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In reply to the discussion: (1) How Unsolved Missing Person Cases Are Solved (Pt. 1) [View all]AmyStrange
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Genetic genealogy can help solve cold cases. It can also accuse the wrong person
Science Nov 7, 2019 5:15 PM EST
On an August day in Washington state, fields of crops stretch like seas until they bump up against 100-foot-high pines. Cars are rolling over the High Bridge as locals swim in the coursing stream below. Thirty years ago, this serene scene was likely the site of a grisly crime part of a double murder that would make legal history.
Under the bridge, on Thanksgiving Day in 1987, pheasant hunters found the body of Jay Cook. The 20-year-old had been beaten around the head and strangled with twine tied to dog collars. A pack of Camel Lights had been stuffed down his throat.
Two days earlier, a passerby, more than an hours drive away had also found a body. It was Cooks girlfriend 18-year-old Tanya Van Cuylenborg.
Thursday on the PBS NewsHour, William Brangham meets people who have taken DNA tests and as a result been inadvertently involved in murder investigations because of genetic genealogy. Check your local listings for the time, and watch Part 1 here.
Tanyas body was found mostly nude on the side of the road, said James Scharf, who was a Snohomish County patrolman at the time. Shed been raped and shed been shot in the head probably right there on the side of the road.
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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/genetic-genealogy-can-help-solve-cold-cases-it-can-also-accuse-the-wrong-person
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