Chapter Twenty Five:Kathy Kohm:DNA

 Chapter 25 

     In 1987 in the U.K. a DNA researcher at the University of Leicester, Alec Jeffreys, was approached by law enforcement with a question.  They wanted to know if DNA could be used to positively identify someone by biological material that they had left at a crime scene.  Can a person examine the material left behind at a crime scene or on a victim and compare it to samples taken later from a suspect?  A 15 year old girl, Dawn Ashworth, had been raped and murdered. Law enforcement had samples of genetic material from the perpetrator that were recovered from the body of the victim. They were hopeful that science could help them solve this puzzle. 

    Jeffreys was interested and took on the problem. Police began by asking all males of age in the area to give a DNA sample. One suspect, Colin Pitchfork, kept dodging and evading the police about submitting a sample. After finally obtaining DNA from the suspect and comparing it to samples found on the victim, the lab saw a clear match. This eventually resulted in the first conviction in a criminal trial using DNA comparison and it became worldwide news. Colin Pitchfork was the first person convicted of rape and murder using DNA evidence. 

    The technological advancement spread like wildfire with the first case of a DNA conviction in the United States coming in Florida in 1987 as well.  Tommie Lee Andrews was convicted of violently raping a woman after breaking into her home. The DNA connection took him off the street that year. 

     Law enforcement officials, prosecutors and DNA researchers were all interested in applying this innovation and expanding it to make it a standard part of police work. It would become a growing part of investigations throughout the 1990’s.  

     That must have been nerve wracking for perpetrators as they read the news in those days. Imagine that you knew you were guilty but you were still free. On the news and in the papers you keep seeing one case after another being solved using DNA. Imagine that feeling. If you knew that you were guilty you might be wondering when that knock on the door was coming for you.

    If you were innocent and you knew DNA could exonerate you and clear your name; this technology must have seemed like a miracle.  And many people have been cleared after being wrongfully convicted in the decades since 1987.



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