DNA is the most effective tool for justice humanity has ever known. Every week it seems DNA either exonerates wrongly convicted people or indicts violent criminals. DNA is like an invisible clue to ugly deeds, because it's all but impossible to remove all its minute traces.
In 1990, the FBI initiated the Combined DNA Index System, compiling a vast database of human DNA. In October 1998, CODIS became operational.
Its intent, according to the FBI, is to blend "forensic science and computer technology into an effective tool for solving violent crimes. CODIS enables federal, state, and local crime labs to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically, thereby linking crimes to each other and to convicted offenders." (A few state databanks are not yet part of CODIS).
You'd think DNA evidence from every high-profile violent crime would be plugged into CODIS. But it's not. First, the FBI requires that a sample contains at least 10 of 15 clear "markers" before it is entered in CODIS. And sometimes investigators just don't bother.
Take the monstrous murder of JonBenet Ramsey on Dec. 26, 1996. Male DNA has been recovered from her panties, where it was mixed with two spots of her blood. It has been checked against DNA from numerous individuals, including John and Patsy Ramsey, with no matches so far.
Yet incredibly, six-and-a-half years into the investigation (and almost five after CODIS came fully online), that DNA has never been submitted for CODIS analysis, according to Ramsey attorney L. Lin Wood (a fact I've confirmed with another source deeply familiar with the investigation). The technical reason may be that the JonBenet DNA contains just nine clear "markers," plus one that comes close to the standard. There may also have been some political resistance to taking this crucial step.
That's an appalling omission. We live in a DNA age, this murder is as high-profile as it gets, and yet the DNA � oh-so-close to the 10-marker standard � has never been cross-checked with CODIS? I'm speculating, but this may be partly why a 1999 grand jury did not produce any indictments: Nobody can explain that DNA � and nobody has seriously tried. Maybe now that the Boulder District Attorney's office has the case, someone will push hard for its inclusion in CODIS.
Some recent news reports have suggested that the alien DNA may have come from a worker at the Asian factory that made JonBenet's panties. Unlikely: the DNA is mingled with her blood, which never went to Asia. Also, investigators never even asked to see the other panties in the matching set her mother bought her (though the DA's office now has them, Wood says). Rather than (secretly) touting their "Asian sneeze" theory, investigators should have been pursuing a CODIS analysis.
Even if an eventual CODIS analysis doesn't turn up a match, this still matters. JonBenet's DNA evidence should be part of national and state databases, because it may match DNA collected from some future crime scene or suspect; there remains a killer out there, and CODIS could literally save the life of another child.
Regardless of anyone's theories about this case � I remain agnostic � the lack of a CODIS cross-check is a glaring hole in the investigation. Surely analysis can proceed with nine-plus markers on a case of this profile. Forget politics and technicalities: This needs to be done � now.
To contact Clay Evans call (303) 473-1352 or e-mail [email protected]