Very seldom is it just a random act of violence. In this particular case, that is exactly what this was. Narrator as the years pass since sierras murder, detectives in calcasieu parish, louisiana, refused to let the case go. Mcgee it was so frustrating. I lived and breathed this case. I just felt so drawn to it. So we were open to everything that everybody had to say every tip, every idea. Narrator and that search for something new turned up a possibility when Dna Analyst Monica Quaal Saw A Web Seminar from a cuttingedge Forensics Company called parabon nanolabs. Quaal we were contacted by a Neighboring Agency saying that they had some interesting science that a new agency was doing, and they were interested in sharing with us. Narrator parabon claimed that they could take Dna Evidence to a completely new level. They said it was possible to put a face on unidentified dna,
That the Human Genome combined with massive Computer Power could actually tell investigators what someone looked like just from their dna. Detectives believed sierra Bouzigards Killer was an undocumented mexican worker. But there was no clear description of the suspect. Monica quaal raced to tell her fellow investigators that this new technology could provide that description. I really think that shes crazy. She was like, you just have to have faith in me. I was like, i have faith in you, but this just kind of seems like magic. And shes like, no, its gonna work. And so she convinced me and then we convinced the sheriff. Narrator parabon got the unidentified Dna Sample from Sierras Case and put it through a process they call snapshot. Snapshot is a way to take that dna and ask it questions. Okay, if we dont know exactly who this person is, do we know his ancestry . Can we say something about eye color, hair color, skin color, freckling, face shape
Narrator but detectives had something going for them. Blake had no idea they were looking at him. Mcgee so one of our guys went into a local bar, had a beer with Blake Russell. He actually had this crazy story about how he was going to make a Beer Bottle Christmas Tree for his grandmother and asked blake if he could have the beer. Blake gave him the Beer Bottle. He walked out and brought it to monica. The Dna Test results left no doubt. The dna from the Beer Bottle matched the dna from under sierras fingernails and from the Candy Wrapper at the crime scene, incontrovertible proof that Blake Russell was sierras killer. Quaal i remember being in total shock just because we had been looking for that profile for so long. Narrator russell lived down The Street from the group of undocumented workers. Investigators believe he went out for cigarettes that night, Saw Sierra Walking from the party to a friends house,
Mcgee we cant put an identity with this dna. We had all kind of great ideas, but none of them panned out because nobody is matching. Quaal this case was worked on every aspect harder than any other case im aware of, at least in this area. Narrator there was, however, one thing they had not tried because the technology was just being developed. Quaal it was really hard to believe that this would be able to work. I did not think that you could create a picture from dna. Narrator but was it Science Or Science fiction
Can that information at least help the police narrow their investigation and be more efficient . And the answer is yes. Narrator genetically speaking, Human Beings are remarkably similar. Its only a small portion of the Human Genome that makes us different from one another eye color, hair color, facial shapes. Quaal the genome is so big. Greytak were talking about 3 Billion pieces of information. If we looked at your dna and my dna, we might differ at a few million spots. But those tiny differences are the reason that those two people look different. Narrator parabon has assembled a vast library of known genetic information. They have the dna of thousands of volunteers, and courtesy of a 3d photographic process, they also know exactly what each of these people look like. Armentrout traditionally, a 3d Camera Rig is used