In April 2018, serial killer Joseph DeAngelo, also known as the Golden State Killer, was spectacularly tracked down. After 13 years of groping in the dark, uploading his DNA profile to a commercial genetic genealogical DNA database helped to identify him within a few months. The use of such commercial DNA databases elicited both hope and dismay. In this contribution the authors address concerns about the use of this technology in the Dutch jurisdiction by situating it in the more than 25 years of careful legislation and forensic practice. They show that much care and attention has been given to the legal and societal aspects of forensic genetic technology and argue that the use of commercial DNA databases warrants a careful and thorough debate before it can be introduced in any sound way.

The success of investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) in the US hasn’t gone unnoticed in Europe. After US police announced worldwide that the Golden State Killer had been identified with the application of IGG, the Swedish police and judiciary applied the same method to solve a double murder that had remained unsolved for sixteen years. How did this method come about? A young woman unfamiliar with her real name, age, parents, and origins came up with the idea that private genealogical DNA databases that allow customers to trace their distant relatives could also be used to discover her identity. Since then, in the US many cold cases have been solved with the help of these databases and also the identity of many unidentified human remains has been traced. Questions concerning this new method of investigation arise, to which the beginning of an answer is given here. What does the method entail? Is it allowed to use this method in the Netherlands as well?