ABSTRACT
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................335 Advantages and Limitations of mtDNA Analysis..................................................................336 Crime Scene Hairs ..................................................................................................................338 The Analytical Process ...........................................................................................................340
Mitochondrial DNA Cold Cases....................................................................................................341 Lori Roscetti Homicide ..........................................................................................................341 Terrorist Storage Locker .........................................................................................................342 William Gregory Exoneration ................................................................................................342
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................342 Suggested Reading.........................................................................................................................343
Many cold cases have been reopened in hopes that DNA profiling of evidentiary material might strengthen a case against an existing but weak suspect or identify new leads and new suspects. “Cold hits” are made when nuclear DNA (STR) profiles of semen, blood, or saliva crime scene samples are linked to convicted felon DNA profiles that are stored in the national DNA database (CODIS). Even when actual evidence-to-felon hits are not obtained, intercase hits between crime scene samples can be useful in investigating serial crimes, where a single unknown perpetrator has left biological material at multiple scenes. No other single technology has been more valuable to cold case investigators than nuclear DNA profiling.
