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How Police Say Cigarette Butts Led to Arrest of Child “Sexual Predator · Murder Files Unsealed

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Speaker 1: Today we are opening a box that has been sealed
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for a quarter to century. We're tracking the story of
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a terrifying, repeated crime, and it was solved not by
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a confession, not by some lucky break, No, not at all.
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It was solved by a fusion of well hyper specific
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technology and a detective's gut instinct, all the way back
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in the year two thousand.
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Speaker 2: It really is the ultimate cold case narrative for the
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modern era, isn't.
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Speaker 1: It is. It's this profound story about time and about
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how the smallest, most ordinary discarded object, a single cigarette butt,
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can survive what two and fifty seven days and bring justice.
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Speaker 2: And that's what this is really all about. We're looking
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at a decades long pursuit where the suspect was, for
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all intentsive purposes, completely invisible to the established legal systems.
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A ghost a ghost. So this deep dive is really
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about witnessing that exact moment forensic science transcended its own limitations.
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How so it shifted from a simple database search we'll
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get into to an analysis that leverages the entire Hue
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genetic landscape. It's a huge leap.
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Speaker 1: So we're focusing on the arrest of David James Zimbric,
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a fifty eight year old man from Raytown, Missouri. He
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was taken into custody on December thirty, twenty twenty five.
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Speaker 2: And the charges are just extremely serious. We're talking about
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sexual assaults on two different children in Lawrence, Kansas.
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Speaker 1: Back in two thousand and then again in two thousand
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and three. And when you just look at that timeline
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twenty five years between the first crime and the arrest,
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you just you realize what a monumental effort this was.
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Speaker 2: That twenty five year chasm is really the central character
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in the story.
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Speaker 1: That's a great way to put it.
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Speaker 2: And our goal today is to meticulously walk you through
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the three distinct eras of this investigation. Okay, first the
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initial crimes and the incredible, meticulous collection of the evidence.
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Then that long decade plus plateau where traditional science just failed.
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And third the revolutionary breakthrough of forensic genetic genealogy or
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FGG that finally gave them the answer.
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Speaker 1: And when law enforcement finally closed that gap, that chasm,
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the relief was you could feel it. It was palpable,
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not just for the department, but for the whole community
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that had carried this fear for so long. Lawrence Police
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Chief Rich Lockhart, he didn't mince words. He called Zimbric
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a sexual predator and said the arrest ensures he is
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in a place where he will not ever be able
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to hurt another child.
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Speaker 2: And that powerful sense of finality. Yeah, justice delayed, but
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not denied. That's what we're trying to understand today.
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Speaker 1: It's the ultimate proof that persistence, when you combine it
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with scientific innovation, can overcome well, just about any passage
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of time, precisely.
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Speaker 2: So, let's begin at the very start, at a location
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that should have been safe but it became the site
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of repeat terror hashtag tashtag, the initial terror and the
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critical evidence twenty twenty sixteen.
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Speaker 1: To really appreciate the foresight involved here, you have to
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transport yourself back. We're in Lawrence, Kansas in the year
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two thousand and the setting is Naismith Valley Park. It's
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described as a popular wooded green space, you know, a
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quintessential place for kids to just enjoy a summer ride
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their bikes.
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Speaker 2: And that very sense of openness, that accessibility is exactly
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what the perpetrator exploited. It's a common tactic. Unfortunately, predators
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use these seemingly safe public spaces where kids feel comfortable
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and you know where their movements are less scrutinized. Right.
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Speaker 1: And the first documented assault that we have in the
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source material happened on August twenty five.
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Speaker 2: Two thousand, a seven year old girl.
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Speaker 1: Just seven. She was riding her bike near the park
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when she was approached by a man. And the sheer
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consistency of the predatory pattern across both of these crimes
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is just chilling.
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Speaker 2: What was the lure?
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Speaker 1: The man used a financial lure. He offered the child
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twenty dollars to help him find something.
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Speaker 2: And that lure it serves two key purposes. First, it
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creates a sense of compliance, and second, critically, it provides
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a plausible reason to separate the victim from public view.
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Speaker 1: And it worked. He successfully coaxed her away from the
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busy parts of the park into a more secluded wooded
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area where the assault took place. Her father, who had
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rushed to the area looking for her, found her. She was,
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as you can imagine, commatized, but she provided this crucial,
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almost microscopic detail that would become the entire foundation of
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this twenty five year case.
