How a Relative’s DNA Led to a Conviction #truecrimeshorts #truecrimeinvestigation #crimejunkies | Forensic Files

Number four. Familial searching. What if solving a case didn't come down to the killer's [music] DNA, but their
relatives? That's the idea behind familial searching. Instead of looking for a perfect match in CODIS, [music]
the US national DNA database, investigators look for partial matches. DNA that might belong to a parent or
sibling or child of the suspect. Now, CODIS and how it works is a beast all on its own. So, if that's something that
you want to dive deeper into in a separate video, be sure to like this one. Let me know what about CODIS you
want to learn more about in the comments below. I'm doing a deep dive. But, familial searching helps investigators
identify potential relatives of people whose DNA was collected from a crime scene.
It doesn't necessarily lead investigators straight to their suspect, but it may help them find a close
relative of their suspect. And in order to get that sort of hit, that relative's
DNA has to have already existed in the DNA database, whether that's by choice or because they have committed a crime.
Now, there are laws around this type of testing in some states [music] because of privacy concerns. A state that
approves the use of familial searching to find suspects [music] is New York, where the murder of Wendy Jerome
occurred in 1984. Multiple samples in varying degrees of degradation had been found at the scene of Wendy's murder,
and they were all tested multiple times in multiple ways. Until finally in 2020,
a test of one of the samples led to a familial hit in CODIS. That hit was for a relative of Timothy Williams, the man
we now know was responsible for Wendy's killing. His conviction made history because it was the first case in New
York state to be solved using familial DNA testing.

Familial DNA searching is a forensic technique that looks for partial DNA matches in databases like CODIS to identify relatives of a suspect.

In the 1984 murder of Wendy Jerome, investigators spent decades testing degraded DNA evidence. In 2020, a new test led to a familial match in CODIS, pointing to a relative of Timothy Williams.

That lead helped investigators identify Williams as the suspect. His conviction marked the first case in New York State solved using familial DNA searching.

This method doesn’t always identify a suspect directly, but it can provide critical leads by narrowing the search to a family.

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Brief Summary

Familial searching helps solve crimes by identifying relatives of suspects through DNA matches.

Key points

Familial Searching Explained. Investigators look for partial DNA matches to identify relatives of suspects.
Wendy Jerome's Murder Case. The 1984 murder case was solved in 2020 using familial DNA testing.

Episode quotes

What if solving a case didn't come down to the killer's DNA?

WatchJun 2, 2026

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