A genetic genealogy-based analysis had led to the release of a California man after 15 years in prison, the Guardian reports.
Ricky Davis, it adds, was convicted in the 1985 stabbing death of his housemate Jane Hylton. But recent DNA tests of crime scene samples uncovered an unknown sample that did not belong to Davis, his girlfriend Connie Dahl, or Hylton's daughter, who was then 13 years old. Using a genetic genealogy approach, the Guardian says police in California traced this unknown sample one of the boys hanging out in the park that night with Hylton's daughter. That boy, who is now in his 50s, has since been arrested, as Davis' conviction was overturned and he was set free, it adds.
Genetic genealogy has been used to track down a number of suspects in violent crimes and led to an arrest, for instance, in the Golden State Killer case, but the Guardian notes that this is the second time the approach has been used to secure someone's release from jail. Previously, the approach was used to clear Christopher Tapp in the 1996 rape and murder of Angie Dodge in Idaho.