Two decades-old cold case murders in California have been solved through the novel investigative tool of genetic genealogy.
Genetic genealogy made headlines in 2018 when it was used to find the golden state killer.
The first victim was 23-year-old Shannon Rose Lloyd, who was sexually assaulted and strangled to death in her Garden Grove bedroom in May 1987, Garden Grove Deputy Police Chief Amir El Farra said.
Renee Cuevas, 27, was killed two years later, he said.
Genetic genealogy identified Reuben Smith, who lived in Orange County in the 1980s, as a possible suspect.
The police found out the same man committed both crimes. His DNA was submitted to the law enforcement database CODIS.
Then last year, authorities turned to genetic genealogy, which uses an unknown suspect’s DNA to trace his or her family tree.
In 1998, a decade after the Orange County murders, Smith was arrested in Las Vegas for sexual assault and attempting to kill a woman, police said.
