Victoria’s unidentified dead to be named using technique that caught American serial killer
This unique method was used to finally nab America’s notorious Golden State Killer. And now, it will be used to help identify dozens of Victorian John and Jane Does, hopefully nabbing their killers.
The DNA technique used to track down one of the America’s worst serial killers will be used to help Victorian experts identify dozens of John and Jane Does.
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine deputy director Dr Richard Bassed, flagged a plan to introduce the new method by 2021, to name scores of bodies, some of which are decades old.
It comes after American authorities used the unique method to unmask the Golden State Killer — who had committed at least 13 murders and more than 50 rapes — as a former policeman Joseph DeAngelo in 2017.
GOLDEN STATE KILLER’S DARK PAST
He was tracked down by police using DNA evidence from the crime scenes, relating to murders and rapes committed between 1974 to 1986, and placed it on an open-source genealogy website.
Authorities were able to match the DNA to distant relatives and eventually narrow in on their suspect.
Dr Bassed said the new technique could help identify the unknown dead, which are either kept at the morgue or buried at the cemetery in Springvale
“It involves getting a sufficient DNA sample from a deceased person, or a DNA sample from the suspect in the case of the Golden State Killer,” said Dr Bassed.
“The police were very clever, they just stuck it up in a version of Ancestry.com.”
“We are going to use that for our long-term missing persons. There are hundreds of them, of unidentified human remains sitting in mortuaries and places all over the country.”
VIFM are still investigating which genealogy companies could assist, but Dr Bassed said he was confident they could begin using the new method within two years.
In Victoria, between five and six bodies are unidentified every year.
These are kept in the morgue for up to six months before DNA samples are taken and the remains are buried in the cemetery in Springvale.
The Golden State Killer was arrested in 2018, decades after he had stalked and terrorised his victims.
Police believe DeAngelo began committing rapes in California in the 1970s targeting women who were alone or with only children.
Often he would enter the house before committing his crime to unlock windows and plant weapons for later use.
As his crimes escalated he targeted homes with couples inside and would tie up the man and place dinner plates on his back to act as an alarm system, before while he attacked his female victims.
He is suspected of committing his first murder in 1978.
Prosecutors in the US are seeking the death penalty.
Originally published as Victoria’s unidentified dead to be named using technique that caught American serial killer
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