The suspect is described as following: White female, dog-owner, has eaten caviar, used five different types of condoms and used 257 different cosmetic products..Paris H. we got ya!!

The suspect is described as following: White female, dog-owner, has eaten caviar, used five different types of condoms and used 257 different cosmetic products..Paris H. we got ya!!

Haha, Good One!

My print would be very boring , it would show white elderly blond female carries gun for protection and is obsessed with catching the Zodiac killer.

Mixed race, black nose, strange hair, eaten pig ears, no condoms nor cosmetics..well you know..

Just some fun…wonder when RPD will check the smudge on the watch found at CJB’s crime scene (if not done so already).

QT

SDPD Crime Lab Using DNA From Ammunition to Link Suspects to Crimes

A significant number of violent crimes involve handguns, and sometimes, the only evidence left is the cartridge casing.

Published at 8:28 AM PDT on Mar 27, 2018 | Updated at 4:18 PM PDT on Mar 28, 2018
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ … 89573.html

DNA profiling has proven invaluable to investigators with the San Diego Police Department, as advancing computer software connects evidence to suspects.

But until recently, shell casings left at crime scenes were not tested for DNA.

"Previously, other agencies, including ourselves, either thought there was so little DNA left on ammunition after it was fired, or that the act of firing heated up the casing to a temperature at which the DNA was destroyed," said Patrick O’Donnell, supervising criminalist at the SDPD crime lab.

But as the sensitivity of DNA analysis improved, SDPD criminalists reevaluated that assumption.

In 2015, the crime lab tested nearly 1,000 cartridge casings from previous investigations and recovered usable DNA profiles in about 25 percent of the cases.

O’Donnell and another criminalist, Shawn Montpetit, authored their conclusion of the 9-month study in Forensic Science International.

Subsequently, all ammunition left at crime scenes are tested for DNA.

A significant number of violent crimes involve handguns, and sometimes, the only evidence left is the cartridge casing, O’Donnell explained.

"A lot of times this is just like a puzzle," he added. "You place one piece in the puzzle, and that makes it easier to place the next piece."

Even more amazing advances are on the horizon.

It’s only a matter of time that DNA profiling will be able to give investigators the kind of suspect description they currently obtain with a witness interview and a composite sketch.

"An emerging trend in DNA that I think is promising is the ability to physically predict the characteristics of the individual that was present at the crime scene," said O’Donnell.

Criminalists would be able to take blood evidence and assess a series of genes to determine a person’s eye color, facial shape, and height, and eventually, whether that person has freckles or is predisposed to baldness.

Such technology could be valuable in serial homicides and sex assaults where evidence is limited and the public is endangered, O’Donnell explained.

O’Donnell said another revolution in DNA analysis is the increasingly sophisticated software that can perform hundreds of thousands of calculations within a matter of seconds.

That data is especially helpful when numerous DNA profiles are present at a crime scene: for example, at a convenience store robbery or when several people have handled a handgun.

While DNA has become the gold standard of forensic analysis, today, about half the time, it’s still fingerprint evidence that helps investigators identify a suspect.

Only a tiny portion of a person’s fingerprint is needed for an identification. Computer software can also enhance blurry and low contrast fingerprints.

Thanks Tahoe good information. I knew about DNA being able to give eye ,hair and skin color. They can also multiply small amounts of DNA, so it takes less than it did yrs ago to get a full profile.

The gloves found in Stine’s cab showed two male DNA, I would like to know if they separated the two and if one was a match to the partial DNA they have had sense 1996 on Zodiac?
I am not talking about the TV show and Lab tech C Holt testing the "outside of a Zodiac envelope", as far as I am concerned that was strictly for show only.

Now we are told that a tiny part of a finger print or a smudged print can be used. Hopefully they will do something with the bloody print from the cab?

I am thrilled about all of the advances in forensics! So many cases have been solved because of DNA.

I wonder if they still have the spent shell casings and have checked them for DNA?

My first thought as well.

Separately, these advances make it tougher on crime novelists. I wrote one where a character asks if bullets can be traced and he gets laughed off, but not so far fetched now.

It is highly unlikely Zodiac wore gloves while pasting the images and small letters onto his pasted postcards such as the Halloween, 13 Hole and Pines Card. If these were genuine Zodiac material, then the underside of these pasted sections could be a rich source of DNA from fingertip cells, effectively pulled off from the tackiness of the glue. Equally, the glue and marker pen he used in his letters, could be analyzed chemically for comparison purposes between his correspondence. If he used the same brand each time, it should exhibit consistency, thereby validating one correspondence to another.

It is highly unlikely Zodiac wore gloves while pasting the images and small letters onto his pasted postcards such as the Halloween, 13 Hole and Pines Card. If these were genuine Zodiac material, then the underside of these pasted sections could be a rich source of DNA from fingertip cells, effectively pulled off from the tackiness of the glue. Equally, the glue and marker pen he used in his letters, could be analyzed chemically for comparison purposes between his correspondence. If he used the same brand each time, it should exhibit consistency, thereby validating one correspondence to another.

Highly unlikely he wore gloves when he loaded his gun. Not sure they could get touch DNA results from them after all these years though, possibly too degraded.

I would think they could establish the chemical makeup of the ink. And as you note, that could at least confirm they were from the same person.

But, as I often say, we don’t know everything the police know. They will hold back certain evidence and for some reason they seem convinced at least the 5 attacks are related. They might well have partial or complete prints, DNA or other such evidence connecting them.

Thanx for the info re latest DNA technology. Apparently RPD has a wealth of DNA- possible evidence re the Bates case. Any way we can find out if they’ve supplied it for examination? An early post in this thread mentioned the paint found on the killer’s watch. Bud Kelly told me that "Bob Barnett" had been painting "a shed, or small house in his parents’ back yard that he lived in." He didn’t mention if the watch’s paint and the shed’s had been compared and, unfortunately, I didn’t ask.

Dag, write to the Riverside Chief of Police and ask him:

Sergio G. Diaz

4102 Orange Street,

Riverside, CA 92501

RPDChiefOnline@riversideca.gov

(I’d also post a copy of your letter in the forums and tell the Chief that amateur Zodiac sleuths worldwide are waiting for answers.)

Thanks for your input, Xcaliber. Will do, and let you know of any feedback.

Bob Barnett’s DNA did not match the DNA in Cheri Jo’s case. Yet they don’t want to give up on him as their suspect.

I agree with Richard Grinnell’s post about where some good DNA could be found.

Napa showed me several finger prints that they were sure belonged to Zodiac. The finger prints have yet to be found in any data base. What I have learned is that not all prints get entered in the data base. That you need to go to each police station and ask them to check what you have against there prints. One program showed where a detective sent his print to 92 different stations and got a hit that way. Because it was not showing up in the national data base.

Now that it is legal to get DNA from people in prison regardless if they want to give it or not, there is a better chance of getting matches from cold cases. They are even getting DNA from prisoners who have died in prison.
Why don’t they send it in to" 23 and me" to see if they can find relatives? Being that DNA can give race, hair , eye color, why not do that to narrow down the suspects?

It seems that there is so much more that can be done.