Until recently, many ancient crimes remained unsolved. It seemed that they had already become history and there was simply no chance of getting closer to the truth. But at the end of the last century, modern methods of DNA analysis came into play for identifying a person's personality. We propose to recall the most famous cases of the past centuries and check personally how DNA testing is going on.
Jack the ripper
The famous murderer Jack the Ripper operated in London at the end of the 19th century. He attacked brothel workers by slitting their throats and then removing internal organs from the bodies of their victims. The Ripper is not credited with many episodes - an attack on five girls - but the degree of his brutality shocked the audience so much that this killer became a legend. Everyone knows that the identity of Jack the Ripper was never identified, the maniac remained at large. And only recently, in 2014, there was information about who could be behind the loud nickname.
The British amateur detective Russell Edwards has come close to the secret. He bought a shawl at auction, which was found at the scene of the Ripper's fourth victim. Experts in the field of genetic analysis isolated biological material from the spots on the shawl, which they compared with the DNA of the descendants of Catherine Eddowes - the very victim. Almost a century and a half later, this is the only reliable way to be sure: the shawl could indeed have been left at the scene of the murder.
Then the samples obtained from the scarf were compared with the DNA of the descendants of one of the suspects - the hairdresser Aaron Kosminsky. It turned out that the DNA obtained by specialists is as similar as possible to the DNA of the Kosminsky family. So, 126 years later, the legendary investigation received sensational results. I wonder how the descendants of Kosminsky felt when they learned that their ancestor was probably one of the most brutal killers in England?
It should be said that the sensation of 2014 generated a lot of controversy. For example, some rightly noted that traces of Kosminsky's DNA on the shawl could also indicate that Aaron was simply a client of Catherine Eddowes. One way or another, inaccuracies in the results of the investigation are not the fault of "DNA analysis": with the proper professionalism and accuracy, the method provides incredibly accurate data, and it is the task of detectives and forensic experts to draw the right conclusions.
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The Romanov family
But in Russia there is an equally interesting case, which was cleared up with the help of modern technologies in the field of DNA analysis. The family of the last Russian emperor was shot back in 1918, and more recently the Investigative Committee resumed its investigation.
Of course, in the case of the Romanov family, the criminals were known from the very beginning. The main task for the investigators was to identify the remains of the imperial family, because the Bolsheviks carefully concealed the place of their burial. The alleged remains were first found by geologist Alexander Avdonin and Moscow scriptwriter Geliy Ryabov, who decided to conduct an independent investigation. But the researchers did not advertise the discovery, because it happened at the end of the Soviet period. And in 1991, as soon as the USSR ceased to exist, information about the find was made public, and the Sverdlovsk prosecutor's office began excavations and began to find out who the bones were found.
A key artifact that helped researchers get answers to their questions is Nikolai's shirt with blood stains, which was kept in the Hermitage. This garment was a family heirloom: in 1891, Nicholas, not yet king, traveled through Japan and was attacked. They managed to deliver two blows to him with a saber, but they were not very accurate, and Nikolai survived; it was decided to keep the bloody shirt in memory of this day.
The researchers managed to isolate DNA fragments from these spots. Thus, the investigation received the most reliable way to understand the dark story: specialists had samples of the Tsar's own DNA. This put an end to the long-term investigation: the DNA obtained from the bone remains of one of the victims completely coincided with the DNA isolated from Nikolai's shirt.
We check on ourselves
In general, we have heard about the technology of DNA analysis for several days, but few people know that in Russia until recently there was no production of its own reagents for genetic identification of a person. Domestic experts used imported test systems, 90% of which are produced in the USA and Germany. Only at the end of last year, Nearmedic Group of Companies opened the first full-cycle production of such reagents at its new plant.
We tested on ourselves how the identification process works in Russia, and at the same time we played mafia in a way that no one else has played. Do you remember the rules? In our case, there were four participants, each pulling a piece of paper with an inscription that said what role he was given. One mafia and three civilians.
As a "victim" we used a chicken leg, which the mafioso ate safely without sharing it with others. At the same time, all the players, including the mafia, left behind a lot of other artifacts: some chewed gum, someone chewed on a pen during the game, another participant was wearing gloves, and someone even managed to inherit samples of their blood. This allowed experts to collect all kinds of samples from the "crime scene". Almost any object containing biological traces, blood, bone tissue, sperm, saliva, hair, sweat samples and even objects from which fingerprints have been erased can be used as a starting material for DNA extraction and subsequent analysis. The high sensitivity of modern analytical methods is one of the key advantages of very accurate DNA analysis.
So, the specialist collected each DNA sample in a separate bag, numbered the bags in accordance with the numbers of suspects issued in advance. All except one: the one containing the remains of the chicken. Experts-geneticists of the laboratory of MEDICAL GENOMIX LLC needed to determine which of the four suspects had committed the attempt on the chicken. The analysis was carried out for 21 genetic markers analyzed by the XMark set produced by Nearmedic Group.
The results of the investigation were shared with us by Andrey Semikhodsky, Director for Science of MEDICAL GENOMIX LLC. Here's what he said: “We are sure that the chicken was attacked by one person. At the same time, a sufficient amount of biomaterial was found at the object for analysis. Material comes from one female donor.
- Suspects Nos. 1, 2, 3, who left lollipops, gloves, chewing gum and blood at the crime scene, were excluded from the list of possible DNA donors in the chicken, since they have a mismatch in genetic variants for at least 18 markers.
- Suspect # 4 cannot be ruled out as a possible donor of DNA in the deposition at the site from the scene, and therefore the DNA in this sample may be derived from it.
- If Suspect # 4 is not a DNA donor at the investigated object, it means that the DNA comes from another person with an identical genetic profile. The probability that someone other than Suspect # 4 has the same genetic profile and is therefore our "culprit" is 1 in 3 * 1027. The DNA evidence obtained in this case really has a very high evidentiary value.
- Since we have no other evidence in the case, with the exception of the analyzed DNA evidence, and given their high probative value, the court will be able to conclude that the attack on the chicken was committed by Suspect # 4.
The calculation of the probability of chance coincidence (RMP) was carried out using the genetic frequencies of alleles published in the world literature, as well as using the laboratory database of allele frequencies."
It is hard to imagine whether unsolved crimes will remain in the world of the future? Science has already driven the intruders into a dead end, when every step can potentially reveal the identity of a robber or murderer, and it takes less and less time to search. Perhaps, investigators from the "brilliant future" will only be engaged in investigating cases of years gone by, when science had no idea what DNA was and what information was encrypted in it.
