups. It was at a training that Don Carola, newly retired from the Office of Information Technology Services where he worked in the criminal justice department for 20 years, saw Kirschmann’s presentation. Carola was already fascinated by genealogy, having tracked his family back 400 years. Carola works parttime for the Stillwater Police, bringing new technology online for the department.
“I said to my chief, ‘This is coming,’ and it’s going to change criminal investigations. If criminals leave DNA, they’re not getting away,” Carola said.
He wrote to Kirschmann and volunteered as an intern. Kirschmann included Carola in her LEAD group: Law Enforcement Assistance with DNA Services.
While waiting for the technology to pick up speed, Kirschmann is applying for grants that she can use to help people prepare their samples for analysis. As it stands, DNA goes to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System where it is checked against existing samples. CODIS has 90 days to process it — if there’s no hit, Kirschmann said, it’s time to start a genealogy search.