READING, Pa. - Forensic genealogy is being used more and more to help the police and victims' loved ones get answers.
"Forensic genealogy is being used to identify DNA that we don't know who the source is," said Teresa Vreeland, BODE Technology director of forensic genealogy services.
Investigators recently used Virginia-based BODE Technology to help solve the murder of Cynthia Baver, who was killed at her home on North Tenth Street in Reading in 2001.
The company used forensic genealogy to help pinpoint her killer.
"We use that DNA, we process it in a lab and then we upload those results to genealogy databases," said Vreeland. "We use Family Tree DNA and GEDMatch Pro. Those both allow for law enforcement use and matching and from there we are able to find who is related by DNA to this unknown profile."
The company uses the DNA collected from crime scenes or human remains to build out a family tree. It basically generates new leads for detectives by giving them names of possible DNA donors who could be a match or related to the person of interest.
"Then the police do their normal investigative work to see who might have been in our area of interest at the time that we needed that person to be there from that family list we've provided," added Vreeland.
In Baver's case it led investigators to her then next-door neighbor, Timothy Bernard, who was arrested 22 years after her murder.
Vreeland says since the company has been doing forensic genealogy, it's provided approximately 300-400 leads to law enforcement agencies.
"They've done some numbers where they ran how many years and how many investigators have worked these cold cases and how much impact that has on that police department and then that community, you know, paying those taxes," explained Vreeland. "And so by using this route and closing that case a little bit faster, you actually are able to cut a lot of that financial responsibility."
