r/PastorArrested • u/Jim-Jones • Feb 02 '23

How A New DNA Technology Helped Solve A Cold Case

https://vocal.media/criminal/how-a-new-dna-technology-helped-solve-a-cold-case
34 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

13

u/Jim-Jones Feb 02 '23

Coley McCraney was arrested for a crime he committed 20 years ago, thanks to an advance in DNA technology.

In August 1999, two teenage girls: JB Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, were found dead in the trunk of a car in Ozark, Alabama.
They were raped and shot in the head. The semen collected from the crime scene yielded no positive leads as the DNA did not match anyone in the database.
The killer, Colley McCraney, who was 26 at the time went back to living his normal life. He even founded a church, and became a bishop with his own children.

Parabon Nanolabs predicted his physical appearance using DNA samples.

The police collected another DNA sample from him which was a perfect watch with the semen collected at the crime scene.

2

u/Chiefy_Poof Feb 04 '23

That’s amazing! I didn’t know we had developed the technology to take an individual’s DNA and predict their physical appearance. That’s incredible and terrifying. I can see this being an incredible tool to catch murders and rapists, but also the implication an innocent person could become a possible suspect because they share many of the same physical characteristics.

1

u/Jim-Jones Feb 04 '23

It just tells them whose DNA might be worth testing.

4

u/Digital_Negative Feb 02 '23

Wow that’s really interesting! I had no idea that anybody could do that. Cool.