Highlights
- •A new module in the software Familias allowing familial searches is outlined, freely available at www.familias.no.
- •Application on the Hungarian CODIS database is demonstrated.
- •The successful use of the new module in six high profile criminal cases is presented.
- •Performance testing as well as simulations are conducted in order to illustrate how Familias handles larger data sets.
- •Validation of the new module in Familias is presented.
Abstract
Commonly DNA profiles obtained from biological samples found at crime scenes or of
unknown bodies are searched against a large national or local database of reference
and crime scene DNA profiles. The aim is to find a direct match, i.e. an identical
profile or in the case of a mixture, at least an overlap of all alleles. Familial
searching is, instead, the concept of searching for relatives of a stain donor in
the database, i.e. a quest for relatives of the possible perpetrator or an unidentified
body. The current paper provides the tool to perform effective searches for relatives
of a target DNA profile in a large database. In addition, the algorithm accounts for
mixtures which is common in crime stains. Specifically we focus on six high profile
Hungarian cases where familial searching has succeeded in providing investigative
leads. An implementation of the methods is included in the latest version of the software
Familias, freely available at www.familias.no.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 19, 2016
Accepted:
May 18,
2016
Received in revised form:
April 28,
2016
Received:
January 19,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
