https://thecrimereport.org/2019/09/17/hair-dna/
An American scientist has developed a technique that makes it possible to recover and sequence DNA from hair without the root, a development hailed as a “game changer” in criminal forensics, The New York Times reports. Several law enforcement agencies already have used the new method to extract genetic profiles from the hair of killers and victims in cold cases over the past 18 months.
Forensic scientists have long had to explain to juries why, contrary to what’s seen on TV, they can’t get sufficient DNA out of a hair unless it contains a root, which only a tiny percentage do. But Ed Green, a paleogeneticist at the University of California, Santa Cruz known in the scientific community for his work on the Neanderthal genome, created a series of technologies that enable extracting the needed genetic information from rootless hair, just as he has done with fossilized bones.
Beyond one case in New Hampshire that authorities have said they cracked using Green’s technique, Green cannot share details of the investigations he’s involved in or with whom he is collaborating. He did say his point people are often Steve Kramer, a lawyer in the FBI’s Los Angeles office, and Barbara Rae-Venter, a genetic genealogist, the duo that solved the Golden State Killer case in 2018 by finding relatives of the suspect in a genealogy database, spawning a new approach to solving crimes. Suzanna Ryan and Green cautioned that the technique is unlikely to be used widely soon, as it is complicated and sequencing each hair costs several thousand dollars.
In 2002, a hair was found beneath the stamp of the Zodiac letter that contained Paul Stine’s shirt.
As it was rootless it was deemed forensically useless. But now that might have completely changed. ‘
http://zodiackillerfacts.com/zodiac-uns … questions/
Good luck to anyone searching for that hair now, esp if the authorities thought it was forensically worthless seventeen years ago.
The article also does not say if the technique can retrieve mDNA or nDNA.
Good luck to anyone searching for that hair now, esp if the authorities thought it was forensically worthless seventeen years ago.
The article also does not say if the technique can retrieve mDNA or nDNA.
I doubt they would have thrown away something so tangible. I hope not anyway.
Good luck to anyone searching for that hair now, esp if the authorities thought it was forensically worthless seventeen years ago.
The article also does not say if the technique can retrieve mDNA or nDNA.
I doubt they would have thrown away something so tangible. I hope not anyway.
Thrown away? Maybe not.
Lost? "Permanently misplaced"?
Happens all of the time across the US every day.
You might be surprised by what cops often do with "tangible" evidence.
Good luck to anyone searching for that hair now, esp if the authorities thought it was forensically worthless seventeen years ago.
The article also does not say if the technique can retrieve mDNA or nDNA.
I doubt they would have thrown away something so tangible. I hope not anyway.
Thrown away? Maybe not.
Lost? "Permanently misplaced"?
Happens all of the time across the US every day.
You might be surprised by what cops often do with "tangible" evidence.
Wasn’t hair recovered from the Bates murder? We could all contribute and pay for a run at that here. BTW, is anyone helping Tom in Riverside? I would love to be his assistant were I in the neighborhood.
For all we know, Prof Green might already be working with the Zodiac hair.
I assume there is someone in LE smart enough to learn about this technology and remember the hair retrieval from 2002.
I have just sent the following email to Ed Green regarding Zodiac. I will post his reply if I get one.
—
Dear Professor Green,
Following the New York Times piece on your research into DNA in rootless hair, I am emailing with a question on its potential in a specific cold case.
You are probably familiar with the infamous case of the Zodiac Killer, the 1960s San Francisco Bay Area serial killer who wrote menacing letters to local media. In 2002, a hair was retrieved from the back of a stamp on one of Zodiac’s letters, but it was forensically useless due to the lack of a root.
Forensics have been trying to derive a usable DNA profile from saliva or skin cells on the back of Zodiac’s stamps. Given degradation and unreliable storage over 50 years, it is far from guaranteed this will be successful.
Could Zodiac’s rootless hair could be used to form a DNA profile that could be used for genetic genealogy research, the kind that caught the Golden State Killer? GSK’s DNA profile was compared to genealogy databases to narrow down to a prime suspect.
If you would be happy to reply then I could report back to the online community to clarify the situation. I hope California law enforcement have the Zodiac hair in storage and consider referring it to you.
Thank you for your time and best of luck with your research
Good idea!
jacob: wish you would have included the Bates murder.
I’m afraid that if you read the full article from the NYT…
"Still, neither she nor Dr. Green thinks the technique is likely to be widely embraced any time soon. Forensic labs are not set up to implement it and it’s expensive. Each hair costs several thousand dollars to sequence, and that’s before hiring a genetic genealogist to try to identify its source."
Sounds like there would have to be some major willpower to make this happen, at this point in time. Never say never, I guess.
Re: Butterfield… it was explicitly stated on the ABC special that the July 31st letters were recovered from a detective. They were not sitting in a freezer at SFPD. The special claimed that the "partial profile" came from one of those letters.
(Also, Cydne Holt, not "Cyndi Holt." 
)
I’m afraid that if you read the full article from the NYT…
"Still, neither she nor Dr. Green thinks the technique is likely to be widely embraced any time soon. Forensic labs are not set up to implement it and it’s expensive. Each hair costs several thousand dollars to sequence, and that’s before hiring a genetic genealogist to try to identify its source."
Sounds like there would have to be some major willpower to make this happen, at this point in time. Never say never, I guess.
Re: Butterfield… it was explicitly stated on the ABC special that the July 31st letters were recovered from a detective. They were not sitting in a freezer at SFPD. The special claimed that the "partial profile" came from one of those letters.
(Also, Cydne Holt, not "Cyndi Holt."
Well, hopefully the testing of the stamps in the past 12 months yields some positive results. Just good to know there is another avenue to go down. And let’s imagine the skin/saliva cells and hair were a match to a prime suspect. Very useful.
I’m quite sure that a GoFundMe for this testing would produce solid results. I know I’d contribute.
I’m quite sure that a GoFundMe for this testing would produce solid results. I know I’d contribute.
I would think Netflix, or even some independent producer, would find it a very cost-effective way to produce a show that would be very interesting, and possibly (depending what the DNA profile revealed) wildly profitable.
I’m quite sure that a GoFundMe for this testing would produce solid results. I know I’d contribute.
I would think Netflix, or even some independent producer, would find it a very cost-effective way to produce a show that would be very interesting, and possibly (depending what the DNA profile revealed) wildly profitable.
That’s a great idea. Netflix is big on true crime shows and I’ve no doubt they would stump a few thousand to help solve America’s most famous cold case.
