Solving murder mysteries with genomics

[TW: murder, mention of suicide, violent imagery]

In order to seek genomic justice, you have to get out of the lab and into the field.

Dr. Kaylee Byers grabs a magnifying glass and a deerstalker cap as she goes to the scene of one of North America’s oldest cold case murder mysteries, the “Babes in the Woods.” This over 70-year-old unsolved case has finally had some closure due to emerging forensic genomic science.

But while looking for leads, Dr. Byers spots a bright red thread pointing her to questions about how our genomics are being accessed by law enforcement. How can genomics bring justice to unsolved mysteries? And at what cost are we willing to pay to find answers?

Genetic Genealogist, Cece Moore, from ABC’s Prime time series The Genetic Detective helps connect the dots. And partnering with us to get to the bottom of one of Canada’s oldest mysteries is true crime author and podcaster Eve Lazarus from Cold Case Canada.

Listen to Nice Genes! wherever you get your podcasts, brought to you by Genome British Columbia.

Check out this episode's Learn-A-Long at the following link: https://bit.ly/3vULWxp

Warning. This episode contains details of murder mysteries, suicide, and ongoing investigations some listeners may feel uncomfortable with.

Resources: 

1. Eve Lazarus, Author and Podcaster


2. Murder, Mystery and Intrigue in Review: Babes in the Woods


3. Cece Moore - the DNA Detective


4. How Your Family Tree Could Catch a Killer - The New Yorker


5. Genetics, Law enforcement and crime - Personal Genetics Education Project


6. Killer Eludes Police for 31 years - how did one woman find him in two hours? - cbsnews


7. Seattle man's conviction for 1987 murders of B.C.'s Tanya van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook overturned - CBC


8. The National DNA Data Bank - The B.C. Civil Liberties Association


9. For nearly 70 years, these 2 murdered boys were known as the 'Babes in the Woods.' Now they finally have names - CBC


10. Maryland V. King - 2013 Supreme Court decision on Maryland DNA Collection Act


11. Supreme Court Upholds Warrantless Collection Of DNA - NPR


12. How DNA can reunite families - Endeavor DNA Laboratories

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