Grim Sleeper Linked to 3 more Killings

Link reporting 6 new victims was bad.
Grim Sleeper linked to 3 more victims.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/03/grim-sleeper-case-3-more-murders-linked-to-alleged-serial-killer.html

Serial Rapist May Be Targeting Texas Sorority Alumnae

PLANO, Texas – Police are looking for a serial rapist who may be targeting sorority alumnae in at least three North Texas cities, where at least four women have been attacked in their homes by a man who reportedly claimed he knew personal details about his victims

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/25/police-say-serial-rapist-may-be-targeting-texas-sorority-alumnae/#ixzz1bpNWCWbn

Unidentified Body in Ore.

The body of a man found in Seaside, Ore. has not been identified.  The body was discovered earlier this month. The fingerprints do not match anyone in the database.  Detectives have asked the FBI and Interpol for their assistance to compare the body’s DNA and dental records with missing persons throughout the U.S.

Read more here.

Mass Bay Community College Familial DNA Debate

The Mass Bay Community College Conference on DNA and Civil Liberties II” at the college’s Wellesley Hills Campus from November 10-12, 2011 will feature a debate on Familial DNA. The conference features "the world’s most renowned forensic DNA Scientists."

Read more here.

Bradford, Conn. to develop local DNA Database

The police in Bradford, Conn. are tired of competing with crimes from large cities for resources for DNA profile processing, and will be the first city in the state to implement their own DNA database.

Read more here.

Grim Sleeper case and LAPD

The L.A. Police Department Cold Case Unit uses DNA and familial DNA searching to arrest serial killers.
Examples include the Grim Sleeper.

Read more here.

FBI DNA Database Upgrades come under fire

Proposed updates to CODIS would expand the number of genetic markers used to classify individual profiles.  In May 2010, the FBI established a six-strong working group to review the core loci used for database searches. It has now recommended the current set of 13 markers be increased to 24. The new scheme passed over markers on the Y-Chromosome that would be useful for familial DNA searching.
Read more here.

Gainsville, Fl: Serial Rapist Search

Police are searching for a rapist who attacked four women in Florida. The attacks occurred in Gainsville and Ocala.

Now, police all across the country are searching for a suspect. They've gathered DNA evidence from each of the crimes, however, officials have no significant leads.

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/october/328851/Warning-to-women:-Possible-serial-rapist-in-Ocala

Read more here.

Lynette White case: Forensics 'led to Jeffrey Gafoor'

UK-
Familial DNA helped lead to the identification of Lynette White's killer 15 years after her death.  Gafoor admitted to the murder.

Three other men were imprisioned for the murder in 1990 and released on appeal in 1992.
Read more from the BBC.

Bundy Update: No DNA profile from 8 Year old Murder Victim

DNA evidence will not be able to determine if Ted Bundy did, in fact, kill an 8 year old girl in Tacoma, WA. 50 years ago.  Investigators were unable to create a suspect profile from the remains of the victim.

Read more here.

FL: DNA Links 5 Rapes

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —

Police say they believe the same man is responsible for five rapes in Palm Beach County since 2009.
The most recent attack was on a 22-year-old woman in Lake Worth on Sept. 23.
Read more here.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/10/palm_beach_county_serial_rapist_attack_five.php

New York 2nd Degree Murder, Post Conviction DNA Testing

Shaliq Peterson, convicted of 2nd Degree Murder in New York in 1995, is  petitioning the Supreme Court in that state to have his conviction overturned.  DNA from the case does not match Peterson, or anyone else in CODIS. 

There existed at trial a significant body of forensic DNA containing evidence, including a smudged fingerprint on the murder weapon. Attorney Pascazi hopes to show that the smudged print does not match the DNA profile of either Shaliq or the victim, but does indeed match the profile of one of the nearly 10 million people, (virtually all convicted criminals) whose DNA profiles are now stored in the FBI's CODIS-NDIS database.
  
Read more here.

Familial DNA and the Oklahoma Brittany Phillips Case

Brittany Phillips was killed in Tulsa in 2004. There is DNA from the killer in the case, but no match in DNA databases. Brittany's mother, Maggie Zingman has been traveling the country in search of her daughter's killer. Now Oklahoma is considering the use of familial DNA searching in the case. 

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says it is in the early stages of evaluating familial DNA testing. Right now, OSBI is looking at the cost and what policies would need to be altered to begin that testing.
Read more here.