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Speaker 2: And what was that?
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Speaker 1: She described her attacker as a man who had been
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smoking a cigarette.
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Speaker 2: Wow, such a small detail.
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Speaker 1: Tiny, but that detail, which could have seemed so innocuous
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at the time, it sets up the incredible action taken
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by the first responders. This is where we have to
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just you pay tribute to foundational police work. Absolutely, the
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responding officers, including a then detective Mike Macarte who's long
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since retired, they didn't just process the scene quickly. They
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treated it with painstaking meticulousness, and they were specifically searching
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for anything related to that cigarette.
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Speaker 2: And they found several cigarette butts yep. But the true
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investigative gold, the detail that just speaks volumes of out
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the perpetrator's immediate flight from the scene, was that one
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of those butts was still smoldering.
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Speaker 1: Still smoldering.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, just think about the timeline that implies the victim runs,
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the perpetrator flees, and within moments the police are there
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finding physical evidence that is still hot.
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Speaker 1: It's a snapshot of the crime frozen in time exactly.
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Speaker 2: Chief Lockhart later reflected on this, and he noted that
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the officers, without knowing it at the time, were collecting
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what would become the absolute lynchpin of the case decades later,
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that smoldering butt was a perfect pristine DNA sample.
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Speaker 1: So Lawrence PD they have this phenomenal piece of evidence.
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It's got the perpetrator saliva, so it has his DNA
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and they moved with for the time a lot of urgency.
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They extracted the DNA profile and entered it into the
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FBI's Combined DNA Index System CODIS in November two thousand
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and one.
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Speaker 2: And this is where the limitations of the technology that
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era become just brutally.
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Speaker 1: Apparent, because the result was nothing zero.
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Speaker 2: COTIS back then and even now. It operates on a
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very specific principle. It uses what are called short tandem
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repeats or STR markers.
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Speaker 1: Okay, what does that mean?
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Speaker 2: In simple terms, it's essentially a very high resid matching system,
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but for a very limited set of data, looks at
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maybe thirteen to twenty specific, highly variable regions of the genome.
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Speaker 1: So it's looking for an exact match.
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Speaker 2: An exact match. If the profile they found in Naismith
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Valley Park didn't directly match someone who was already in
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the system, a convicted felon, or maybe a profile from
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another crime scene, the search just stopped dead.
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Speaker 1: And since David Zimbrick had no prior criminal convictions that
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would have required his DNA to be collected and uploaded
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to CODIS. He was, for all intents and purposes, invisible.
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Speaker 2: Completely invisible. The system failed, but through no fault of
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the investigators or the technology itself. It just wasn't designed
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to catch someone like him.
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Speaker 1: So the case goes cold for nearly three years. The perpetrator,
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relying on that cloak of anonymity that COTIS gave him,
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he returns to the same.
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Speaker 2: Area, which confirms the consistency of HISMO.
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Speaker 1: It does. On May twenty three, two thousand and three,
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we see the pattern repeat itself.
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Speaker 2: This time he approached two ten year old boys who
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were riding their bikes.
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Speaker 1: And the exact same lure was used, offering the money
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to help search for some kind of lost item. He
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managed to separate them, leading one of the boys into
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the woods and assaulting him.
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Speaker 2: In this two thousand and three case, sexual evidence was
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collected directly from the victim, and that sample was then
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sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation the KBI for analysis.
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Speaker 1: But interestingly, the records show this profile wasn't actually entered
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into COTIS until much later, right in.
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Speaker 2: Twenty fifteen, and that delay, while it might seem trust rating,
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it really reflects the operational realities of forensic labs. They're
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often dealing with huge backlogs, shifting priorities over the course
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of decades.
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Speaker 1: But once that two thousand and three DNA sample was
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finally uploaded in twenty fifteen, the system did exactly what
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it was supposed to do.
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Speaker 2: It did, and that led to the first major internal
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breakthrough in the case. The KBI secured a DNA cold
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hit in January of twenty.
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Speaker 1: Sixteen, so the two thousand and three sexual evidence.
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Speaker 2: Profile match the profile they'd extracted from the two thousand
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cigarette butts. This was a critical moment for the investigation
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because it proved definitively that these two heinous assaults, separated
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by years, were the work of a single individual. The
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police now knew they were chasing one ghost, not two.
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Speaker 1: But critically, they still had no name.
