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Sweden: man goes on trial for 2004 murder after DNA matched to genealogy site:
A 37-year-old Swedish man has gone on trial for double murder after two killings that went unsolved for more than 15 years until police matched his DNA on a popular genealogy website.
Daniel Nyqvist, who confessed to the crime shortly after his arrest last June, has been charged with the 2004 murder of a 56-year-old woman and an eight-year-old boy.
The two victims – who were unrelated – were stabbed in a random act in the quiet southern Swedish town of Linkoping [sic Linköping].
The crime shocked the nation, with investigators unable to come up with either a perpetrator or a motive, despite finding the suspect’s DNA at the scene, the weapon that was used, a bloody cap and witness descriptions of a young man with blond hair.
Police even called upon the FBI for help, but to no avail. Over the years, the case file grew to become the second biggest in Sweden’s history, after that of the 1986 murder of former prime minister Olof Palme.
The case was finally cracked when new legislation in January 2019 allowed police to search for matches to suspects’ DNA on commercial genealogy websites, which are popular among Swedes seeking long-lost relatives.
[...] “We received a match almost immediately. And several months later, the suspect could be arrested. His DNA was taken and matched 100%,” police said in a statement the day after his arrest.
How much might other repositories uncover, and are any fundamental freedoms violated by so trawling?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by pipedwho on Tuesday September 22 2020, @01:57AM
I can see it now:
Detective: we matched your DNA 110%, so good a match that it matches you with enough leeway for a +/-10% error and we still have a perfect match. So do you have an alibi for 8pn on the 16th of March, 2004.
Suspect: Holy shit man, that was more than 16 years ago. Let me just check my TikiTok, no Instagram, no Facebook..., damn. Oh wait, my diary... ah, yeah, here it says I was with my besties Bob and John at the pub at the time of the murder. See it couldn't have been me!!! There's your proof!
[a couple of hours later]
Detective: so Bob, John, I'm just verifying your whereabouts and who you were with at 8pm on the 16th of March, 2004.
Bob & John: Gee, fucked if we can remember what we were doing on any given day 16 years ago.
Detective: So Mr Suspect, looks like your alibis have come up a bust. Any other evidence you might have to prove your innocence?
Suspect: Not really, it's pretty hard to prove a negative.
Detective: You see, once the jury sees this 110% infallible DNA evidence they'll surely convict.
Suspect: What about innocent until proven guilty?
Detective: Pffft. Think about all the extra work the police would have to do if it were that way around.