In Alabama, a truck driver was charged in March after he was linked to a pair of 17-year-olds who were fatally shot in a trunk in 1999.

A now-deceased Montana man was identified in March as the killer of two 24-year-olds in 1973.

The alleged Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, was arrested in August 2018 after he was identified as the suspect in a series of rapes and homicides that plagued California in the 1970s and '80s.

Recently in Greenville, two notorious cold cases have been solved within a six-month span fall into the same set of circumstances: Genealogy was the missing link needed for closure.

Law enforcement nationwide has turned to third-party companies using online genealogy data to uncover potential suspects.

Parabon NanoLabs, based in Virginia, is one of the leading agencies working with law enforcement to close cases, employing five genetic genealogists to pair DNA from crimes with existing profiles uploaded to public databases online. The effort allows investigators to see relatives who share DNA characteristics and ultimately trace a suspected killer.

Since they began the process in May 2018, Parabon's work in genetic genealogy has led to the closure of nearly 50 homicide cases nationwide.

With the average case being 20 years old, the company has helped solve 1,000 years of cold cases within the nine months of work, Steve Armentrout, Parabon founder and CEO, said.

In an interview with The Greenville News,Armentrout said the company receives a "steady stream" of inquiries and cases. Hundreds of law enforcement agencies nationwide use genetic genealogy to hone in on suspects, and Parabon helps solve about one case per week, he said.

"We saw the potential right away," Armentrout said of the new technology.

Technological advances

Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller said it's a new era for law enforcement.

Technology that didn't exist decades ago has led investigators to reopen case files of several longstanding unsolved homicides.

The department has 16 open homicide cases, and investigators are re-examining three of them, Miller said. Authorities are using DNA and genealogy technology in hopes of identifying new suspects that were unknown at the time of the killings.

The department's trial run with the new technology came last year when authorities took a closer look at the killing of Genevieve "Jenny" Zitricki, a 28-year-old Greenville resident whose family members said she was social, loving and outgoing. She lived alone in the Hidden Lakes Apartments on Villa Road and was found dead there in April 1990.

Zitricki had been bludgeoned, raped and strangled. She was dragged from her bedroom by a pair of pantyhose, and her body was found in a bloody bathtub. Nothing was stolen. Jewelry was left in plain sight. Her purse's contents were left floating in her sink.

The killer was anyone's guess.

More than 25 years later, DNA and genealogy testing led investigators to family members of Robert Eugene Brashers. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a standoff with police in Kennett, Missouri, in 1999. His family consented to have his body exhumed to confirm a DNA match.

After policed connected Brashers to Zitricki's death in 1990, he was linked to a spree of rapes, homicides and other crimes across South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri and Florida.

Then this week, Greenville police announced the arrest of a woman who investigators said gave birth to her daughter 29 years ago and abandoned her in what is called the "Julie Valentine" case, based on what investigators named the baby.

In that cold case, police allege Brook Graham put her newly-born infant, along with the placenta and umbilical cord, into a cardboard vacuum cleaner box and ditched the baby in a field near a pile of debris in February 1990.

How it works

Armentrout said other agencies have closed two cold cases through Parabon's genetic genealogy, but he has yet to see one with three closures.

Greenville could become the first. The department has taken an active look at three of its 16 cold cases through the lens of genetic genealogy.

Miller said the cases aren't cherry-picked, but rather decided upon based on what DNA evidence exists and how effective tracing relatives might be.

For years, law enforcement has worked with state and national DNA databases in attempts to match DNA to suspects. But if the person isn't already entered into the system, it's a dead end.

Parabon's Snapshot Phenotype service was also a tool that proved helpful to come up with some physical descriptions of a person based on a DNA profile.

But it wasn't until the spike in the popularity of a free ancestry database that Parabon began implementing a genetic genealogy service for law enforcement.

The tool takes someone's DNA and runs it through GEDmatch, where more than a million people have uploaded their own DNA profiles to find distant relatives. Using that database, investigators and genealogists can build a family tree to trace relatives and ultimately identify suspects.

