All I found was this: "Unknown to him, an as-yet-unexplained break in the case had caused
police to put him under surveillance, and secretly acquire a DNA sample
they said matched to the rapes and killings."

SOURCE

I'm glad they caught him. I hope the case doesn't get thrown out based on the manner (yet unknown) in which they obtained the dna sample.

OTOH, it's scary how much info is out there.

Now we learn that he was traced thru a genealogy dna site!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/accused-serial-rapist-killer-undetected-working-cop-54741076

Patton Oswalt's wife, I read that she named him as the guilty person in her book and she was right.

sushipup -- that's surprising -- I mean, how do you get access to a Geneaology dna bank? It says "Authorities declined to name the DNA site used to track the DNA." That would mean that if a cousin or other relative had registered their DNA the police would then look within a family. I guess I'd have to read Patton Oswalt's wife's book to know how she arrived at that guess. Of course, it will be in the papers too. Anyway, it's great that he is finally caught!

I have my doubts that he's the guilty party, but I bet that book sales spike.

Surely he's at least guilty of the charges they have against him.

I just heard it on the radio -- they did find relatives in a geneology site data bank and then they looked for relatives of those people who lived in the area where the crimes were committed. Wow. I'm glad it worked -- I wonder if it's a little scarey for the day when Big Brother is finally everywhere! Technology can be used for good or bad.

I could swear that there's a new law because of her book and the law says felons have to submit DNA. I don't remember anyone saying they were mining private site DNA. That would've bothered me a great deal.

ETA:The first seems like a fishing expedition and probably won't last, but the second one crosses even more lines. Here's what I read:

After his family members' deaths, Harrington became an activist focused on expanding and promoting the use of DNA databases in criminal investigations. In 2004, he successfully lobbied California voters to pass Proposition 69, which requires that a DNA sample be taken from everybody arrested for a felony in the state. Previously, only people who had been convicted of one of 30 specific felonies were required to submit DNA evidence to law enforcement.

bleusblue2 I wonder if it's a little scary for the day when Big Brother is finally everywhere!

What do you mean when? lol

On the show Long Lost Family, they use the ancestry sites to find relatives to track down biological parents. I'm sure it wasn't that hard to do the same for this dirt bag.

Hareball -- ha ha! Well I gave it a little room for the day when FINALLY Big Brother is everywhere. There are still a few nooks and crannies left.

This is how he got caught. You know all those DNA tests you all are doing? Well, if there is a criminal in your family, you may help get the person arrested without knowing it.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/27/health/golden-state-killer-genetic-privacy/index.html

Lucky break for the victims and their families.

I assumed a cold case the police did their thing and caught him is how/why. What I did wonder is why he was a cop for such a short time. Why did he get fired and or quit and to go to a warehouse job next not private security--well it must have been fairly dramatic what got him off the force? Oh maybe he was doing security at the warehouse, for some reason I had loading trucks in my head.

Turns out it wasn't his fault that he murdered all those people. His "girl friend" dumped him oh, so many years ago. It's her fault.

Strange, strange story, isn't it? His picture looks like he has absolutely no

idea of what is happening. I wonder if he is competent enough to stand

trial....or just a good actor. All those years, and evidently, he was just

living a "normal" life. Strange.

Patton Oswalt's wife, I read that she named him as the guilty person in her book and she was right.

Raven, that is incorrect. The police didn't know he was the killer until a week before they arrested. But Michelle McNamara ended her book with a statement to the (unknown) killer imagining how his arrest would take place.

It will be interesting to see whether her book is among the stuff in his house.

This was brilliant police work. They used open source genetic files to find their way to him.

From what I've read the police used an open-source DNA database, that allows people to voluntarily upload their DNA profile and family information, and then also allows anyone else to perform searches on that database, its purpose is to allow people to find relatives they may not be aware of. The only way the police were able to use the database effectively, is because the slimebag voluntarily left behind DNA samples at multiple crime scenes where he raped and/or murdered people.

The database gave the name of one (or more) persons whose DNA profile was close enough to the DNA from the slimebag that they were likely related. They then searched through public records of births and deaths of that (or those) persons to find related persons that were the right age and who had lived in the area of the crimes when the were occurring. Then through careful police work they followed one (or more) of these related persons waiting for them to discard something with their DNA on it, (an empty glass, a cigarette butt or spit on the sidewalk.) They then examined that DNA sample and found it to be a match to that from the crime scene.

For those bemoaning this as Big Brother further invading our privacy, it really isn't. They only used freely provided information, and from what I've read it seems that no one was threatened or bothered or inconvenienced by the police's efforts, except for the man they arrested. Even if some other mutual relative of the slimebag and person (or persons) who submitted their DNA profile to the database had committed some other unrelated crime this search would not have brought those misdeeds to light.

