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Please see our “Did You Know?” section toward the end of this issue. Topic: Effects of subpopulation structure on probability calculations of DNA profiles from forensic PCR analysis DNA Labs International is proud to say that our first issue of The DNA Informant was published exactly one year ago today. In this time, our readership has grown tremendously – from a small group of scientists and law enforcement officials to over 3000 subscribers. The format and content of our newsletter has been fairly consistent, and although many of you have given thoughts and input throughout the year, we would again like to get your feedback. If you have a few minutes, please follow the link below. We appreciate your thoughts. http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/newsletter_survey.html In the news over the past two weeks, a representation of where the American public stands on DNA testing was given in a survey indicating that “ninety-three percent of the respondents favored using DNA to identify criminals in rape, murder and other crimes.” In Massachusetts, “district attorneys have issued new guidelines about how quickly forensics evidence should be analyzed and how suspects should be interrogated.” In Maryland, in an effort to “beef up” the DNA database, inmates will now be swabbed before leaving the courthouse. The Department of Justice issued a report entitled, "Lessons Learned from 9/11: DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents" which will serve as a “guide for localities that may be involved in similar identifications in the future.” And as always we are including a number of new and ongoing cases involving the use of DNA evidence. The U.S. public has high trust in genetics for establishing paternity, testing for diseases and gene therapy, a survey finds. Ninety-three percent of U.S. adults feel that genetic science is a good thing, while 1 percent feels it is a bad thing, according to a Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Healthcare Poll of 3,091 U.S. adults. Ninety-three percent of the survey respondents favored using DNA to identify criminals in rape, murder and other crimes; 92 supported its use in establishing paternity; 91 percent in preventing and treating diseases; 88 percent in genetic testing; 87 percent in genetic therapy to treat people with a disease, and 72 percent to screen potential parents for inherited diseases or genetic weaknesses. However, most did not want DNA used when it comes to jobs or insurance coverage. Eight-one percent did not want DNA used to help decide whether to employ somebody, 80 percent did not want to use DNA to help life insurance companies determine who to insure or how much to charge, and 80 percent did not want genetics to help health insurance companies determine those things. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref01.html Spurred by the discovery of more than a dozen wrongful convictions in recent years, Massachusetts' district attorneys have issued new guidelines about how quickly forensics evidence should be analyzed and how suspects should be interrogated. The Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, in a report released Friday, recommended the state beef up staffing at the State Police Crime Lab to slash the time it takes to analyze DNA samples used to identify suspects or exonerate them. It also urged the state to increase the number of chemists at the crime lab from 30 to 80. Geline W. Williams , executive director of the association, said the hiring would help reduce the backlog. While the district attorneys would like to see a one-month turnaround on DNA samples, the analysis now takes about 10 months, she said. And that's an improvement: a year ago, the analysis took 18 months, she said. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref02.html Maryland's DNA database holds the genetic identity of tens of thousands of felons and is credited with solving even more crimes, and in an effort to beef up the database even more, the samples are now being taken even before the inmate leaves the courthouse. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref03.html The Department of Justice today issued the report, "Lessons Learned from 9/11: DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents." The report is the result of the Kinship Data Analysis Panel (KADAP), which the department convened immediately after the terrorist attacks in 2001 to help the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in New York identify victims' remains so they could be returned to their families. The panel was assembled by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research, development and evaluation arm of the Justice Department. The number of victims from the World Trade Center attacks, the condition of their remains, and the duration of the recovery effort made the identification the most difficult ever undertaken by the forensic science community. "Lessons Learned from 9/11: DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents" offers