Barbara Rae-Venter
Definition
The genetic genealogist who led the family-tree reconstruction in the Golden State Killer investigation. Previously used the same technique to identify an unidentified homicide victim (Baby Jane Doe) in 2017, demonstrating the technique's value in both suspect-identification and victim-identification contexts.
- Field
- Investigative genetic genealogy
- Known case
- Golden State Killer, family-tree reconstruction
- Earlier case
- Baby Jane Doe identification, 2017
Common questions
What made Barbara Rae-Venter's approach to the Golden State Killer case notable?+
She applied genetic genealogy methods, building out family trees from DNA matches in a public genealogy database, to narrow down a suspect pool through shared ancestry rather than a direct database hit, which was a departure from conventional forensic DNA database searching and helped establish the approach as a viable investigative technique.
How does the Baby Jane Doe case show a different application of the same technique?+
In that case the technique was used to identify an unknown deceased victim rather than to identify a living suspect, working from the victim's own DNA profile back through matching relatives, which demonstrated that genetic genealogy could resolve unidentified-remains cases as well as active suspect investigations.
Did this work rely on the same DNA databases used for standard forensic CODIS searches?+
No, the genealogical approach used consumer and public genetic genealogy databases such as GEDmatch, which contain SNP-based profiles voluntarily uploaded by members of the public for ancestry purposes, rather than the STR-based CODIS system used for routine law enforcement DNA database matching.
Related terms
- Centimorgans (cM)
- The unit of genetic map distance used to measure shared DNA between individuals. A first-degree relative shares approximately 2,550 cM; a third...
- CODIS
- The FBI's Combined DNA Index System, the US national STR-based forensic DNA database. Contains profiles from convicted offenders, arrestees, and unidentified crime-scene...
- ForenSeq Kintelligence
- A Verogen (formerly Illumina) forensic SNP genotyping kit targeting approximately 10,000 kinship-informative SNPs, designed to generate profiles compatible with consumer genealogy databases...
- GEDmatch
- A consumer genealogy database founded in 2010, used in the Golden State Killer investigation. Changed from opt-out to opt-in for law-enforcement access...
- Genetic Genealogist
- A specialist who combines DNA match data with traditional genealogical record research to reconstruct family trees. In forensic IGG casework, the genetic...
- Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG)
- A forensic identification technique that uploads a crime-scene DNA profile to a consumer genealogy database, identifies partial matches suggesting distant family relationships,...
- Opt-in Policy
- The GEDmatch policy adopted in May 2019 requiring database users to affirmatively consent for their profile to be visible in law-enforcement queries,...
- Parabon NanoLabs
- A US company that became the primary commercial provider of forensic IGG casework following the Golden State Killer case, offering the Snapshot...
- Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)
- A position in the genome where a single nucleotide varies between individuals. Consumer DTC genomic tests genotype hundreds of thousands of SNPs;...