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Speaker 2: No name. They had a profile, an alphanumeric signature of
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a predator, but zero identity to attach.
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Speaker 1: To it, So the case plateaus again. From twenty sixteen,
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they know they have a serial offender. They've got this
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high quality evidence linking him to both crimes, but they
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are still completely stuck. We have to really linger on
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this point. Why did a case with perfect, undeniable DNA
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evidence just languish for another several years and for over
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fifteen years in total.
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Speaker 2: It all boils down to that inherent design limitation we
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mentioned the Codis wall.
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Speaker 1: The Cotis wall.
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Speaker 2: Think of code as like a high security lock box.
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It only compares keys that have already been vetted and
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registered keys belonging to convicted offenders. Zimbric was a ghost
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because he had managed to evade any serious arrest or
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conviction before this time. As DNA wasn't in the system.
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Speaker 1: So the key needed to open that lock box just
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didn't exist in the database.
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Speaker 2: It didn't exist, which means thousands of hours of traditional
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police work, interviews, tips, psychological profiling, monitoring sex offenders, all
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of that had likely already.
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Speaker 1: Happened, but it couldn't get them a name.
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Speaker 2: It couldn't advance past the identity question because the system
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of record was genetically silent on this individual. The sophistication
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of the evidence preservation, which was amazing, It allowed that
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cigarette book profile to be viable fifteen years later to
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make the twenty sixteen connection was ironically overshadowed by the
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lack of a suitable technology to identify the person behind
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that profile.
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Speaker 1: They had reached the absolute limit of direct match forensic science.
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Speaker 2: The case was completely unsolvable until the entire scientific paradigm shifted.
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Speaker 1: And that shift, that paradigm change, is exactly what sets
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up the next act of this investigation. The Caddess wall
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started to erode around twenty eighteen, and it was driven
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by headlines that had nothing to do with Lauren's key,
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but everything to do with forensic science.
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Speaker 2: We're talking, of course, about the arrest of Joseph James Angelo,
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the Golden State Killer, the Golden State Killer. And that
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case wasn't just a win for justice, it was a
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revelation for cold case detectives everywhere. It proved absolutely and
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undeniably that forensic genetic genealogy FGG was a real operational tool.
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It could solve the oldest and most difficult cases by
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completely bypassing the code's limitation.
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Speaker 1: This national revelation provided the immediate inspiration for Lawrence PD.
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And what's fascinating is that Detective Amy Price, who recognized
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fgg's potential, had been involved in this case since its
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early days.
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Speaker 2: And that long term institutional memory, that persistence, it's so
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vital for catching that necessary wave of technology when it comes.
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Speaker 1: She led the crucial decision to engage Parabon Nanolabs.
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Speaker 2: A Virginia based company that specializes in FGG analysis. So
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the first step was translating that twenty five year old
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DNA profile, the one from the smoldering cigarette butt, from
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the SPR format used by code is into the specific
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data format needed for genealogical searching.
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Speaker 1: What's remarkable here is the procedural timeline the genotyping that
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conversion process. It was successfully completed in March twenty twenty,
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which seems.
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Speaker 2: Fast, but it's still a critical four year lag between
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the inspiration the Golden State killer arrest in twenty eighteen
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and the actual data conversion. And even this step faced
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delays that were completely out of their.
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Speaker 1: Control, right the COVID nineteen pandemic.
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Speaker 2: Exactly, which impacted everything from lab staffing to supply chains.
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Speaker 1: But once that conversion was done, the real work began,
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and this is the part we really need to explore
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for you, the essential mechanical difference between the old way
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and the new.
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Speaker 2: It fundamentally changes how we think about individual DNA privacy
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versus our familial connections.
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Speaker 1: So let's dive deep into that comparison with CODIS. You
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have the str profile, as we said, it looks at
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maybe thirteen to twenty highly variable regions or marker right.
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Speaker 2: You know, all those markers are unique enough to distinguish one
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individual from another for a direct match. They are not
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dense enough to reliably trace family relationships beyond say a
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first or second cousin.
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Speaker 1: FGG, on the other hand, it relies on a massive
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amount of data known as single nucleotide polymorphisms.
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Speaker 2: Or SNP SMP. Yeah, and you can think of smps
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as the tiny single letter variations in your genetic code.
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Where CODIS looks at a few dozen features, FGG analyzes
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hundreds of thousands, sometimes over seven hundred thousand specific genetic markers.
