Vancouver police hope DNA will help solve 7-decades old Babes in the Woods cold case
A double homicide that has stumped Vancouver police investigators for nearly 70 years is again under the microscope, but this time using the focused lens of modern DNA forensics.
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Remains of 2 boys discovered in 1953 a lingering mystery police hope to solve using private DNA databases
CBC News ·
Posted: May 18, 2021 1:24 PM PT | Last Updated: May 18
A police file photo of the scene where the boys remains were discovered by a Stanley park groundskeeper in 1953.(Vancouver Police)
Legal Fellow, Meese Center The police did not need a warrant to query the public consumer genetics website, as some privacy advocates and legal scholars have argued. Ashley Cooper / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
Police don’t need a warrant to collect abandoned DNA at a crime scene . and don’t need a warrant to query CODIS because it is a government database.
A criminal who leaves his DNA at a crime scene does not have standing under the Fourth Amendment to complain about what a distant relative does with her own DNA.
Law enforcement officials should not be required to obtain a warrant to search third-party genetics websites that allow for public access.
“Your DNA is probably the most sensitive personal information that one can imagine,” said information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy. Yet B.C.’s privacy laws don’t cover technological advances such as genetic genealogy, leaving few guidelines for police on how to use such technology, said McEvoy, who wants to see more significant protections. Genetic genealogy can find suspects not because they surrendered their DNA, but because their relatives provided DNA on open-source consumer genealogy websites. “When you’re consenting [to the terms and conditions], you’re not only consenting to [use of] your own DNA, but you’re in effect consenting on behalf of everybody you’re related to,” McEvoy said. “Our laws of consent are not really designed for something like this.”