Genealogy triggers arrest over decades-old assaults
A major breakthrough has been made in the long-running mystery of three sexual assaults, including one on an 11-year-old girl, using pioneering DNA technology.
Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy is an emerging technology in Australia that allows police to match DNA profiles from multiple crimes to genetic profiles.
The technique came to prominence in 2018 when it was used to identify the “Golden State Killer” Joseph DeAngelo in a series of murders and rapes committed in California in the 1970s and 1980s.
Thousands of DNA markers are being analyzed to determine familial relationships, even as distant as third or fourth cousins, allowing police to identify possible suspects in seemingly unrelated crimes.
The genetic markers are compared against two publicly available genealogy databases that allow police to access the profiles of people who have consented to their information being used to solve serious crimes.
Detectives in NSW began investigating unsolved sexual assault cases using technology in 2022 and allegedly found a link between three cases spanning 11 years and 500 kilometres.
The first case involved an 11-year-old girl being forced into a man’s car and then allegedly sexually assaulted at Glendenning in Sydney’s west in 1991.
Five years later, a man allegedly offered a 16-year-old girl a lift near Wollongong and then sexually assaulted her.
Finally, in 2002, a 26-year-old woman was allegedly picked up by a man and then sexually assaulted in a park in Dubbo, in central west NSW.
After DNA analysis confirmed that the attacks were linked to the same male DNA profile, police uploaded the unknown male DNA profile to two public genealogy databases.
A close relative of the attacker was allegedly identified, leading police to arrest an elderly man in South Kempsey on the NSW north coast on Wednesday.
Robert Wayne Kwan, 77, was arraigned Thursday on nine counts of sexual assault and multiple counts of kidnapping.
This is the first technology-triggered arrest in NSW.
The public can help solve other cases by approving police access to DNA profiles when submitting samples to genealogy websites.
“Advanced DNA technology played a pivotal role in leading us to this arrest and we want to remind the community of the important role they can play in similar cases,” Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty said in a statement on Thursday. he said.
“Any DNA accessed through these databases is used only to help solve the most serious victim-based crimes, such as murders and sexual assaults, or to identify human remains.”
Profiles may be accessed for use in solving serious and violent crimes.
Kwan did not apply for bail and will return to Kempsey Local Court on April 22.