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Speaker 1: So the density of information gives it immense statistical power.
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Speaker 2: It's like comparing looking for a person based on their
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height and eye color that's CODIS, versus looking for them
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based on every single fingerprint, skin pore, and hairstrand on
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their body. That's FGG.
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Speaker 1: Okay, So the SMP data allows for reliable identification across
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vast distances of biological relationship.
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Speaker 2: Precisely, the method is built on finding distant relatives instead
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of looking for David Zimbrick's profile directly. The analysts uploaded
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the crime scene SNP data to specialize consumer genetic databases.
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Speaker 1: About platforms like gd match or Family Tree DNA exactly.
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Speaker 2: Which are unique because they allow users to submit their
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commercial test results from places like ancestry or twenty three
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AMBI and crucially opt in to permit law enforcement to
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search their genetic data.
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Speaker 1: That voluntary consent is the whole legal foundation that FGG
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investigations stand on.
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Speaker 2: It is, so the magic isn't locating the suspect directly,
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but locating say a third or fourth cousin who submitted
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their DNA to one of these platforms and click the
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allow law enforcement box.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so the statistical power comes from triangulation.
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Speaker 2: Yes, Let's say the crime scene DNA matches a third
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cousin on the suspect's paternal line and a fourth cousin
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on the maternal line, and maybe a second cousin once removed,
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who lives in a specific county in Kansas. Right by
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identifying shared segments of DNA across these multiple distant relatives.
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The genealogists can mathematically work backward to determine the most
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recent common ancestor the great great great grandparents maybe, and
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then trace the subsequent descent lines forward.
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Speaker 1: And that process doesn't just trace the family tree. It
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helps triangulate geography and age, doesn't it.
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Speaker 2: It creates a sophisticated dynamic map. If five distant cousins
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all trace back to the same couple who lived in Lawrence,
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Kansas in the nineteen twenties, you now have a very
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specific lineage to flow.
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Speaker 1: This is a painstaking process building these extensive family trees
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spanning centuries, tracing shared segments forward and backward through public records, obituaries,
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census data.
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Speaker 2: Newspaper archives, everything. It's a huge shift. We move from
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a passive system codis just waiting for a direct match
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to an incredibly active, sophisticated process of building an entire
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lineage based on genetic proximity and pair bond nanilabs.
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Speaker 1: They didn't just do the genealogy right, no.
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Speaker 2: They also assisted initially by creating predictive composites of the
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suspect's potential appearance, things like eye color, hair color, basic
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facial features all based on the DNA.
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Speaker 1: But the family tree is the main investigative tool.
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Speaker 2: It's the primary tool. The composits can sometimes provide psychological
15:03
guidance for the detectives, but the key takeaway here is
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that FGG allows justice to entirely bypass the inherent limitations
15:10
of the code of system, and it does it by
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leveraging voluntary genetic submission by the public. It is, without exaggeration,
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the single biggest leap in forensic science in the last
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fifty years. Hashtag touch HAG Tracing the roots and closing
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the net twenty twenty twenty five.
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Speaker 1: So by early twenty twenty they have this high resolution
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SNP profile. It's ready for the databases. But the genealogical
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path it wasn't a straight.
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Speaker 2: Line, No, not at all. The parabon analysis immediately indicated
15:35
a significant complication for the investigators. What was it The
15:39
genealogy suggested the suspect had been adopted. Oh wow, And
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from a detectives perspective, this is like hitting a massive
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non genetic roadblock. Standard genealogy relies on unbroken lines of inheritance,
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you know, tracking names through birth certificates and historical.
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Speaker 1: Records, and an adoption record often just severs that paper
15:58
trail completely.
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Speaker 2: It makes the tree instruction exponentially more difficult.
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Speaker 1: So that means the detectives couldn't just rely on the
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thousands of public records that genealogists typically use. They have
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to go right to the source.
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Speaker 2: Which necessitated intense legal and investigative work to identify the
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biological parents. It means getting court orders or search warrant
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subpoenas to access adoption records.
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Speaker 1: Which are frequently decades old and often sealed under privacy laws.
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Speaker 2: Exactly. It's a complex, time consuming legal dance that contrast
16:27
so sharply with the quick digital search in the genealogy databases.
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It forces the investigation back into the paper.
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Speaker 1: World and the investigative scope it must have broadened dramatically.
