New Zealand Police announced today it is trialling the use of genetic testing in two of the country’s most high-profile cold cases.
Police will be working with the Institute of Environmental Science Research (ESR) to use this type of DNA testing for the unsolved murders of Mellory Manning and Alicia O’Reilly.
Similar testing has been used overseas to solve cold cases - but the process is not without some controversy.
What is the testing that’s being trialled?
Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) combines DNA testing with genealogical research.
It analyses genetic relationships between people who share very small amounts of inherited DNA with a crime scene’s DNA sample using genealogy databases and publicly available records. It’s used to help generate leads for police to investigate.
The process is already being used overseas to help solve cold cases and identify human remains.
It was most famously used in 2018 to capture the ‘Golden State Killer’, who committed more than a dozen murders and more than 50 rapes across California in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Police identified Joseph James DeAngelo Jr as the culprit after combing through the genetic technology millions of people had used to work out their family trees.
What does New Zealand’s FIGG trial involve?
Police will trial the use of this DNA testing in two unsolved murders.
Mellory Manning was murdered in Christchurch in 2008. The 27-year-old’s body was found in the Avon River.
Alicia O’Reilly was just six years old when she was found dead in her bed in Auckland in 1980.
Police said this tool is only being considered in cases where suitable DNA evidence has been captured and all other investigative avenues have been exhausted.
All physical sample testing will be completed in New Zealand, with extractions of the digital genetic code sent to a third-party international service provider.
Results from genealogy websites, where people have given law enforcement access to their records, will be used as a basis for searching publicly available records like genealogy databases, church records and libraries.
Why is this type of DNA testing controversial?
Overseas, some of the accuracy of results has been called into question.
For example, American director Michael Usry Jr found himself linked to the murder of Angie Dodge in Idaho after his father did DNA testing through Ancestry.com.
Full testing later found Usry wasn’t a match for the DNA at the crime scene.
But much of the debate over this type of DNA testing revolves around privacy issues.
While the person who uploads their DNA for testing may consent to their data being shared, all of their genetic relatives – of which there can be thousands – have not, for example.
There are also concerns that not everyone who signs up for DNA testing online understands what they are potentially agreeing to.
Will the NZ Police use this DNA testing for other cases?
The technology is only being used in the Manning and O’Reilly cases for now.
Police have developed criteria to measure the success of this first trial of the technology and will evaluate its success after using it in these two cold cases.
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