DNA Test Links Woman To Cold Case Murder That Happened Before She Was Born

A woman received a call at the end of last month from law enforcement confirming that they had matched her 23andMe test to a case involving a murder that was cold.

Jackie Vadurro thought the homicide detectives were kidding around, but it turned out that they weren’t. The homicide case wasn’t recent, either — it was thirty-six years old.

“I was so taken aback,” Vadurro Submitted The New York Post. 

“I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong,” She said: “But when the police call you about a murder, you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, what am I involved in?’”

Vadurro also discussed the situation via social media. She said that no one ever said the woman who was killed was missing and authorities don’t know who she is. She has also noted that officials have discovered that she was a third- or second-degree cousin to the woman who perished.

Detectives have also discovered that she was on Vadurro’s maternal side and officials think that she was her mother’s great-grandfather’s illegitimate child.

“Me and this Jane Doe share DNA, she’s part of me,” She spoke. “I’m glad that I’m able to bring her story to light, and hopefully [help] catch the horrible person who killed her.”

While the story is interesting, it raises some important questions. Besorgnization about security and privacy of people’s personal information, especially when it comes to their biological information.

A 2018 Report Science reported that researchers were able use DNA to quickly identify individuals to less than twenty people.  

And it’s not the first time DNA has been used to solve murder cases that were previously unsolvable. Authorities were able in 2020 to capture an alleged killer after his distant relative Your DNA is hers GedMatch. 

“I didn’t really think anything would come of it,” Jessi Still said. “I just uploaded it on there. Kind of forgot about it.”

An investigator with the sheriff’s department reached out to Still over email and said she was a relative match to the person suspected of murdering Helene Pruszynski in 1980. 

“They told me that they had gotten [my DNA profile] from GedMatch. That I had shown up as the closest DNA relative to this person that was the murderer,” Still to be said. “First, I thought maybe it was a joke or a prank. I really didn’t know what to make of it. Nobody ever wants to think about being related to the killer. Which, of course, I don’t want either.”

They used her DNA information, among other tactics, to find and arrest James Clanton, to whom she is related via her father’s great, great, great grandparents. 

“It’s really just made me realize, like, everything is connected and it’s a small world,” She spoke.

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