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Speaker 2: It did. The initial leads generated by the FGG analysis
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and the subsequent paper searches weren't just localized to Lawrence.
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Detectives were tracing these leads across multiple states.
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Speaker 1: That introduces logistical hurdles, travel costs, the need for complex
16:53
inneragency coordination.
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Speaker 2: Think about the commitment involved. This wasn't a local issue anymore.
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The search for a suspect in a Kansas assault case
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now required investigative resources spanning the Midwest, possibly even beyond.
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Speaker 1: But the good news is that by twenty twenty two,
17:08
so two years into this intensive follow up, the power
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of FGG was sufficiently recognized that the case started getting
17:15
some real institutional weight behind it.
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Speaker 2: You mean the Canvas Bureau of Investigation and the FBI
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stepped in to provide active assistance. That's right. Absolutely, the
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KBI and the FBI now have dedicated resources and expertise
17:27
specifically for complex FGG follow up. And this institutional support
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providing staff funding for travel access to cross jurisdictional databases,
17:37
that was crucial in accelerating the final stages. Local agencies
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can only handle so much complexity on their own.
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Speaker 1: So the ultimate breakthrough, the moment that DNA profile finally
17:45
got a name, happened in late twenty twenty five.
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Speaker 2: And it's so important to note that time lag. The
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FGG genotyping started in twenty twenty and the name wasn't
17:55
confirmed until twenty twenty five. It just shows the intensive,
17:58
years long slog of that follow up work.
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Speaker 1: That October twenty twenty five breakthrough required a long distance
18:04
effort detectives traveled all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico,
18:07
to interview the biological birth mutter that they'd identified through
18:10
that meticulously constructed genetic trade, and this.
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Speaker 2: One single interview proved to be the final piece of
18:16
the puzzle.
18:16
Speaker 1: She confirmed it she had placed a child for adoption
18:19
many years ago, but the critical game changing detail she
18:21
provided was that the child she gave up had actually
18:23
contacted her in two thousand and five. And with that revelation,
18:27
she provided the name they had been searching for all
18:29
this time, David Zimbric.
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Speaker 2: Wow. Just imagine that moment for the detective. You spent
18:36
years chasing genetic markers, building ancestry trees, navigating sealed records,
18:41
and suddenly a name, David Zimbric is provided, attached to
18:45
the very source of the biological material.
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Speaker 1: It's the ultimate convergence of the genetic and the historical record.
18:51
It is so once they had the name, the investigation
18:54
pivoted back to traditional means, and with lightning speed, they
18:57
immediately cross referenced David Zimbri's name with residential records, adoption records, and.
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Speaker 2: The subsequent investigation confirmed that he had lived in key
19:05
areas surrounding the crimes Lawrence, Kansas City, and Raytown.
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Speaker 1: And the birth mother provided another vital confirmation, a photograph
19:13
of David Zimbrick. Right When detectives compared this current photo
19:17
against the original suspect descriptions provided by the victims twenty
19:20
five years earlier, and remember, those physical descriptions were the
19:23
only non DNA evidence they had for decades, the physical
19:27
match just further solidified their certainty they had their man.
19:31
Speaker 2: The net then closed very rapidly. In November twenty twenty five, detectives,
19:35
now working with the assistance of Raytown Police, located Zimbric
19:39
in Raytown, Missouri, and they conducted an interview.
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Speaker 1: The sources indicate Zimbric was noncommittal. He provided very little
19:47
information during that interview, but.
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Speaker 2: The most critical step was securing a direct comparison DNA sample.
19:53
And given the overwhelming evidence trail they had, officers had
19:57
the legal authority to either gain his consent or compare
20:00
tell him to provide a DNA.
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Speaker 1: Swab, regardless of which path was taken. The sample was secured.
20:05
Speaker 2: The final indisputable scientific confirmation arrived on December eighteenth, twenty
20:10
twenty five. The KBI conducted the final comparison and they
20:14
confirmed a direct one to one unquestionable match.
20:17
Speaker 1: The profile from the smoldering cigarette butt from the year
20:20
two thousand was a genetic match for David zimbric and.
20:22
Speaker 2: That match means the entire twenty five year long search,
20:25
from the initial sighting of a smoldering butt to the
20:27
multi state genealogy, the adoption subpoenas, the interview in Santa Fe,
20:31
all of it was correct. The evidence had simply waited
20:33
for the science to catch up.
