Genetic genealogy testing popular despite concerns
OZARK, Ala. — The type of DNA analysis that led to the arrest of an Alabama truck driver and part-time preacher in two slayings nearly 20 years has become the latest trend in police work in many parts of the country, despite concerns over privacy and fairness.
A national association for criminal defense attorneys says genetic genealogy crime-solving can lead to mistakes.
But a relative of one of the victims in the 1999 killings trusts that authorities got the right person when they arrested Coley McCraney, 45, of Dothan on murder charges in the deaths of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley, both 17.
“We’ve been through pure hell the last 20 years,” said Mike Roberts, Hawlett’s stepfather. “DNA don’t lie.”
Law enforcement interest in using genetic genealogy to crack cold cases took off after the highly publicized arrest of a suspect in the so-called Golden State serial killings in California last year. A suspect in those cases was found by running crime-scene DNA through a genealogy database, said CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist with Virginiabased Parabon NanoLabs. The same company did the searches that led to McCraney’s arrest in Alabama after police heard of the technique. While investigators seeking new leads in cold cases are intrigued, others see red flags.
“There are huge privacy concerns,” said Jennifer Friedman, a public defender in Los Angeles who has been involved in cases involving DNA since the late 1980s.
Amy McGuire, a professor of biomedical ethics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said that police searches using DNA and genealogy websites have sometimes pointed to an incorrect person.
Hawlett and Beasley vanished after heading to a party on July 31, 1999. Their bodies were found the next day in the trunk of Beasley’s car in Ozark. Each was shot in the head.