Police find alleged rapist 14 years after crime using genealogy database
The case probably would have remained a mystery if Jared T. Vaughn had not voluntarily provided a sample of his DNA to a public genealogy database, according to police.
Law enforcement agencies’ use of public genealogy websites, such as Ancestry and GEDmatch, has been questioned in recent years by privacy advocates concerned with the amount of information officials can glean from the DNA profiles stored within the databases. Some states, including Maryland, have even barred police from using those databases to solve minor, nonviolent crimes. But many previously unsolved murders and sexual assaults have been closed in recent years using DNA samples voluntarily provided to private companies.
Source: Police find alleged rapist 14 years after crime using genealogy database – The Washington Post
