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Genealogy sites have helped solve major crimes. Police in Nancy Guthrie’s case might turn to them
Same technology that led to arrest of Jerry Burns in 1979 Cedar Rapids murder could shed light on Arizona abduction
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Authorities trying to solve the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie say they might tap DNA genealogy databases, the same step that police took to unravel a decades-old series of murders in California, the fatal stabbings of four college students in Idaho, and the 1979 slaying of a teenager in Cedar Rapids.
The strategy could be fruitful: If unidentified DNA evidence can be connected to someone — even a distant relative — in a common genealogy database, it would give investigators more information and possibly lead to a suspect in Guthrie’s kidnapping in Arizona.
“It’s a fantastic tool,” said Ruth Ballard, a geneticist in California who specializes in DNA and has testified in hundreds of court cases. “If it’s a good quality sample and they’re able to get a profile, they could find a hit on that fairly quickly.”
The sheriff's department in Pima County, Arizona, said DNA collected so far in the investigation has not turned up any matches in a national criminal justice database known as CODIS, which has DNA profiles from convicted criminals and, in some states, people arrested for certain crimes.
“Investigators are currently looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches. CODIS is one option of many databases that are available,” the sheriff's department said Tuesday.
The department said Wednesday that biological evidence from Guthrie's Tucson-area home was being examined and that DNA profiles were at a lab for analysis.
Guthrie, the mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing from her home since Feb. 1. The FBI said gloves found about 2 miles away appeared to match those worn by a masked suspect who was recorded on a porch camera.
Genealogy sites Ancestry, 23andMe and MyHeritage say they can be asked to comply with court orders seeking information. Another site, GEDmatch, said its policy is to ask users if they want to opt in to allow police to look at their data. The Associated Press emailed the companies, asking if they have a role in the Guthrie investigation.
GEDmatch has been credited with helping solve the case of the so-called Golden State Killer. Police used DNA from crime scenes to find a distant relative and build a family tree that led to Joseph DeAngelo Jr. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to 13 killings and dozens of rapes in California in the 1970s and '80s. He is serving life in prison without possibility of parole.
The GEDmatch site also was instrumental in solving the decades-long cold case of Michelle Martinko, a Cedar Rapids high school student who was found stabbed to death in her parents’ car in the parking lot of Westdale Mall on Dec. 19, 1979. Jerry Burns, of Manchester, was arrested on Dec. 19, 2018, because of a DNA profile developed from blood found on Martinko’s dress.
The profile found a hit with DNA from a distant cousin in the GEDmatch database, which is public. Investigators then narrowed down family trees of great-grandparents to a first cousin and then Burns and his two brothers. The brothers were eliminated as suspects during the investigation.
Barbara Rae-Venter, an expert genealogist who worked on the DeAngelo case, said patience often is needed in high-tech sleuthing.
“I’ve solved cases in less than eight hours where people shared a lot of DNA with the suspect. Other cases, you’re still working on them two years later. This could take awhile,” Rae-Venter told CNN, referring to the Guthrie effort.
In Idaho, DNA from a knife sheath helped point to Bryan Kohberger in the killings of four University of Idaho students in 2022. Investigators used genealogy sites to build a family tree and pulled trash from the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger's parents to make a connection. Kohberger pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
Ballard said the source and quality of the DNA evidence held by police can be factors when trying to find matches on genealogy sites.
“It does require a much better sample than CODIS searching does,” she said.
And there can be other hurdles.
“There are a lot of unknowns when you go into these databases,” Ballard said. “The databases are not equal in terms of ethnic distribution. It’s comparatively easier to find a Caucasian because more have uploaded their data and there are more family trees to mine.”
Trish Mehaffey of The Gazette contributed to this report.
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