guidance on the myriad issues the forensic community must face in a mass disaster to ensure that all victims can be accounted for, and identified. "Valuable lessons have come out of the tragedy of 9/11 that will serve as an important guide in other mass disasters," said Assistant Attorney General Regina B. Schofield of the Office of Justice Programs. "Victim assistance is a high priority for the Department of Justice and after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, we assembled the best minds to help identify victims' remains. The lessons learned contained in this report will provide invaluable advice to those involved in mass fatality identification efforts in the future, to be prepared and ready to handle similar situations." The identification process following the attacks of Sept. 11 was the largest effort of its kind in the United States to date and this report, published as part of the President's DNA Initiative, will serve as a valuable guide for localities that may be involved in similar identifications in the future. Drafts of the report have been requested and already sent to officials who responded to Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asian tsunami. Throughout the entire World Trade Center identification process, the KADAP identified, analyzed and created new approaches in the collection and organization of victim and reference samples and DNA analysis software to assist the OCME. The result of that effort is the report, which contains policy recommendations to public officials to prepare for such disasters, guides for laboratory officials for collection and analysis of DNA, sample laboratory worksheets and other reference guides. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref04.html New and ongoing cases involving the use of DNA evidence include: Connecticut - State police arrested a man with 28 previous arrests Friday after they said DNA and a pair of Nike sneakers connected the man to three robberies in 2004, including a bank holdup in which more than $8,000 was taken. Keith C. Laubenheimer, 41, had previously been arrested 27 times in Connecticut and one other time in New Jersey. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref05.html Missouri - For months, sex crimes detectives were unable to come up with a suspect after a 14-year-old girl was forcibly raped March 13 in an alley in the 6000 block of Michigan Avenue. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref06.html Washington - In what a defense attorney says is a first for Washington State, a 10-year-old rape conviction has been reversed on the basis of DNA testing that was not available during the trial. The ruling was issued Wednesday in the case of Ted Bradford, 33, following a state Appeals Court ruling that sent the issue back to Yakima County Superior Court. Bradford's family and other supporters gasped as Judge H. Robert Hackett Jr. announced his decision. "He's too keyed up to talk right now," said one of his lawyers, Jacqueline "Jackie" McMurtrie, "but I can tell you he's thrilled with the result today - and that he's innocent." Deputy Prosecutor Kevin G. Eilmes said it could take weeks before his agency decides whether to try to bring Bradford to trial again. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref07.html New Jersey - A 17-year-old Lindenwold resident charged with killing a Cherry Hill woman in March was linked to the crime through DNA evidence collected after the youth pleaded guilty to an unrelated sexual assault, prosecutors said. The juvenile appeared Tuesday in Family Court for a detention hearing related to the murder charge. Superior Court Judge Angelo DiCamillo ordered him held without bail in the Camden County Youth Detention Center in Gloucester Township. Prosecutors say the juvenile fatally stabbed Rasheedah McEady, a 39-year-old mother of three, in March in the bedroom of her home on Perot Avenue in Cherry Hill. The juvenile was known to McEady, but neither homicide investigators nor members of her family would comment on the connection. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref08.html Florida - Three years after an armed intruder sexually assaulted a woman in her home, DNA testing has identified a suspect, police said Tuesday. DNA collected from the woman's apartment matched a sample belonging to Felix, Fort Lauderdale police said. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref09.html Florida - Putnam County sheriff's detectives said they have caught the man who carjacked and fatally stabbed an East Palakta man two years ago. Otis Finch Jr., 26, is accused of stabbing 47-year-old Timothy Eugene Curry and leaving him to die in the 100 block of Federal Point Road on Aug. 13, 2004. Investigators said Curry was seen driving an acquaintance's vehicle, a 1999 Ford truck, the night before he was found stabbed. Jacksonville police stopped what they believed was that truck later that day, and the two brothers inside told officers they were given the truck in exchange for drugs. Blood found in the truck was analyzed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and in November 2005, a DNA match with that blood sample was made with Finch, who was serving a sentence for an April 2005 robbery in St. Johns County. