DALLAS – For the first time in Dallas County, the suspect in a cold homicide case has been convicted of DNA genealogy research.
The case dates back to 1986.
In November of that year, Garland police said Villarreal had been stabbed to death in her home. Investigators exonerated her husband from the case and police said they recovered DNA from the scene, but the case was not pursued for decades.
Last year, 86-year-old Liborio Canales was arrested after investigators said advances in generation still made it possible to conduct new tests of blood drawn at the site.
Through a genetic genealogy investigation, police say they needed to match Canales’ DNA and locate him in New Mexico. He is the victim’s brother-in-law.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said Canales’ guilty plea to the murder came with a 20-year criminal sentence. Garland police said the 86-year-old man told investigators he was angry with Villarreal because of some sort of family dispute.
While this is the first homicide conviction with this strategy in Dallas County, other similar cases have been based on genealogy.
A little over 3 years ago, the strategy made it imaginable to catch a serial rapist sentenced to life in prison.
David Thomas Hawkins was 74 years old when he was arrested. Prosecutors say he was linked to four rape cases in the 1980s.
Forensic genetic genealogy that the same generation used to locate and prevent the Golden State, California, killer.
Advanced DNA uses DNA evidence to link blood relatives who have legal publication of their ings.
“Once we downloaded that data, we retrieved what we call fites cousins,” said Cheryl Hester of Advanced DNA. “These are parents who conform to DNA and who conform to it at each and every level. . . Many of these cases cannot be solved without genetic genealogy. “
Fort Worth police said DNA techniques have been around since the 1980s, but the DNA that is extracted and analyzed continues to develop.
Investigators went to a personal lab to extract DNA from the bra of a victim killed in 1974. As a result of the progress, police say the lab was able to download a full profile of the suspect and then compare it to an access in the genealogy. database.
This led to the arrest and sentencing of Glen McCurley in Fort Worth for murder.