#402 How Genetic Genealogy Caught the Golden State Killer
About this episode
This episode discusses how genetic genealogy helped identify the Golden State Killer and its implications for cold-case investigations.
What happens when DNA from a decades-old crime scene meets a family tree created generations later? That combination helped investigators identify the Golden State Killer and transformed how law enforcement approaches some of the country’s most difficult cold cases. Content warning: This episode includes discussions of murder, sexual assault, suicide, and other sensitive topics. In this episode of DNA Today, host Kira Dineen speaks with Paul Holes, a retired cold-case investigator, New York Times bestselling author, podcaster, and television host. During his 27-year career with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s and District Attorney’s Offices, Paul worked on some of the most infamous cases in American criminal history, including the Zodiac murders, the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, and the investigation that ultimately identified Joseph DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer. Paul is also the author of Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases, co-host of the podcast Small Town Dicks, and one of the investigators featured in the television special Celebrity Crime Scene: Marilyn Monroe, available on Hulu. We explore the science, strategy, and ethical complexity behind cold-case…
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