DNAprint Genomics (DNAG)

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Posted on Mon, Jun. 27, 2005




TECHNOLOGY


New crime-fighting tool made in Sarasota

A Sarasota company has developed a new crime-fighting tool through the use of DNA.

BY WANDA J. DeMARZO

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New ways of analyzing DNA can tell investigators a suspect's likely ethnic heritage and skin color.

And that may only be the beginning.

The future use of new DNA analysis techniques could reveal a person's eye color, hair color, height, and possibly some facial features, said Tony Frudakis, the founder of Sarasota-based DNAPrint Genomics.

''We don't know what the limits are,'' he said. ``How much more we'll be able to identify about a person. It's a grand experiment.''

Frudakis' company's innovations have reopened an old Hollywood murder case. DNA from blood found at the scene was analyzed and used to create a sketch of the killer. Now police have more than just a vague description from witnesses to go on.

One of the first times that DNAPrint's new test was used, it led to the capture of a Louisiana serial killer.

For almost two years, police searched for the rapist and murderer of more than half a dozen women in the Baton Rouge area.

For some time, a multiagency task force had been searching for a white male suspect after an eyewitness reported seeing a white man in the area of the homicides.

Investigators had even taken DNA samples from more than 1,000 white suspects.

In February 2003, DNAPrint offered to test semen that had been collected at the crime scenes. It used the DNA to determine a likely racial mix and skin color.

The results: the killer was a light-skinned black man.

Four days later, police arrested and charged Derrick Todd Lee, who was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Later the same year, 2004, he was convicted of another murder and sentenced to death.

Since then, DNAPrint has been involved in more than 80 criminal investigations, including three cases in South Florida.

The results are better than eyewitness accounts, Frudakis said.

''Many people will say someone is Hispanic, and the person might actually be Native American or Asian,'' he said. ''It really helps investigators narrow their field of suspects.'' The company recently completed a kit that will be marketed to law-enforcement agencies and forensic labs for $50 to $100, Frudakis said. DNAPrint currently does the testing for $1,000.

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