The evidence tells the story, or at least part of it. Police say talbott was a Rapist Hunting for a victim. Police think he may have befriended Jay And Tanya or may have threatened them at gunpoint. They ended up in jays van, and once they were under the gun, they were helpless. He tied them up with the Plastic Zip ties hed brought along for just that purpose. Without knowing it, he left his dna on those plastic ties. He strangled jay. Then he raped tanya, creating even more dna evidence. He shot tanya and then disposed of both bodies at separate locations. At some point, amid all this activity, talbott left a partial Palm Print on the back of the van. He really set out with a premeditated plan that day or that evening to carry out some
Who was carrying the correct mix of dna. And so the genealogist said that the perpetrator has to be that male child. Narrator that person was william talbott, who was 24 years old at the time of the murders. This was the first time that id ever heard the name william talbott. He was not in the Case File anywhere. His Family Home was just about 7 miles down the road from where Jays Body was found. Narrator talbott, a nevermarried truck driver, had no criminal record, so his Dna Wasnt in codis, the genetic database used by law enforcement. Investigators needed a sample of Talbotts Dna to either expose or eliminate him as a suspect in jay and tanyas murder. Collins they were having a really hard time getting a piece of evidence from him. Narrator but, eventually, talbott, who, after all this time,
Had no idea detectives were following him, discarded a paper coffee cup, which was seized and immediately tested for dna. Detectives and analysts waited as their case, now more than 30 years old, hung in the balance. As im going along through the series of markers, theyre matching, and so its almost like winning a lottery, and youre saying, okay, thats a match. Thats a match. Scharf the odds of this not being William Talbott was 1 in 180 quadrillion. You would have to have 36 Million planets with the same population as earth to find William Talbott with that dna profile. Narrator oldfashioned forensics also sealed talbotts fate. His Palm Print matched the partial Palm Print lifted from jays Van Way back in 1987
Some form of heinous crime, which, unfortunately, he did and just somehow crossed paths with tanya and jay. Narrator in june of 2019, William Talbott was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. His case is a forensic first. The suspected golden State Killer was exposed by genetic genealogy. In talbotts case, in a legal precedent, the genetic Genealogy Evidence was presented to a jury and helped put him behind bars. This is a gamechanger for investigators, for forensic scientists, for prosecutors. Genetic genealogy is the best crimefighting tool thats come along since dna came along. Moore in jay and tanyas case, genetic genealogy was able to develop a suspect who had never even been considered previously