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Nanarcho_Cumianist t1_j9k7elv wrote

Retired serial killers must be shitting bricks these days.

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OHMG69420 t1_j9kqaw0 wrote

Your Honor, ex post facto, my client should not be charged based on a technology that wasn’t even available during this crime.

/s

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MayoFetish t1_j9kzz92 wrote

"These DNA tests are devastating to my case!"

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iciclepenis t1_j9m1loi wrote

Neither the Bible nor the Constitution mention DNA technology. Why are we using it at all?

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mokutou t1_j9mnk8r wrote

This is pretty much the base philosophy of the current SCOTUS.

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Noisy_Toy t1_j9ltsxo wrote

There was one 1970s case that was solved with genetic genealogy, and when the house was searched, the killer had a bunch of newspaper clippings about other cases solved via genetic genealogy. He’d clearly been sweating since the Golden State Killer was caught.

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NessyComeHome t1_j9lv2bj wrote

Would you know the name of the killer, or the case?

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Noisy_Toy t1_j9lvfjx wrote

I don’t remember! It was something I heard on the DNA:ID podcast.

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Cobrastrikenana t1_j9kvs1w wrote

I mean like 1/2 of murders go unsolved rn. I don’t think they have too much to worry about.

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hsrCwnS t1_j9lz3ti wrote

I think it’s been about that for awhile. But some of the times they know who it is. They just have absolutely no fucking case. No evidence or witnesses gets you pretty much fucking nowhere. Shit. You have a witness who says he is about to testify that Jake from Statefarm murdered someone. Then that person ends up dead. Then you got no case.

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recklesslyfeckless t1_j9p46uz wrote

also: human witnesses are notoriously unreliable and honestly shouldn’t be given the weight they are.

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hsrCwnS t1_j9pcpwl wrote

True. This can happen. However. I’ve been a witness to accidents a lot and I’m pretty fucking reliable. Not a murder though. So not really that comparable.

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zorbathegrate t1_j9l5gsq wrote

Serial killers never retire, they just slow down

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palcatraz t1_j9m1iy7 wrote

They absolutely retire sometimes.

The problem is that the ones that are continuously compelled to keep killing are far more likely to get caught than the ones that are able to have some control and go dormant. All our data was based on the ones that got caught, so for a long time, that was our understanding.

Now with genetic genealogy helping up solve some long-time unsolved cases, we actually learned that serial killers do sometimes just stop killing. The Golden State Killer famously did. After '86, he didn't commit any more killings. At that point, he was in his forties, so it wasn't even that he stopped killing due to an advanced age. Dennis Radar (BTK) committed his last murder in '91, but wasn't caught until 2005

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HeySlimIJustDrankA5 t1_j9naroq wrote

To be fair, Dennis played himself because he got egotistical. I have no doubt he would’ve been caught at a later date because of DNA, but him sending a floppy disk to the police after asking them if they couldn’t trace it is sheer stupidity on Rader’s part. That (unfortunately still living) jackass thinks he’s too smart for his own good.

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