Missouri using home genealogy testing to solve crimes

Various law enforcement agencies across the country are using results from home genealogy test kits to solve crimes, and Missouri is no exception. 

Darren Haslag is a master sergeant with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. 

He doesn’t know exactly when the use of genetic genealogy to solve cold cases started, but says it really took off about 5 years ago with the identity of the Golden State Killer in California. 

Haslag tells Newstalk KZRG:  “They were collecting DNA, but the DNA really wasn’t matching to anybody that’s in a system that many states have. And at that point a group of investigators and detectives decided to submit samples to ancestry websites, basically.” 

Haslag says the Highway Patrol is currently using genetic genealogy to investigate two violent sexual assaults that occurred in southern Missouri. He can’t comment any further on those two cases.