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref10.html Arizona - An ex-con has been charged with raping two sisters last year in Phoenix, one of a string of crimes tied to the "Baseline Killer." Mark Goudeau lives in the area where most of the "Baseline Killer" homicides, rapes and robberies occurred, the Arizona Republic reported. Investigators say his DNA matches samples taken from the sisters, who were attacked and sexually assaulted as they walked through a park at night. Detectives have found forensic evidence that links 11 of the "Baseline Killer" crimes, including all eight homicides, police have said. Another 12 crimes, including the rapes Goudeau has been charged with, have a similar modus operandi. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref11.html Missouri - A 2001 Cape Girardeau rape was purportedly solved when DNA evidence matched that of a Missouri prison inmate, officials said. Ontario R. Reed, 23, formerly of the Malden, Mo., area, was charged Thursday with felony forcible sodomy and forcible rape. Bond was set at $500,000 cash only. Nearly five years later [in 2006] on July 27, the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab reported to the Cape Girardeau Police Department that a DNA sample taken from the rape scene had been matched to Reed. Reed, currently serving a 10-year sentence at the Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City, Mo., for an unrelated robbery conviction, submitted a second sample to Cape Girardeau police for confirmation, which also matched. Reed was scheduled to be transported from Jefferson City to Cape Girardeau County for an initial appearance Sept. 25 before Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp. If convicted, Reed could face up to a life sentence, which Swingle said he would pursue. Soure: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref12.html North Carolina — A DNA sample taken from Vaughn Antonio Jones matches a sample found at the home of the couple he is charged with killing, according to testimony given Thursday. Brenda Bissett, a former DNA specialist for the state Bureau of Investigation, said she was able to match blood from a boning knife presumed to be the murder weapon as well as several stains throughout the house to samples taken from the deceased, Richard and Rosa Flowers. She also said she obtained a DNA sample from a work coat that belonged to Jones. That sample turned up a hit on the state’s DNA database, which prompted investigators to obtain a blood sample from Jones, she said. Jones is accused of beating and stabbing to death Richard and Rosa Flowers of Merritt on Jan. 13, 2003. The couple owned Custom Steel Boats, where Jones worked as an employee. The prosecution has offered robbery as a motive for the crime. If convicted, Jones could face the death penalty. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref13.html Louisiana - A Slidell man's saliva was used to convict him of cocaine possession last week, and because of his extensive criminal history, he faces a sentence of as much as 20 years in prison. Herbert Pichon, 34, was found guilty Thursday, according to the St. Tammany Parish district attorney's office. A six-person jury took just over an hour to reach the verdict at the 22nd Judicial District Court in Covington. Pichon was arrested Nov. 4, 2004, after leading police on a foot chase, according to Rick Wood, a spokesman for the district attorney's office. Officers had seen Pichon take something from his pocket and put it in his mouth; as they were chasing him, he spit something out. Police recovered a plastic bag of crack cocaine; DNA tests proved the saliva on the bag was Pichon's. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref16.html Texas – A Dallas man with a violent criminal past sits in the Collin County Jail, accused of stabbing Sarah Anne Walker 27 times. And McKinney police are confident they have the right man. Police will not say that a DNA match led to the arrest of Kosoul Chanthakoummane, 25, but sources told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that DNA taken from physical evidence at the crime scene matches the suspect's DNA. Forensic evidence, which McKinney police refused to elaborate on, combined with witness statements and a composite sketch that resembles Mr. Chanthakoummane, all led police to the suspect. Then they factored in his felony record. "All of these pieces start to funnel in the same direction" toward Mr. Chanthakoummane, said McKinney police Capt. Randy Roland, who oversees the criminal investigation unit. "We are absolutely confident that he committed this crime." Mr. Chanthakoummane, who is being held on a capital murder charge in lieu of $1 million bail, has refused all media interview requests. None of his family members could be reached for comment Wednesday. DNA from felony convicts is placed in a national database. Mr. Chanthakoummane's conviction matches the criteria for inclusion in the database, Capt. Roland said, refusing to comment on whether a DNA match was made. "We want to preserve a Collin County jury pool, so when it's time, we can keep the case in Collin County," Capt. Roland said. Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref17.html Missouri - April Webb may have lost hope that her mother's killer would be caught, but Source: http://www.dnalabsinternational.com/email_newsletter/vol_27_sep_06/vol27_ref18.html Kentucky - Three murders, but just one suspect. It is something police wouldn't have known if it weren't for DNA testing. A national database that allows investigators to compare suspects' DNA shows the same suspect is responsible for three Lexington murders. The first one happened in 1999, when Doris Roberts was killed in her home. About three years later in 2002, Sonora Allen was found dead in a parking lot just a few miles from her home. And then just five months ago in April 2006, Erica Butler was found dead in her home on Kenton Street. Police are forming a Cold Case Homicide Task Force to investigate the homicides --something that may be unprecedented, according to Police Chief Anthany Beatty. "I don't think in the history of our city we've ever had anyone designated on a series of homicides that were connected," Chief Beatty said. Local investigators say they're meeting with the FBI this week to review the cases and decide what their next moves are in the investigation. Police say they have notified the families of the link between the cases. Did You Know? Topic: Effects of subpopulation structure on probability calculations of DNA profiles from forensic PCR analysis DNA typing for forensic identification is a two-step process. The first step involves determining the profiles of samples collected at the crime scene and comparing them with the profiles obtained from suspects and the victims. In the case of a match that includes the suspect as the potential source of the material collected at the crime scene, the last step in the process is to answer the question, what is the likelihood that someone in addition to the suspect could match the profile of the sample studied? This likelihood is calculated by determining the frequency of the suspect's profile in the relevant population databases. The design of forensic databases and the criteria for comparison has been addressed by the NRC report of 1996 (National Research Council, 1996). However, the fact that geographical proximity, migrational patterns, and even cultural and social practices have effects on subpopulation structure establishes the grounds for further study into its effects on the calculation of probability of occurrence values. The issue becomes more relevant in the case of discrete polymorphic markers that show higher probability of occurrence in the reference populations, where several orders of magnitude difference between the databases may have an impact on the jury. In this study, we calculated G values for all possible pairwise comparisons of allelic frequencies in the different databases from the races or subpopulations examined. In addition, we analyzed a set of 24 unrelated Caucasian, 37 unrelated African-American, and 96 unrelated Sioux/Chippewa individuals for seven polymorphic loci (DQA1, LDLR, GYPA, HBGG, D7S8, GC, and D1S80). All three sets of individuals where sampled from Minnesota. The probability of occurrence for all seven loci was calculated with respect to nine different databases: Caucasian, Arabic, Korean, Sioux/Chippewa, Navajo, Pueblo, African American, Southeastern Hispanic, and Southwestern Hispanic. Analysis of the results demonstrated marked differences in the probabilities of occurrence when individuals were compared to the different populations and subpopulation databases. The possible genetic and forensic consequences of subpopulation structure on probability calculations are discussed. For more information on how to obtain the full report, please go to: http://www.springerlink.com/content/u253mx736486603n/ The DNA Informant is a free bi-weekly email newsletter, published by DNA Labs International. DNA Labs International is a private, ISO 17025 Accredited, Forensic Serology and DNA Identity Testing Laboratory, founded in 2004 by a Board Certified Fellow in Molecular Biology with over two decades of experience in Forensic Serology and DNA Analysis in United States Crime Labs. Our primary mission is to help our clients identify criminals within their jurisdiction by providing timely, accurate and cost effective DNA testing results. To do this we created an organization based on industry best practices from over 20 State Crime Labs around the United States. We are located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, just minutes from the Fort Lauderdale airport. DNA Labs International’s services are now available for individual cases and outsourcing contracts. Please keep us in mind as you start to consider your outsourcing needs, regular and rush cases and DNA case review. 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