Minn.: 'An incredibly powerful tool,' DNA database, turns 30 Tuesday, January 7, 2020

MPR News

Minnesota has played a major role in developing the national system that uses DNA to link crime scenes to other crime scenes or to known convicted offenders.

It all started 30 years ago with a batch of 900 DNA samples from sexual assault crimes in Minnesota. Those samples were tested and logged as part of an FBI pilot program, together with samples from several other states. The idea was to create a database of DNA samples from crime scenes and convicted offenders that could be searched.

It didn't take long for law enforcement to start seeing results from that first batch of 900 DNA samples. Within just a year or two, the BCA got its first in-state hit, linking a homicide in Minneapolis to a sample from that original batch of DNA evidence.

Read more at: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/01/07/an-incredibly-powerful-tool-dna-database-turns-30