What is genetic genealogy? Method used to identify Bryan Kohberger also helped find BTK Killer, Grim Sleeper
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently.
MOSCOW, IDAHO: The man who murdered Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, in the early hours of November 13 walked into the court on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. Bryan Kohberger has waived extradition and is eager to go back to Idaho to learn what kind of evidence the police have against him. As the media tried to contact the suspect, he remained stoic and kept walking. Now, there seems to be a connection between Kohberger and serial killers like BTK Killer, the Grim Sleeper, and the Golden State Killer.
Kohberger was a PhD student at Washington State University and graduated from DeSales University. He was a straight-A student of Dr Katherine Ramsland, a forensic psychologist who focused on extreme offenders and has written almost 69 books. Ramsland has collaborated with the infamous serial killer Dennis Rader, aka the “Bind, Torture, Kill [BTK]” murderer. The connection between these serial killers and Bryan Kohberger, who is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, is how they were caught by the police. While the investigators have remained low-key about the details, it was claimed that police identified Kohberger by using "genetic genealogy" which is coincidently the same method used to identify several serial killers across history.
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What is genetic genealogy?
Genetic genealogy is a process in which authorities identify the DNA of their suspect, and then run it through a public database to trace potential relatives. CeCe Moore, the chief genetic genealogist at Parabon NanoLabs and founder of DNA Detectives, previously told Daily Mail that it is a long process. She said, "You’re really hoping for a second cousin, but probably in this case they were working with third, fourth, and fifth cousins … he most likely has never met the people whose DNA were on the list." The process is exhaustive as the genealogy databases contain samples from ordinary people who have voluntarily submitted DNA for testing.
Use of genetic genealogy in crimes
The BTK killer murdered 10 people over three decades. Genetic genealogy further helped investigators in California identify Lonnie David Franklin Jr as the Grim Sleeper who murdered Black women in Los Angeles from 1984 to 2007. The police landed their guess on Franklin Jr after they found a genetic similarity to a DNA sample provided by his son Christopher. The latter was convicted on a felony weapons charge in 2008.
Another case that the technique helped solve was of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr who was a former police officer infamously known as the Golden State Killer. The DNA method is the eerie connection between these convicted serial killers and Bryan Kohberger who might have studied all their cases and researched them while studying criminology.