Crime, DNA, and Family: Protecting Genetic Privacy in the World of 23andMe
Victoria Romine* Full Article. Introduction In 2018, the capture of the “Golden State Killer,” also known as the “East Area Rapist” or the “Original Night Stalker,” captured the eyes of the nation.[1] The man responsible for at least thirteen murders and fifty rapes—crimes that many thought would never be solved—was taken into custody and charged with capital murder.[2] Why the sudden movement in a case that had been cold for over three decades? Joseph DeAngelo, the now-infamous serial killer, was definitively identified through DNA using a breakthrough new science: genetic genealogy.[3] At the time, the potential of this new method…