20:35
Speaker 1: Ten days after that confirmation, the arrest was executed. US
20:39
Marshals arrested David Zimbrick in Retown, Missouri, without incident, on
20:43
December twenty ninth, twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: Five, and he now faces extremely serious legal charges rape
20:49
of a child under fourteen, aggravated criminalsodomy, and aggravated indecent
20:53
liberties with a child. He was initially held on a
20:56
massive one million dollar bond in Missouri, pending his extra
21:00
addition back to Douglas County, Kansas, where the crimes took place.
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Speaker 1: So the investigative journey is over, but the.
21:05
Speaker 2: Legal battle for justice has just begun. Hashtag tagshag Broader
21:09
applications and justice delayed.
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Speaker 1: We have spent a lot of time detailing the technological advancements,
21:14
and you know rightly so. FGG is the big story
21:16
of the twenty twenties and cold casework.
21:18
Speaker 2: It is.
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Speaker 1: But as we pivot to the broader implications, we have
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to return to that fundamental, low tech beginning.
21:24
Speaker 2: Yes, the success of this case is dual layered. The
21:27
technological sophistication of FGG is the headline, absolutely, but it
21:31
is ultimately useless without that foundational evidence. This case is
21:35
a profound case study in the power of preservation.
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Speaker 1: Detective Macade's decision in two thousand to collect that smoldering
21:43
cigarette butt to catalog it.
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Speaker 2: Correctly, and the institutional commitment of Lawrence PD to meticulously
21:49
store and preserve that evidence for a quarter of a century.
21:53
That is the essential prerequisite.
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Speaker 1: Just think about the logistical challenges involved maintaining a perfect
21:58
chain of custody, ensuring the sample didn't degrade or become contaminated,
22:03
paying for the storage, and just maintaining the faith that
22:06
an unsolved case from two thousand would eventually yield fruit.
22:10
Speaker 2: And had that cigarette but degraded or been lost, The
22:13
link between the two thousand and two thousand and three
22:16
cases would have been impossible to make regardless of whether
22:19
FGG was ever invented. The path had to be preserved
22:22
perfectly for the future science to.
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Speaker 1: Work, and that preservation allowed for justice to finally be addressed.
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For the human cost, we have to acknowledge the survivors
22:31
who are only children at the time of the assaults
22:33
and who have lived with this trauma knowing their attacker
22:35
was free for decades. They are adults now who can
22:39
finally hopefully receive some measure of closure.
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Speaker 2: And Chief Lockhart expressed that hope that the arrest brings
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them some measure of comfort, recognizing that this is truly
22:49
a victory for their well being.
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Speaker 1: The police chief actually quantified that commitment. He noted that
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nine two hundred and fifty seven days elapsed between the
22:57
first assault and the arrest.
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Speaker 2: That number just underscores the sheer perseverance of the law
23:02
enforcement community, the thousands of hours of investigative work, the
23:06
periodic file reviews, when technology updated, the interagency collaboration, and
23:11
the monumental effort required for that cross country genealogical trace.
23:15
They just never gave up.
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Speaker 1: No, they didn't, and this perseverance extends beyond the solved cases.
23:20
Law enforcement noted publicly that there were three other similar
23:23
incidents in the area during that period.
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Speaker 2: With matching descriptions of the assailant.
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Speaker 1: Exactly but critically lacking corresponding DNA evidence. So the public
23:32
appeal following Zimbrick's arrest underscores the wider impact of having
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a sexual predator operating undetected in a public space for
23:39
so long, and they urge any potential victims in those
23:42
other three incidents to come forward.
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Speaker 2: Now, let's connect this success back to the technology, but
23:48
through the necessary lens of ethical scrutiny. Right while we
23:52
celebrate this resolution, FGG is not without its ethical and
23:56
legal tension. It is, after all, a tool case capable
24:00
of identifying individuals who never consented to law enforcement access
24:04
to their DNA simply because a distant relative did.
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Speaker 1: This is the crux of the modern debate, isn't it.
24:10
The success stories like the Zimbric case, they highlight the
24:13
immense benefit delayed justice for victims of violent crime.
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Speaker 2: But the method raises serious questions about genetic anonymity. You have,
24:21
in effect relinquished a degree of your own privacy. Simply
24:24
because your third cousin, who you may have never even met,
24:27
chose to submit their DNA and opt into law enforcement searches.
