MUILENBURG FORGET, THE DAY HE WAS ARRESTED HIM THE DAY HE WAS SET FREE, THANKS TO DNA -- AND THE DAY HE WAS SET FREE, THANKS TO DNA.
IN 1999, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BUILT A COMBINED DNA INDEX SYSTEM.
IF A SUSPECT HAS NOT COMMITTED A CRIME BEFORE, THEIR DNA WILL BE IN THE SYSTEM.
>> BLOOD SPATTER, THE SURFACE, FINGERNAILS.
THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUED FIVE YEARS.
HOST: A MURDER IN 2013 IN RHODE ISLAND -- A BODY DISCOVERED IN A TRASH BARREL.
INVESTIGATORS CAP INTO ANOTHER RESOURCE TO SUPPLEMENT -- TAPPED INTO ANOTHER RESOURCE TO SUPPLEMENT THEIR INVESTIGATION.
COLLEEN IS THE COMPNAY’S FOUNDER -- COMPANY’S FOUNDER.
>> WE MADE DATA APPROPRIATE FOR GENEALOGY.
WE UPLOADED THAT DATA AND LOOKED FOR DNA COUSINS OF THE SUSPECT.
WE CONNECTED FAMILY TREES.
THOSE COUSINS LET US TO THE SUSPECT.
HOST: SOON AFTER, MICHAEL WAS CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER.
WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A REVOLUTION IN HUMAN IDENTIFICATION.
HOST: THERE ARE MORE THAN 100 UNSOLVED CASES IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
>> THE PRIMARY GOAL IS TO BE ABLE TO GIVE FAMILIES INFORMATION, TO BE ABLE TO TELL THEM SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR LOVED ONE.
WE WERE ABLE TO FINALLY BRING TO CONCLUSION THE OLDEST CASE.
HOST: JANE WAS 23 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE WAS FOUND DEAD INSIDE HER APARTMENT.
>> THE BOYFRIEND AND THE COUPLE ACROSS THE HALL FOUND HER MURDERED.
HOST: INVESTIGATORS DETERMINED THE GRADUATE STUDENT HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND STRUCK SEVERAL TIMES IN THE HEAD.
POLICE NEVER CHARGED A SUSPECT.
>> IN 1998, WE HAD BEEN ABLE TO DEVELOP A PARTIAL DNA PROFILE.
THAT TESTING COULD NOT GO FURTHER AT THAT POINT.
HOST: THE OFFICE REVISITED THE CASE IN 2017.
>> IN TALKING WITH THE CRIME LAB, THERE WAS ONE LAST POSSIBILITY OF TRYING EVIDENCE WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY.
WE WERE ABLE TO GET A MALE DNA PROFILE.
HOST: MICHAEL WAS IDENTIFIED AS THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE.
THE CAREER CRIMINAL DIED FROM CANCER IN 2001.
INVESTIGATORS MADE THE MATCH USING A DNA SAMPLE FROM HIS BROTHER.
>> WE JUST DID NOT HAVE THIS WHEN I WAS A YOUNG PROSECUTOR.
HOST: THE OFFICE IS WORKING TO INVENTORY ALL OF THE COLD CASES AND REEVALUATE AND REEVALUATE THEM WITH A FRESH SET OF EYES.
A COLLECTOR’S WHEN A CRIME HAPPENS IT DOESN’T JUST HAPPEN TO AN INDIVIDUAL, IT HAPPENS TO THE COMMUNITIES.
>> DNA NOT ONLY HAS THE POWER TO EXONERATE BUT -- >> I WAS PUT ON $50,000 CASH BAIL.
MY PARENTS DIDN’T HAVE $50,000.
THAT WAS MY LAST DAY OF FREEDOM, JANUARY 5, 1984.
>> HE SPENT 19 YEARS IN.
>> EXONERATED THROUGH DNA.
>> NOW HE PROUDLY DISPLAYS HIS FREEDOM IN MANY FORMS, A CUSTOM LICENSE PLATE.
COOKS WHY DID YOU WANT TO PUT IT ON YOUR LICENSE PLATE?
>> SO EVERYONE KNOWS I WAS EXONERATED THROUGH DNA.
>> AND THE WORK HE DOES TO PREVENT HIM FROM HAPPENING AGAIN . >> I PASSED THE LAWS IN DIFFERENT STATES, IN MASSACHUSETTS.
>> IN ADDITION TO HIS EFFORTS TO CHANGE STATE LAWS, THE MAYOR SPEAKS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND LAW FIRMS ABOUT HIS WRONGFUL CONVICTION, PART OF HIS MISSION TO PAY IT FORWARD AND FULLY
APPRECIATE THE FREEDOM HE ENVISIONED BEHIND BARS FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES.
>> I LOST 19 YEARS, TWO MONTHS OF MY LIFE.
I MET MY WIFE, WE GOT MARRIED, WE HAD CHILDREN.
IF I WAS ANGRY AND BITTER ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, I NEVER WOULD HAVE HAD -- >> HE WISHES IT CAME SOONER.
MORE THAN 306 T PEOPLE HAD BEEN SET FREE ALL THANKS TO DNA