Barbara Rae-Venter and GEDmatch
Connection Details
Rae-Venter uploaded crime scene DNA to GEDmatch and built family trees from partial matches.
About the Entities
Barbara Rae-Venter
person
Retired patent attorney and genetic genealogist whose family-tree research led investigators to Joseph DeAngelo, arrested as the Golden State Killer in April 2018.
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GEDmatch
organization
GEDmatch is a free, publicly accessible genetic genealogy database where users voluntarily upload their DNA profiles to find relatives. Investigators uploaded the Golden State Killer's crime scene DNA to GEDmatch, finding partial matches to distant relatives of DeAngelo, which allowed genetic genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter to build family trees leading to the suspect. The case sparked a major privacy debate about law enforcement access to consumer DNA databases. GEDmatch subsequently changed its terms of service to require users to opt in to law enforcement searches.
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Related Connections
Rae-Venter's forensic genealogy work identified DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer through family tree analysis.
Holes worked with Rae-Venter on the forensic genealogy investigation that identified DeAngelo.
The use of GEDmatch in the GSK case catalyzed the broader adoption of forensic genealogy and sparked privacy debates.
GEDmatch's public DNA database provided the partial matches that led to DeAngelo's identification.
Key Facts
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