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Speaker 1: We have to be clear on the current guardrails that
24:33
are mentioned in the source material. Very important fgg relies
24:36
on the voluntary nature of consumer databases like ged match
24:40
and family Tree. DNA users must actively opt in to
24:43
allow our data to be searched by law enforcement.
24:45
Speaker 2: That voluntary submission is what maintains the legal footing. If
24:50
a consumer site does not have an opt in policy,
24:53
law enforcement typically needs a court order that has to
24:55
meet a much higher standard of probable cause.
24:58
Speaker 1: And Furthermore, guidelines currently limit fgg us strictly to serious
25:03
violent crimes right.
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Speaker 2: That's right, homicide, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual assault. The exact
25:09
charges zimbric phases. This prevents its use as a sort
25:13
of phishing expedition for lower level offenses. The system is
25:16
designed to close only the most egregious cold cases where
25:19
traditional methods have failed.
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Speaker 1: But the concern that's often raised is the concept of
25:23
genetic surveillance by proxy. Does the state gain a level
25:26
of access to citizens' genetic information through their family members
25:29
that they wouldn't normally possess, And how.
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Speaker 2: Do we balance that right to genetic anonymity against the
25:35
societal imperative to solve cases of extreme violence and protect
25:39
the public. It creates a compelling and I think necessary tension.
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Speaker 1: And the fact is science has created a means to
25:46
dissolve the anonymity that predators have historically relied on the
25:49
passage of time.
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Speaker 2: Zimbric's case is now part of a broader national trend,
25:54
and the advances aren't just in genealogy, they're also in
25:57
the sensitivity of DNA analysis. Labs can now extract usable,
26:02
high quality profiles from samples that are tiny or highly degraded,
26:07
something that was unimaginable in two.
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Speaker 1: Thousand, which means that every unsolved case with viable DNA,
26:13
however old it is, is essentially being reopened.
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Speaker 2: Yes, the story of David Zimbric is proof that science
26:20
is relentlessly catching up to those who relied on the
26:22
simple hope that time would shield them from accountability. The
26:26
tiny trace left twenty five years ago on a small
26:29
piece of trash became the undeniable witness.
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Speaker 1: In the end, As we conclude this deep dive, let's
26:34
distill the three key takeaways that should really resonate with
26:37
you the listener from this extraordinari investigation.
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Speaker 2: First, the absolute enduring value of meticulous evidence preservation. If
26:45
that smoldering cigarette butt had not been collected and stored
26:48
perfectly for quarter century, the link between the two crimes
26:51
and the subsequent FGG investigation would have been completely impossible.
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Speaker 1: That low tech, foundational police work was the essential engine.
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Speaker 2: It was everything.
26:59
Speaker 1: Second, revolutionary power of forensic genetic genealogy. FGG has redefined
27:05
the cold case landscape by moving the investigative search from
27:08
relying on direct matches of known offenders to successfully tracing
27:13
complex familial networks.
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Speaker 2: It shattered the anonymity afforded by the old codis limitations.
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Speaker 1: And finally, the profound impact of institutional and individual persistence.
27:24
We are talking about a commitment that spanned three decades.
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Speaker 2: It required collaboration between local police, state agencies, the FBI,
27:32
and private genetic labs. It's a testament to the fact
27:35
that dedicated law enforcement will not let time erase the
27:38
need for justice.
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Speaker 1: And Chief Lockhart's message to the survivors who are now
27:42
adults and have carried this burden for so long, it
27:45
provides the final urgent hope, don't give up hope. We're
27:48
not going to.
27:48
Speaker 2: Give up hope, and the tenacity shown in this case
27:51
confirms that science and dedication can reach back decades to
27:54
deliver accountability. It does, and that leads us to the
27:57
final thought we want to leave you with. Building directly
28:00
on the foundation of the Zimbrac case, this entire investigation
28:04
hinged on a discarded item and the voluntary choice of
28:07
a distant relative to share their DNA give an fgg's
28:10
capability to solve cases like this, And considering that our
28:13
genetic data is increasingly digital and connected, what is the
28:16
optimal societal balance between leveraging this incredibly powerful tool to
28:21
bring delayed justice to violent crime survivors and protecting the
28:24
fundamental right to genetic privacy for individuals who never consented
28:28
to have their lineage searched by the state. It attention
28:31
that every generation moving forward will have to navigate