DNA Tests Solved the Golden State Killer — Now Nearly Everyone Is Findable
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- Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. was identified in 2018 as the Golden State Killer after investigators used a distant relative's DNA uploaded to GEDmatch to build a family tree; he pleaded guilty in 2020 to 13 murders and 13 kidnappings.
- USC geneticist Michael "Doc" Edge estimates that only about 1% of the population uploading DNA to a law-enforcement-searchable database makes virtually everyone findable — even though just 7% of Americans have taken a home DNA test.
- A 2023 whistleblower revealed that some forensic genealogists routinely searched data from users who had explicitly opted out of law enforcement use, skirting database rules.
- Edge's research has shown that bad actors could manipulate these databases to expose users and their relatives to phishing attacks or other malicious actions, with no law currently preventing insurers from using the data.
- USC economist Patrick Turley, who studies how genes shape health, says traits are nudged by millions of genetic markers working in concert — researchers analyzed 5.5 million genomes tied to height and still explained less than half the variation.
- Most genetic datasets come from people of European descent, making predictions less accurate for other populations, and the gap widens for complex traits like educational attainment.
- Embryo-screening companies such as Orchid Health now rank embryos by genetic risk, but Turley says the benefit is modest — selecting the "best" of 10 embryos might lower diabetes risk from 35% to 30%.
Why it matters: Roughly 1% of Americans uploading their DNA can effectively place the other 99% in a searchable genetic database — meaning the privacy choice of a few quietly determines the findability of nearly everyone, with no law currently blocking life insurers or bad actors from exploiting that data.
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