Police in Tacoma, Washington used the same advanced DNA profiling technique to catch the man who sexually assaulted and killed a 12-year-old girl more than three decades ago. Gary Charles Hartman, 66, was arrested and charged with first degree murder for killing Michella Welch.
Using unknown DNA the suspect left at the scene, a genetic genealogist at Parabon Nanolabs found comparable DNA in publically available samples and narrowed down the search to Hartman and his brother. Police then secretly obtained a sample of Hartman’s DNA he left on a napkin in a coffee shop.
“If you left your DNA at the scene, you will be caught,” Tacoma prosecutor said. [Crime Time]