this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2024
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According to the media, he made a lot of very amateur mistakes if that's the case. Like leaving a water bottle and granola bar wrappers and being filmed on camera at a Starbucks.
Leaving the DNA behind doesn't really identify him if his DNA is not in the system.
But nowadays the odds some relative of yours put theirs up on some family tree site is pretty high so they could narrow the suspect pool quite a bit going that route.
His DNA doesn't need to be in any system. These days there are professionals that take DNA results and comb through the databases to find close relatives that are in the system. It's how they caught the BTK Killer.
I think you're thinking of the Golden State Killer (among many others). BTK was caught through digital forensics, not forensic genealogy.
https://people.com/crime/btk-killer-daughter-dna-led-to-arrest/
Has the Starbucks guy actually been confirmed as the same person? It looked like clearly a different jacket and backpack, I assumed that was either an accomplice or just an unfortunate lookalike, but I suppose he could have changed or it could just be odd lighting tricks.
No, not that I'm aware of.