Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 02/11/2026 3:29:54 AM PST by TheDon
Detective Shaun McCarthy has worked on a lot of cases in his more than 40 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
“I was 10 years as a street gang detective, and now I’m in my 23rd year as a homicide detective,” he said. “So, a total of 33 years as a detective.”
These days, he devotes his time to the cases that remain unsolved.
“To solve a homicide and prosecute somebody who committed the worst crime, there is nothing higher than that.”
This is why he says he said couldn’t fully retire. McCarthy, like many others in the department’s Unsolved Unit, is a “hire back” – a retired homicide detective now working part-time on cold cases.
“We have over 21,000 homicide cases. Of those 21,000 plus homicide cases, approximately 4,500 are unsolved,” he said.
That includes cases like Mary Lindgren’s. “January 19 of 1996. Mary Lindgren was a 67-year-old woman. She was living in a semi-assisted living retirement home in Covina,” McCarthy recalled.
Investigators said an intruder came in through a sliding glass door, sexually assaulted her and beat her to death. A suspect was never identified at the time, but evidence collected back then proved pivotal years later.
In 2020, the Sheriff’s Department announced an arrest in Lindgren’s case. David Adolph Bernal, 46, was eventually convicted and is serving 25 years to life in prison.
The break came through DNA and forensic genetic genealogy.
“They were able to identify a family member who was in the database, and then by process of elimination, they were able to identify the suspect,” McCarthy said.
It is the same type of technology used to catch the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., and a growing number of suspects in cold cases across the country.
But in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States with about 10 million residents, the Lindgren case remains the only homicide solved through genetic genealogy in the department’s history.
“How can we only have one? Because there’s a lot of challenges that go along with genealogy searches that the public has no idea about,” he explained.
To start, detectives must have high-quality suspect DNA from a crime scene, such as blood or saliva. If that DNA does not match anyone in CODIS, the national criminal database, and investigators have exhausted most other avenues, they can seek approval for a genetic genealogy search.
“And that’s a process that’s time-consuming and frustrating right now, in 2026,” McCarthy said.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has to sign off. The case then goes to the California Department of Justice, which decides whether to conduct a search comparing the suspect DNA to possible relatives in criminal databases.
There are only so many trained analysts, and many cases await review.
“From the time the process starts, you’re looking at at least 18 months, maybe two years,” McCarthy explained. “And then there’s no guarantee you’re going to identify anybody. I just had a case recently that we got into the pipeline for a familial search for the offender database. Six months later, I get a ‘Dear John’ letter, I call it, saying we did a search and unfortunately were unable to identify any family members.”
There is also a third option: comparing suspect DNA to public genealogy databases. It can reveal distant relatives but raises privacy concerns, so it is generally the last avenue investigators are allowed to pursue.
McCarthy said the department is close to solving another case using genetic genealogy, but many more still sit on their shelves.
“I believe this – and I may be speaking out of the wrong end of my mouth – [there are] hundreds of cases in our library that potentially can be solved through genetic genealogy.”
He remains hopeful that technology, staffing and the approval process will improve, eventually leading to more arrests.
“When you put handcuffs on a guy who committed a murder 30 years ago, he gives you that look like, ‘I thought I got away with this, and now you’re putting the handcuffs on me,’” McCarthy said. “Not much more gratifying than that.”
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Genetic fingerprinting will become mandatory soon.
Not being used because it works
Not being used because everybodies related ,,,
Any human has about 99% of DNA in common with any chimpanzee. Is that enough for a conviction?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.