Crime, DNA, and Family: Protecting Genetic Privacy in the World of 23andMe
![handle is hein.journals/arzjl53 and id is 375 raw text is: Crime, DNA, and Family: Protecting Genetic
Privacy in the World of 23andMe
Victoria Romine*
INTRODUCTION
In 2018, the capture of the Golden State Killer, also known as the East
Area Rapist or the Original Night Stalker, captured the eyes of the nation.'
The man responsible for at least thirteen murders and fifty rapes-crimes that
many thought would never be solved-was taken into custody and charged
with capital murder.2 Why the sudden movement in a case that had been cold
for over three decades? Joseph DeAngelo, the now-infamous serial killer, was
definitively identified through DNA using a breakthrough new science:
genetic genealogy.'
At the time, the potential of this new method seemed boundless. The
public began to speculate about how many cases could finally be resolved
even infamous cold cases that had haunted communities for decades.4 The
wait was short. Only two months later, John D. Miller was charged with the
rape and murder of eight-year-old April Tinsley, who had been kidnapped
* J.D. Candidate, 2021; Executive Managing Editor, Arizona State Law Journal. Thank
you to all the wonderful Editors and Staff Writers on the Arizona State Law Journal for their
thoughtful editing. Thank you also to my faculty advisor, Professor Jessica Berch, for her
guidance, instruction, and encouragement throughout the writing process.
1. Ray Sanchez, Madeline Holcombe & Cheri Mossburg, Golden State Killer Joseph
DeAngelo Sentenced to Life in Prison, CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/21/us/golden-state-
killer-sentencing/index.html [https://perma.cc/DJ6Z-U9GY] (Aug. 21, 2020, 5:40 PM).
2. Id.
3. Emily Shapiro, The 'Golden State Killer': Inside the Timeline of Crimes, ABC NEWS
(Oct. 30, 2020, 6:39 AM), https://abcnews.go.com/US/inside-timeline-crimes-golden-state-
killer/story?id=54744307 [https://perma.cc/Q6XQ-XPPA]. For more information on the Golden
State Killer case, see generally MICHELLE MCNAMARA, I'LL BE GONE IN THE DARK (2018). More
importantly, to hear from his victims, see ABC 10, Golden State Killer Faces Families ofMurder
Victims in Court Ahead of His Sentencing, YOUTUBE (Aug. 20, 2020),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAQk8Czlzoc [https://perma.cc/6LDP-NWAL]; I'LL BE
GONE IN THE DARK (HBO television series 2020).
4. See Christal Hayes, Zodiac Killer: Can Genealogy Help Crack the 50-Year-Old Case?,
USA TODAY (May 3, 2018, 9:15 PM), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/05/03/zodiac-
killer-investigators-hope-use-genealogy-site-crack-case/579053002/ [https://perma.cc/VS2Y-
ZK7B].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/arzjl53&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Crime, DNA, and Family: Protecting Genetic Privacy in the World of 23andMe
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most