DNAprint Genomics (DNAG)

[Blue Juggernaut]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030604/NEWS/306040526/1007&cachetime=5


DNAPrint plays role in capture

A published report says investigators in the Louisiana serial killings used the Sarasota firm's genetics test.

STAFF AND WIRE REPORT


SARASOTA -- A genetics test owned by DNAPrint Genomics Inc. helped lead investigators to a suspect in a string of Louisiana murders.

Authorities arrested Derrick T. Lee in Atlanta last week in connection with the killings of at least five southern Louisiana women since September 2001, as well as two earlier slayings.

Citing a confidentiality agreement with Louisiana authorities, Tony Frudakis, DNA- Print's chief science officer, said he couldn't confirm that the company's test was used in the case.

But Mark Shriver, an assistant professor of anthropology and genetics at Pennsylvania State University, told The New York Times in a story published Tuesday that investigators used the test. Shriver, who collaborated on the development of DNAPrint's ANCESTRYbyDNA 2.0, said its findings caused them to shift their focus away from white suspects. An analysis of tissue from one of the crime scenes determined that the killer was probably black.

Shriver, who could not be reached Tuesday, told the Times that investigators had been searching for a white man based on profiling information suggesting that most serial killers are white.

The Times reported that one of the DNA samples sent by police to the Sarasota research company was linked to the suspect. Analysis showed it came from a person who has 85 percent African ancestry and 15 percent American Indian.

Lee, 34, is black. Shriver told the Times he didn't know whether Lee had any Indian ancestors.

On Tuesday, the Louisiana attorney general's office referred calls for comment to a serial killer task force in Baton Rouge, which did not return calls.

The ANCESTRY test distinguishes within a few percentage points to what extent a person is of European, American Indian, African, Asian or Pacific Islander heritage.

Frudakis said the test now is being used by about 10 law enforcement agencies, primarily in the Southeast. The company also markets it to genealogy enthusiasts as the first "recreational" testing of its kind.

DNA evidence has come into widespread use to identify individuals, but the identifying pieces of DNA are not part of the genes and have no influence on a person's physical makeup. Experts have long recognized that as knowledge of the human genome advances, other information could be extracted from DNA samples, including physical traits like race.

Human DNA is 99.9 percent identical. The remaining 0.1 percent distinguishes one person from another.

The Louisiana serial killer case appears to be the first use of DNA to extract details of a criminal suspect's appearance.

Barry C. Scheck, director of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, which uses DNA evidence to reverse false convictions, said he was unfamiliar with DNAPrint's test but that he had used DNA markers from a single gene to argue that a person was more likely to be one race than another.

Dr. Barry Duceman, director of biological sciences at the New York State Police forensic investigation center, said a suspect's sex was often determined from DNA. As far as cases where other physical characteristics were concerned, he said, "This is the first that I'm aware of."

"My prediction is that the test will become more utilized," said Dr. Mark Batzer, a population geneticist at Louisiana State University, where the killer's last victim, Carrie Lynn Yoder of Tampa, was a graduate student. Batzer said he was aware of the racial profiling test and had encouraged its use when his advice was sought by a Louisiana police laboratory.

On Tuesday, DNAPrint's Frudakis was interviewed by ABC's "Primetime Thursday." The segment is scheduled to air June 12. In March, CBS twice aired a segment about the company's test on "Eye on America with Dan Rather."



Margaret Ann Miille contributed to this report, which contains information from The Associated Press and The New York Times News Service.


Last modified: June 04. 2003 12:00AM