Missouri

Missouri using home genealogy testing to solve crimes – Missourinet

Published

10 months ago

December 11, 2023

Missouri using home genealogy testing to solve crimes – Missourinet

Various law enforcement agencies across the country are using results from home genealogy test kits to solve criminal cases that have gone cold, and Missouri is no exception.

Darren Haslag is a master sergeant with the Missouri State Highway Patrol who’s assigned to the Division of Drug and Crime Control. He doesn’t know exactly when the use of genetic genealogy to solve cold cases started, but said it really took off about five years ago with the identity of the Golden State Killer in California.

“They were collecting DNA, but the DNA really wasn’t matching to anybody that’s in a system that many states have,” Haslag told Missourinet. “At that point a group of investigators and detectives decided to submit samples to ancestry websites, basically.”

Joseph James DeAngelo is now serving 12 life sentences without parole for 13 murders and 51 rapes committed in California during the 1970’s and 80’s. Haslag explained how genetic genealogy works as a crime fighting tool.

“You can get a line of family members that share the DNA of the sample that you submitted, but you still have to do the work,” he said. “You still have to figure out of this group of family members, and depending on how the markers in the DNA and the results come back, you may have three brothers that could have done this crime or you could have the ancestors of a certain great grandpa.”

But that has led some people to raise privacy concerns about submitting DNA samples to learn about their ancestry. Haslag said some companies choose not to share their customers’ DNA info with law enforcement.

“Other ones that do (share) give the customers an option to opt out of it when they submit their sample,” he said. “There’s always an option that when you submit it that you can opt out of it. Most sites have that. The ones that will not participate with us just are not available for those searches through companies that we use.”

Haslag said the Highway Patrol is currently using genetic genealogy to investigate two violent sexual assaults that occurred in southern Missouri. He can’t comment any further on those two cases.

Source link

Click to comment

Missouri

Kidnapped child from Missouri, subject of Amber Alert, rescued Thursday in Wabaunsee County

Published

6 hours ago

September 27, 2024

Press Room

Kidnapped child from Missouri, subject of Amber Alert, rescued Thursday in Wabaunsee County

ALMA, Kan. (WIBW) – A woman was taken into custody Thursday after a kidnapped child from Missouri who was the subject of an Amber Alert was rescued in Wabaunsee County, authorities said.

The rescue was reported to have occurred at 8:17 p.m. Thursday at the E. Spring Creek Road on-ramp to westbound Interstate 70 near Paxico in Wabaunsee County.

Authorities said an Amber Alert had been issued by the Missouri State Highway Patrol after a 12-year-old child was reported to have been kidnapped from Warsaw, Mo.

The child was reported to have been taken without permission by the non-custodial biological mother, officials said.

Wabaunsee County sheriff’s units, were joined by Alma City Marshal Mike Baker as they located the suspect vehicle.

The child was located unharmed. Authorities then took the child into police protective custody.

A woman identified as Anna Savard, 36, of Boise, Idaho, was taken into custody by Wabaunsee County sheriff’s deputies without further incident. Officials on Friday said Savard was being held in the Wabaunsee County Jail in Alma pending extradition warrants from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri.

Also assisting were the Kansas Highway Patrol; Missouri Highway Patrol; Kansas Juvenile Intake; Warsaw, Mo., Police Department; and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri, officials said.

Source link

Missouri

AMBER ALERT CANCELED: Missouri Highway Patrol locates 12-year-old girl from Warsaw, Mo.

Published

14 hours ago

September 27, 2024

Press Room

AMBER ALERT CANCELED: Missouri Highway Patrol locates 12-year-old girl from Warsaw, Mo.

WARSAW, Mo. (KY3) — The Missouri Highway Patrol located a 12-year-old Warsaw girl authorities believed was with her non-custodial mother.

Bridgette Annaleise Crane disappeared from the area around the 2800 block of Cedar Hills Loop in Warsaw around 4:30 p.m. Investigators believed she was with her mother, Anna Savard, 36.

Authorities announced the child was found around 8:45 p.m. Authorities have not updated the whereabouts of the non-custodial mother.

To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com. Please include the article info in the subject line of the email.

Source link

Missouri

Arrest made on fugitive found in Missouri with narcotics, weapons in hand

Published

1 day ago

September 26, 2024

Press Room

Arrest made on fugitive found in Missouri with narcotics, weapons in hand

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (KCTV) – An arrest has been made on a fugitive found in Missouri with narcotics and weapons who was wanted for a similar crime in Kansas.

The Cass County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Office says that just after midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 25, law enforcement officials stopped a vehicle in rural Harrisonville due to an expired license plate.

During the stop, deputies said they found drugs, a gun and a knife in the possession of Jacob Ott, 31, of Garden City, Missouri. It was also found that Ott had a warrant for his arrest out of Jackson County, Kansas, for failure to appear in court for an amphetamine charge.

As a result, Ott has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance and for his fugitive status. As of Thursday, he remains behind Cass Co. bars with no bond listed.

No further information has been released.

Evidence found in the vehicle Jacob Ott was in is photographed on Sept. 26, 2024.(Cass County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Office)

Source link