(WXYZ) — Detectives are using a new cutting-edge approach when it comes to tracking down killers and those who commit sexual assaults; it's all thanks to DNA and genealogy.
The technology is being used to solve decades-old violent crimes and delivering hope to countless families.
Genealogy sites are sharing crucial DNA information to crack open cases stalled for years. Every day we leave DNA on just about everything we touch, like a coffee cup. Now, genealogy sites are sharing info and proving to be a game changer for detectives.
“He was my only brother. He has a daughter who is turning 17 years old next month," said Melanie Ma'at.
For Melanie Ma'at, the pain of losing a loving brother is real.
Ralph Purifoy, 50, was a disabled Marine veteran, stabbed to death at Cook Park off Fenkell in Detroit last year.
“Hopefully, whoever did this won’t do it to someone else," said Ma'at.
But she says police increasingly using genealogy sites like Ancestry and Family Tree to look back at cold cases brings hope.
The power of a million genetic markers is now connecting dots in ways never before thought possible.
"As we speak, we are going back to do a review of all cold cases, and that’s something that 10 years ago would have seemed hopeless," said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald.
Prosecutor McDonald said criminals now have something new to fear.
"We can discover who you are if a family member whom you have never met submits their DNA," she said.
Here’s how it works: a combined DNA index system known as “CODIS” run by the FBI takes shared DNA data from loved ones and matches against public records, narrowing down who a suspect could be.
In the case of accused rapist Kurt Rillema of West Bloomfield, investigators say the DNA he shared with two brothers led right to him once investigators at Penn State matched DNA from a decades-old rape case on a golf course to the same DNA in a woman’s rape at an Oakland Township golf course in 1999.
“Anybody that has gone 20 years living with a crime thinks 'I got away with it,'" said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
Oakland County sheriff's deputies tracked down Rillema; McDonald charged him with first and second degree CSC. He faces as much as life in prison.
We’ve learned Parabon NanoLabs is behind the investigative genealogy work that’s helped solve 230 violent crimes in the U.S. and Canada in the last 4 years.
And in California, the high profile "Golden State Killer" with former police officer Joseph DeAngelo pleading guilty to 13 counts after being linked to a series of 70s and 80s burglaries, rapes and murders.
Closer to home in Wayne, Oakland and Livingston counties, ancestry DNA technology is becoming a commonly used tool.
“We are going through all of our cold cases right now to determine where we can use this technology to trace DNA evidence," said Bouchard.
Ma'at says the loss of her brother continues to be a struggle every day.
"Whoever did this to my brother, is just out and about. Walking around and living their life. It’s not right," said Ma'at.
She believes a DNA match for Ralph's killer could come anytime, unlocking clues to who committed that cold blooded murder haunting his family to this day.
“The use of DNA technology could definitely help find who it was, that did this to him. It would give us a lot of closure," she said.
Police at Penn State are also being credited by the Oakland County prosecutor for their outstanding work in tracking down that alleged rapist.
