Sacramento officials awarded for use of DNA

SACRAMENTO — Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office and a number of local police agencies have been honored for their investigation in the Golden State Killer and East Area Rapist cases, using DNA.

These investigations have been selected as the top DNA cases in the world,

The use of DNA in these cases has led to Sacramento receiving, the “DNA Hit of the Year” award in Kobe Japan.

Over 70 cases were submitted by 20 different nations.

The award is presented annually by Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs, which consults worldwide on DNA database policy.

Schubert’s office led a decades-long search for a suspect in the case, which culminated with the April 2018 arrest of DeAngelo at his Citrus Heights home.

DeAngelo, a former police officer who had never before been a suspect in the case, was arrested after Schubert’s crime lab was able to use DNA from crime scenes to compare to DNA provided to a genealogical website.

Investigators found similarities in a sample from the site and built a family tree out from that individual until it led them to DeAngelo. Further DNA samples obtained from DeAngelo’s trash and truck handle led them to what they say is a match to the Golden State Killer and East Area Rapist crimes.

DeAngelo, 74, is currently being held in the Sacramento County Jail without bail facing 13 murder counts and 13 counts related to sexual assaults during the crime spree.