A New Way to Solve a Murder, Part 2: The Future of Genetic Privacy

The police identified a suspect in a double murder after combing through DNA profiles on a website designed to connect family members. We look at what his trial will tell us about the future of genetic genealogy in solving crimes. Guests: Heather Murphy, a New York Times reporter, spoke with CeCe Moore, a genetic genealogist, and Curtis Rogers, a creator of the genealogy website GEDMatch. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading: The case of William Earl Talbott II, who is accused of killing a Canadian couple in Washington State 32 years ago, could result in legal precedents involving the use of genetic genealogy techniques by law enforcement.