Green light for the use of genealogy DNA databases
Limburg district court has given permission for the use of genealogy DNA databases for family relationship analysis in two cold cases. The Public Prosecution Service (OM), the police and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) will now be using this investigative method, which has proven successful internationally, in a pilot in the hope of forcing a breakthrough in investigations which have hit a dead end.
Family relationship analysis using (private) genealogy DNA databases can offer a solution when all the available methods of investigation have not led to a breakthrough in a criminal case. Comparing the DNA profile of an unidentified deceased person or an unidentified suspect against the DNA profiles of individuals in a genealogy DNA database can reveal relatives (possibly distant relatives) of the unidentified person. With the help of those relatives, it is then possible to establish the identity of the suspect or the unidentified deceased person using genealogical research.
‘Hill murder’ cold case
The first cold case in which this method is being used concerns a home invasion with a fatal outcome. On 14 August 2004, Mr and Mrs Leukel from Berg en Terblijt were brutally attacked in their home.An unidentified man attacked them with weapons including a saw. Sjef Leukel (68) died at the scene of his injuries. His wife fell into a coma, from which she awoke ten days later. The case attracted national attention, becoming known as the ‘hill murder’. Despite a long and extensive investigation, the offer of a reward for the crucial tip-off and the presence of a lot of trace evidence belonging to the perpetrator, his identity and the motive have always remained unknown.
Unidentified deceased woman
The other selected case is the investigation into an unidentified deceased woman. The police and the Public Prosecutor believe she was the victim of an offence. Her body was found near Pietersplas in Maastricht on 6 January 2013. In spite of extensive investigations, the identity of the woman remains unknown to this day. This fact has also hampered the judicial investigation into the crime. Family relationship analysis using genealogy DNA databases is the final attempt to establish her identity.
Hope of a breakthrough
Dave Mattheijs, the Limburg public prosecutor who is leading the investigation in both cases, is pleased that the judge has given the green light. “These cold cases involve serious crimes and there is sufficient DNA material available to make suitable profiles. With this pilot, the Public Prosecution Service and the Limburg police cold case team hope to find relatives of the unidentified victim and the unidentified suspect, so that we can finally tell the next of kin what happened.”
Even if relatives, including distant relatives, are identified, the investigation will not be complete. “That requires that any genealogy research is also successful, which depends in part on the availability and completeness of personal archives and population registers”, says national forensic investigation officer Mirjam Warnaar. “In this pilot, we are attempting to understand how this investigative method can be used in the Netherlands in the future and which other cases it might be suitable for. It is possible that other cases may be added to the pilot.”
Safeguards
The two databases being used for the investigation are based in the United States. The great majority of individuals in those databases are descended from people from north-west Europe, which means they are very usable for Dutch criminal cases. The comparisons are exclusively performed using the DNA profiles of people who have given the database operator their explicit prior consent.
The existing legislation allows for the use of this now internationally tested method. Legal, technical and ethical aspects, as well as privacy, have been taken into account. The DNA profiles are compared once with those of the participants who have given their consent. If the Public Prosecution Service is informed that the databases contain relatives of the unidentified individuals, that information merely provides the starting point for drawing up a family tree. Those relatives thereafter play no role in the criminal investigation.
Genealogy research
Privacy is also safeguarded in the genealogy research conducted by genealogists under the direction of the Public Prosecution Service. The research is based on data available from public (mostly digital) sources, such as the civil registry, church registers, emigration registers and obituaries. Individuals who are included in the family tree but can be discounted as the unidentified victim or suspect are not investigated further. The genealogy research is solely focused on the names of a possible perpetrator or deceased person. Only comparison of the DNA of the potential suspect or deceased person revealed by the investigation can ultimately be of evidentiary value.