REPORTER: ON JUNE 14, 2017 POLICE CAME TO A WOODED AREA ALONG EAST ORDINANCE ROAD IN GLEN BURNIE, RESPONDING TO A REPORT ABOUT HUMAN REMAINS.
THEY FOUND A SKELETON AND WERE ONLY ABLE TO DETERMINE IT WAS A WOMAN, APPROXIMATELY 20-YEARS-OLD.
WHO WAS SHE?
THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY CAME FROM A SMALL, UNASSUMING BUSINESS INSIDE THIS NORTHERN VIRGINIA OFFICE BUILDING.
PARABON NANOLABS BEGAN AS A COMPUTER SOFTWARE COMPANY.
IT HAS EVOLVED INTO AN INVESTIGATIVE GAME-CHANGER FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT WHEN THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHO A VICTIM, OR A KILLER, IS.
BUT THEY HAVE THEIR DNA.
>> THESE DNA MOLECULES ENCODE ALL THE INFORMATION ON HOW TO BUILD A HUMAN.
YOUR PROGRAM, IF YOU WILL, IS IN YOUR DNA.
REPORTER: ALL PARABON NEEDS IS A MINUTE BIT OF DNA TO GENERATE AN ABUNDANCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT SOMEONE, USING TECHNOLOGY THEY CALL SNAPSHOT.
>> WE CAN USE AS LITTLE OF ONE NANOGRAM, THAT IS THE BILLION A MASS OF A PENNY, LESS, EVEN.
SNAPSHOT IS JUST REVERSE ENGINEERING THAT, PULLING OUT THE INFORMATION THAT CODES FOR I COLOR, HAIR COLOR, SKIN COLOR AND SO ON.
REPORTER: THIS IS THE SNAPSHOT SKETCH OF THE WOMAN FOUND IN GLEN BURNIE.
THIS IS THE PHOTO OF A 26-YEAR-OLD WOMAN MISSING FROM THE BROOKLYN AREA OF BALTIMORE CITY.
LIKE THIS IS REMARKABLE.% DENTAL RECORDS PROVIDED FROM THEIR FAMILY MATCH THE MYSTERY.
REPORTER: DR. ELLEN GREYTAK IS THE DIRECTOR OF BIOINFORMATICS AT PARABON.
>> WE PREDICT THE FACE SHAPE OF THE PERSON.
WE PUT THAT TOGETHER WITH THE PREDICTIVE PIGMENTATION, WE PUT ON SKIN THAT MATCHES WILL BE PREDICTED AND THEN WE HAVE A FORENSIC ARTIST TWO-PUTTS ON IRISES, HAIR, AND ALL THAT COMES
TOGETHER INTO A COMPOSITE.
>> SO THIS IS A COMPOSITE OF YOU?
>> BASED ON MY DEI.
-- DNA.
>> IT’S PRETTY GOOD.
IT’S NOT MY DRIVERS LICENSE IMAGE, BUT YOU CAN ELIMINATE PEOPLE FROM YOUR SUSPECT LIST.
REPORTER: THEY USE GENETIC GENEALOGY TO TRACK DOWN SUSPECTS, UPLOADING DATA FROM THE CRIME SCENE.
THIS IS THE ONLY GENEALOGY SITE WHICH ALLOWS LAW ENFORCEMENT USAGE.
REPORTER: ALL THE PARTICIPANTS HAVE AGREED TO ALLOW LAW ENFORCEMENT TO COMPARE THEIR DNA DNA THAT MAY BE FOUND AT A CRIME SCENE.
EXPERTS GENEALOGISTS CAN TAKE ANY MATCHES AND METICULOUSLY TRACED BACK TO EVENTUALLY PINPOINT A SUSPECT.
>> AND BOY HAS IT BEEN SOLVING CRIMES.
WE HAVE HAD A DOZEN SOLVED CASES.
MANY OF THESE ARE CASES THAT HAVE BEEN COLD FOR DECADES.
>> IN OVER 50%, WE ARE FINDING MATCHES THAT ARE WORKABLE.
OVER HALF OF THE CASES HAVE SOME LIGHT, WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE WAS DARKNESS.
DO YOU THINK THERE WILL COME A TIME WHERE YOU CAN’T GET AWAY WITH A CRIME?
>> I THINK THAT’S TAKING IT A BIT FAR, BUT CERTAINLY, WITH DNA EVIDENCE, IT IS DIFFICULT NOT TO LEAVE DNA BEHIND.
AND AS THE FORENSIC TOOLS IMPROVE, WE ARE CERTAINLY MAKING THINGS MORE CHALLENGING.
REPORTER: AS FOR HER KILLER, POLICE QUICKLY ZEROED IN ON HER BOYFRIEND WHO CONFESSED.
OF COURSE, NOTHING CAN EVER BRING BACK THEIR LOVED ONE, NOTHING CAN CHANGE WHAT HAPPENED, BUT AT LEAST THEY DON’T HAVE TO GO TO BED EVERY NIGHT WONDERING WHO DID THIS?
REPORTER: MINDY BASARA, WBAL TV 11 NEWS.
STAN: LATE THIS AFTERNOON, WE WERE NOTIFIED BY ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY POLICE THAT TOMORROW THEY WILL ANNOUNCE ANOTHER COLD CASE HOMICIDE ARREST USING PARABON NANOLAB’S TECHNOLOGY.
WE’LL BRING THAT TO YOU ON ELEVEN NEWS AT 5:00 AND ON THE WBAL-TV MOBILE