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Minnesota Cold Case Arrest

Police in Minnesota have made an arrest in a 1986 cold case following a genetic genealogy analysis, NBC News reports.

According to NBC News, Michael Allan Carbo, Jr., was arrested and charged with second-degree muder in the death of Nancy Daugherty. Daugherty was beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled at the age of 38, the night before she was to move from Chisholm, Minn., to the Twin Cities, it adds. 

Police collected more than 100 DNA samples in connection with the case over the years, NBC News reports, but did not get a break until they tried genetic genealogy, which highlighted Carbo as a possible match. The state crime lab then confirmed the match, it adds.

Law enforcement has increasingly been using genetic genealogy approaches since the 2018 arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo in the Golden Killer case that relied on the approach. DeAngelo pleaded guilty last month to 26 offenses and admitted to more than 160 others that he was not formally charged with, as the Ventura County Star reported. However, using genetic genealogy in law enforcement isn't without its critics, who argue it raises privacy and other concerns.

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