Companies like 23andMe have gained popularity by providing a genealogy report to someone who provides DNA. Parabon doesn't have access to those companies' records, Armentrout said, but once those people receive their DNA results, many upload their DNA to GEDmatch, which offers comprehensive ancestry results. Those results and profiles are available for public review to anyone, including law enforcement, as outlined on GEDmatch's website.

"Genealogy sites do actually help us," Miller said. "There's a lot of questions out there about privacy concerns, but people are consenting to connect and identify their lineage. People are consenting to the public use of their DNA."

Apart from DNA evidence collected from a scene, the Police Department does not store full DNA profiles, only certain strands, Chief Miller said. But because online genealogy sites maintain full DNA profiles, law enforcement agencies partner with companies like Parabon who will use those databases to conduct analysis, Miller said.

"I know there’s a debate about privacy concerns, but there are really tragic interests at stake," Miller said. "Police, prosecutors and the government never have a complete inventory of anyone's DNA."

GEDmatch, started in 2010 by genealogy hobbyists, has since grown into a source of ancestry research on 1.2 million people, Armentrout said.

HELP SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM LIKE THIS Get a digital subscription for just $3 for the first three months.

'Gumshoe' work

Miller said technological advancement has provided key tools to tackle cold cases, but the ability to solve a case boils down to true detective work.

"It is part technology and part gumshoe. Once those leads are developed, we have to take those leads," he said.

Armentrout agreed. He said law enforcement works a traditional case even after gathering new DNA evidence.

"They're the real heroes," he said. "We give them a good lead, but they still have to go and build a good case and do the hard work."

Donnie Porter, a spokesman for the Greenville Police Department, said investigators had Graham and her then-boyfriend on their radar from an early point in the 1990 Julie Valentine case. They were among the list of recent Sears vacuum purchasers and could not account for their vacuum box, but that detail alone wasn't enough to file a charge.

The DNA and genetic genealogy proved to be "the missing link," he said. Investigators then identified the father of the baby and interviewed him to learn more and positively identify Graham as the infant's mother. The father has not been charged and has cooperated with the investigation, but the case is pending.

Investigators have also turned to companies like LabCorp for similar genetic diagnostics.

Miller said investigators are currently re-exploring the Terry "Dale" Fetner homicide.

Fetner, 44, was stabbed to death at Azalea Hills Apartments on Nov. 26, 2000. He was attacked at the front door of his apartment and stabbed multiple times.

Whereas once fingerprints were the most prized evidence for investigators, now genetics and ancestry have become key pieces of evidence. The more that everyday citizens upload their DNA online, the more likely law enforcement may find suspects through kinship matches, Miller said.

'Why wait?'

Traditionally, detectives with DNA evidence might run the sample through a national crime database to find potential suspect matches, but wouldn't necessarily think about the genetic genealogy route, Armentrout said.

"I think the agencies across the board are looking at cold case files and seeing where this might apply," he said. "There's now a trend toward active investigations. Why wait for a case to go cold? If you have an active offender, why wait for him to have another opportunity to offend?"

Armentrout said the process takes about 60 days from receiving a request to producing results from a kinship analysis.

Miller said the department will continue to use its investigators to see which cases are primed for genetic genealogy testing. He said being able to bring a case to a close is his utmost priority for the sake of a family's healing process.

When Zitricki's killer was identified, the woman's brother, Philip Hegedusich, flew from New York to Greenville to be a part of the announcement. He voiced his appreciation for law enforcement's pursuit of new technology and tireless efforts through the years.

"You cannot understand the value of bringing closure to a family who has suffered such immense tragedy of losing a loved one," Miller said. "Being able to bring closure is a big deal in any case."

Armentrout said his staff has become passionate about their work, which has led to so many closures already. He described the complexity of emotions whenever a case is brought back into light for the sake of solving.

"We're empathetic to the families because they're having to relive all these things," he said. "It’s certainly emotional and we’re proud of the work and glad to be able to serve the community in this way."