This week I am going to focus on something that I find
extremely interesting and plan to do the rest of my life. The topic of this
week is on DNA extraction and how it is used in crime scene investigation. As
we know mankind hasn’t always had the technology and advancements that we have
today. DNA extraction is one of those advancements.
In the past, crimes were going unsolved because the
resources needed to prosecute someone were not readily available. Over time,
the National Institute of Justice had been funding a program that consists of
going around the country solving cold cases that could be solved with the use
of DNA. In most cases that are cold cases it is due to the fact that DNA
testing didn’t exist.
There is a certain case I am going to focus on in this blog
and this case is the one of nineteen-year-old Mary Sullivan. Mary had recently
moved to Boston from Cape Cod. After a few days of living in Boston she was
found raped and killed. Mary was one of eleven women whom Albert DeSalvo would
later confess to killing, also known as the Boston Strangler. DeSalvo recanted
his confession and therefore caused doubts within the case. Due to these doubts
DeSalvo was never convicted of the Strangler Killings that took place in
Boston. He was imprisoned due to other rape charges that were not involved with
murder. He was later stabbed to death by fellow inmates in 1973.
In 2009 the city of Boston received grants from the NIJs
cold case program. The Boston Police Departments cold case squad decided to use
this grant to test the DNA of DeSalvos nephew to look at the match between the
seminal fluid that was taken from the body of Mary. When they compared the two
samples they got a hit. They focused on the Y-chromosome DNA due to the fact
that this comes from the father. The testing of Y-STRs in the Mary Sullivan
case did in fact show a match between the DNA from the crime scene and the
nephew of DeSalvo.
To make sure that it was DeSalvo and not another family
member the team decided to exhume DeSalvos body in July of 2013. They did this
so that they could conduct a confirmatory test using the DNA directly from
DeSalvo. They extracted DNA from femur and three teeth and a match was
confirmed. Albert DeSalvo had in fact raped and murdered Mary Sullivan.
I think it is truly amazing what technology and advancements
that we have today. It is incredible that the team was able to go back to past
cases to gain justice for the family of the victims and the victims. It is
terrible that it had to take so long to do so, but at least justice was
served.
I'm kind of obsessed with serial killers and forensic science. I also found the case of the Boston Strangler to be really interesting. Its crazy how far science and technology has gone since the 70's. Great post Coral!
ReplyDeleteJust another example of science being used to solve problems. Seriously. History is replete with instances of people going "We have a problem!" and scientists/engineers/mathemeticians being all like "Hold my beer."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, people should feel a lot more generous about funding science.