Although many new developments in law enforcement technology reflexively get my hackles up as being rife with risks for misuse or outright abuse, especially in the hands of unscrupulous law enforcement officers, but this doesn't seem to afford much opportunity for abuse. It wouldn't help unscrupulous prosecutors who want to plant evidence, in those cases the prosecutor would already know who
they are trying to frame. It wouldn't be as intrusive to innocent
parties as say stopping dark-skinned men on the street and demanding DNA
samples as they tried in my town several years ago when they were
looking for a serial rapist that had been reported by victims as having
dark skin. That I had a problem with, and would have objected to strenuously had I been so stopped.

I'm more concerned in this case that even though they have what will likely prove to be an incontrovertible DNA match tying this slimebag to multiple heinous rapes and murders, there still will have to be a lengthy drawn-out trial that won't even start for a year or two, followed by an equally lengthy appeal process, followed by a further wait of years before he is put to death as gently and painlessly as possible. When what he deserves is a fate that matches the heinousness of his crimes.

There’s no question that finding this guy and making him pay for everything he’s done is a good thing. The victims he left in his wake of horror is huge and they deserve justice. On the flip side though, I can’t help but feel that the means in which he was found is concerning.

I watched the TV show too, and if I am not mistaken, yes they did use an open-source DNA data base. However they searched on familial data, not the killer’s specific DNA. That eventually did lead to him of course, but then to be 100% sure, they had to obtain evidence from something he discarded in a public place with his DNA on it for proof. They were working hard to get that obviously.

I am glad they caught him and now have the proof. I don’t find it concerning at all since they started with clearly open-source data. What is concerning is that many people don’t recognize the difference in what is protected data and what is not. And often there are no clear signs or pointers for the average consumer to follow.

I’ve recorded and only watched half of the show but so far it’s been pretty interesting. There’s a message in this story that I was so glad to see too and that’s that law enforcement didn’t give up. No matter how long it will take, the bad guys are always at risk of getting caught. A lot of the people working on this case were very young or not even born when it was happening. If I were in the victims’ shoes I would have felt like everyone had moved on and it was basically forgotten about.

He seems senile now. Not sure what they’ll get out of him.

Well, senile or not he deserves whatever happens to him. I do feel terrible for his family though. I’m sure this has to be a real shocker for them.

lukkiirish -- I wonder if they are shocked? I mean, they may not have known what he did but they must have felt his evil nature around them. Well, that hasn't always been true of other murderers. They were able to hide their evil side. But his neighbours knew he was a mean old guy, surely the people who lived in the same house with him must have felt uneasy.

Anyone seen any theories about why the attacks suddenly stopped? Usually, I would think they would stop when the perpetrator died or when he's incarcerated for some other unrelated crime, but not usually just out of the blue, voluntarily stopping his rampage.

One suggestion I heard is that he stopped right around the time that DNA testing was first being started. And since he had been in law enforcement he was aware that that would increase the odds of him being caught.

I've also read the ancestry.com and 23-and-me strenuously oppose to letting law enforcement access their data. The cynic in me says that this is not for the purpose of protecting their customers privacy, instead it is to protect their future monetary interests because they plan to sell the data in the future, and if people are scared off by thinking "the cops will get me." that will hit their current revenue stream and hurt their future plans.

bob -- it doesn't matter if people are scared off because they "think the cops will get me." This guy was caught because his evidently law abiding relatives sent in their DNA. So even if some shady character decides not to put in his DNA he won't be safe from being caught if his cousin does. Oh, I think I'm overthinking this.

For those here that are bothered by the methodology the police used, what about it is of concern? As I said earlier I almost reflexively look for ways that new technologies can be intrusive and infringe on privacy or rights. Even before the early days of of the Internet, I read the newsgroup comp.risks, and learned to look more deeply and carefully at the new risks of new technologies, not just the shiny new whiz-bang features. For example I don't do Facebook or even have a smartphone. I browse with ads, and cookies, and most scripts disabled, I might be considered by some only a few steps away from being a tin-foil-hat-wearing wild-eyed conspiracy theorist, but I don't see the risks in the police using DNA data to identify a perpetrator.

It wouldn't aid unscrupulous cops trying to frame someone, in that case they already know who they are trying to frame, and the database can't "print out" DNA samples for them to plant.

I am wary of DNA databases, and have no plans to submit a sample but for the reasons of health insurers eventually using the info to deny coverage proactively for someone with a genetic disposition for some expensive to treat condition.

bleusblue2, I agree it doesn't matter in terms of law enforcement looking for a perp, especially since a criminal isn't likely to submit DNA data. I was merely was saying that it matters (a lot) to the popular commercial sites, since every person that decides not to use them (for whatever reason) is a person from whom they won't get money, and furthermore is DNA data they won't be able to sell in the future.