How cold case DNA technique came to Ottawa from California and where it’s headed next [Video]

Family tree enthusiasts and the websites that cater to them are helping police solve decades-old homicides, including here in Ottawa. And the former California district attorney who helped bring the technique to the world with the prosecution of the Golden State Killer back in 2018 says it has the potential to solve many more — as long as it’s managed appropriately.

Investigative genetic genealogy — the process of using DNA to find relatives of unidentified suspects and victims of crime — burst into the consciousness in eastern Ontario last year when Ontario Provincial Police used it to help identify the Nation River Lady.

She was found dead nearly 50 years ago, floating in the Nation River after being dropped from a bridge on Highway 417 between Montreal and Ottawa. She wasn’t identified …