Could Using An Online Genetics Test Make You A Murder Suspect?

Nearly 20 years after 18-year-old Angie Dodge was brutally murdered in Idaho Falls, Idaho, the case had gone cold.

Investigators discovered that a DNA sample from the crime scene did not match Christopher Tapp, who had been serving a 30-year sentence for participating in the crime. Tapp’s conviction was vacated; he was released — and police had to go back to the drawing board when searching for suspects.

The killer’s DNA was entered into CODIS, the national criminal database, but investigators found no match. In 2014, they decided to start thinking outside of the box.

Using a new — and highly controversial — familial DNA technique, they searched a public DNA database owned by Ancestry.com in hopes of finding a person who was related to Angie’s killer. Finally, they got a hit. It was not an exact match, but DNA expert Greg Hampikian told 48 Hours that the sample had 34 out of 35 markers — which was close enough to make them think that they had found the killer’s family tree.

The sample belonged to Michael Usry, Jr., a filmmaker living in New Orleans. Coincidentally, Usry had made a short film about a woman’s death. “Nobody ever thinks that they’re gonna get picked up by the police and taken into an interrogation room and questioned about a murder,” Michael Usry, Jr., told 48 Hours. “When it happens to you, it’s definitely a game changer.” Luckily for Usry, Jr., investigators later determined that the sample had been a false positive.

Familial DNA database searching was first used in the United Kingdom in 2004, and led to the conviction of Jeffrey Gafoor, who had murdered Lynette White in July 2003, after his brother’s DNA was tested and found to be a partial match.

In the United States, states individually determine how and when to conduct familial searches.

As the technique becomes more widely used, proponents say they believe that this type of DNA search can provide clues and help avoid dead ends when all other investigative leads appear to have been exhausted.

Most famously, familial DNA matching was credited with catching California’s “Grim Sleeper” serial killer Lonnie Franklin, Jr., in 2010 — and also with confirming that “Boston Strangler” Albert DeSalvo was the killer.

But opponents claim that using this type of DNA technology can lead to flawed results — and can also be a serious violation of privacy.

Michael Usry, Jr. [48 Hours (screenshot)]

In one study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from the University of California-Berkeley and New York University found that familial DNA searching will often indicate that two people are close relatives, when they are in fact distant relatives.

In some cases, two people can be wrongly identified as siblings, for example, when they are actually distant cousins, according to Pacific One magazine.

The researchers wrote that the greater the number of potential suspects, the more likely that the searches could be seen as “fishing expeditions.”

Also, since the accuracy depends on the number and types of samples that already exist in the database, the accuracy of the matching will vary with ethnicity.

Ancestry.com has published their privacy guidelines, and states that they may share personal information for reasons including legal or regulatory purposes in order to “comply with valid legal process (e.g., subpoenas, warrants).”

In 2016, the company’s Transparency Report stated that Ancestry received nine valid law-enforcement requests concerning users of Ancestry.com and Archives.com in 2016. According to the company, Ancestry.com provided information in response to eight of those nine requests, and all were related to investigations involving credit-card misuse and identity theft. According to the company, “numerous inquiries that were refused because the requestor did not provide the appropriate legal process.”

A statement on Ancestry.com’s website reads:

“If we are compelled to disclose your Personal Information to law enforcement, we will do our best to provide you with advance notice, unless we are prohibited under the law from doing so. In the interest of transparency, Ancestry produces a Transparency Report where we list the number of valid law enforcement requests for user data across all our sites.”

To learn more about the Angie Dodge case, watch Investigation Discovery’s Who Killed Angie Dodge? Keith Morrison Investigates on ID GO now!

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CBS News

CBS News / 48 Hours

Pacific One

Main photo: Angie Dodge [48 Hours / YouTube (screenshot)]

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