Police in Florida have made an arrest in a 14 - yr - old intimate assault case with the helper of genetic information gather from a consumer family Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree enquiry website .
Jared Vaughn was formally charged with sexual battery earlier this calendar month play along an say incident 14 years ago , according to a recent pressure conference held by police in Tampa , swarm byABC Action News .
The incident occurred when a student at the University of Tampa was walk back to her residence hall after the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival in January 2007 and the suspect , a man she had never met before , offer to facilitate her home base . Once back at the dupe ’s elbow room , the defendant allegedly proceeded to sexually assault her . police force managed to receive the defendant ’s DNA from the law-breaking view , but could n’t find any match , leaving the case unsolved for over a decennary .
In March 2020 , police take up another look at the case and started to explore for clues on genealogy examination database , such as GEDmatch and FamilyTree . By sifting through the genealogy databases , detectives finagle to find congener of the suspect .
Further probe , including interview and surveillance , chair them to Jared Vaughn , a 44 - class - old humans in West Virginia . His deoxyribonucleic acid was obtained through a search warrant and came back a positive match to the inherited material gathered after the sexual assault . Vaughn surrendered and was officially charge with intimate battery on June 16 , 2021 .
“ The dupe now can have some stop in her life , ” Ruben Delgado , assistant police chief , said at the press conference .
Some outlet have reported that the suspect was chase after he submitted his own deoxyribonucleic acid to the public genealogy database , but March Brutnell , Special Agent at Florida Department of Law Enforcement , said the tip wasmade through the suspect ’s " congener found on public family tree databases . "
customer use genealogy serving to track their family story and , in doing so , also submit their genetic data to their company . 23andMe , Helix , and Ancestry have kept their genetic databasesclosedto law enforcement without a warrant . However , other genealogy websites do allow police to practice their public databases if customers have opted in for police enforcement matching .
Recent years have seen a number of vicious cases brought to justice with the supporter of consumer genealogy websites , most notably the identification andarrest ofJoseph James DeAngelo , better known as theGolden State Killer . As another case , aSwedish man wasconvicted in 2020for killing a fry and a adult female in an unprovoked stabbing attack back in 2004 .
Although genealogy databases have proved to be an priceless creature for investigators appear at cold case where leads have dried up , there have been some concerns about whether they conflict personalprivacy . Just recently , both Maryland and Montanahave made it tougherfor forensic methods to be used in criminal cases in lodge to safeguard peoples ’ genetic privacy . Police are still permit to use the debates , but will be command to obtain hunt warrants beforehand .
