S01:E06: The Hot Case

[Mermaid Under]

Quote

In the season finale, CeCe works her first active case, the rape of a 79-year-old woman that happened just three weeks prior; CeCe sees the first jury trial conviction from a case on which she worked.

 

[Thomas Crown]

I hope this show comes back.  If it was the last one, then last night episode was a nice send off as it showed the potential of genealogy detective work in helping solve not only cold cases but active cases too. 

It'll also be interesting to see how the appeals play out in court specifically the "privacy issue" related to how the new DNA evidence was discovered that led to convictions.  IMO, I don't see how a convicted person can argue that their privacy was violated when it was a relative's DNA that was uploaded to a genealogy website. 

[Driad]

Presumably there are other people besides CeCe and that company doing this sort of genetic genealogy work.

If you have a sliding door and haven't done this, cut a stick (broomstick or thicker) that you can place in the channel (indoors) so it prevents the door from opening.  This is a good precaution even if the lock is strong.

[Jadzia]

I was surprised this episode didn’t address the shitshorm that happened within the genetic genealogy community about GEDmatch. As I recall, previously GEDmatch’s term of service has stipulated that it would only allow law enforcement to access its database in murder or rape cases. Last year they allowed a case where a woman was badly beaten to be solved, and people within the generic genealogy community were up in arms, with many removing their kits from GEDmatch in protest.  GEDmatch responded by changing it so you can opt out of law enforcement usage of your data and when vocal members said that wasn’t enough, they took the step of opting everyone out of law enforcement consent unless you go in and specifically opt-in. Because a lot of DNA kits have been uploaded over the years, with many people probably forgetting about them or some having since passed away, this led to a huge drop in the number of DNA matches that CeCe Moore and other researchers can use to solve cold cases. It’s probably a lot harder for her to solve cases now than it was when these shows were filmed. 

if you are passionate about this work and seeing these cold cases get solved, the best way you can help is by uploading your DNA to GEDmatch and opting in to law enforcement searches. 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Jadzia
Updated my memory of facts

[Razzberry]

My DNA is on GED Match, but I don't remember being asked about LE access.  I'm sure I would have agreed though.   I use a length of pvc pipe in the track ever since reading about how DeAngelo had no problems getting into locked sliding doors.  He seemed to prefer them!

[Driad]

5 hours ago, Razzberry said:

My DNA is on GED Match, but I don't remember being asked about LE access.  I'm sure I would have agreed though.

When you log into Gedmatch, your User Profile includes a line with your ID number, your name, and the word Police. A red X on the world Police means you have excluded law enforcement access. No red X means you allow it. If you want to change it, click on the word Police.

I allow law enforcement access, because if a relative of mine were a criminal, I would want them caught.

[Thomas Crown]

I looked up the ratings and they are unfortunately not great.  The show has averaged between 0.3 to 0.4 in the 18-49 demo while averaging around 3 million viewers. Not great and it finished 3rd in the ratings for all the episodes that aired. That being said, I don't think this is a very expensive show to produce for ABC so maybe they might bring it back for additional episodes if production in Hollywood continues to be shut down by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Has anyone watched the HBO series "I'll be gone in the dark"?  Based on the book by Michelle McNamara and the search for Golden State Killer.  I've never read the book, so I'm curious to see how that series will show the way genealogy was used to capture the killer. 

I missed the beginning of this episode but did the show mention that Cece had consulted or been involved in the Golden State killer search?

Edited July 3, 2020 by Thomas Crown
additional thoughts

[Razzberry]

11 hours ago, Thomas Crown said:

Has anyone watched the HBO series "I'll be gone in the dark"?  Based on the book by Michelle McNamara and the search for Golden State Killer.  I've never read the book, so I'm curious to see how that series will show the way genealogy was used to capture the killer. 

She wasn't part of the genealogy search or capture, so I don't know.   I haven't seen the show but I read the "book" which really was more about her than GSK, so was surprised they chose to base the series on it.  So much was left out.

[Thomas Crown]

11 hours ago, Razzberry said:

She wasn't part of the genealogy search or capture, so I don't know.   I haven't seen the show but I read the "book" which really was more about her than GSK, so was surprised they chose to base the series on it.  So much was left out.

thanks.  I may check out the book.    

The prospects to use genealogy to solve decades old cold cases is really intriguing and I hope law enforcement agencies continue to reach out to Cece Moore and others to help them. 

[GeorgiaRai]

I felt this this episode finally justified being an hour-long show - it didn't seemed to focus less on filler/background/Cece's feet, and more on the technical & legal aspects of the work.  Going forward (if there is a "forward), it'd be great each show covered a case and update a prior one.   

I'd really like to see more details into Cece's research practices, i.e. something more in depth than "So I found the great-great-grandparents and eliminated 8 of the 12 children..."  I guess a lot of it is privacy driven - maybe (1) she doesn't want to divulge too much of her process, and (2) she / the show doesn't want to make it easy for viewers to connect innocent relatives to a criminal.  In a prior episode, she wrote out a tree using made up names; I'd like her to do that more often so we can have a better idea of she makes connections / eliminations.

[Razzberry]

They do seem to gloss over the most interesting part. Probably because it's something that most anyone can do. Researching my family tree on Ancestry took some time and money (many databases are behind another pay wall or nonexistent), so was only able to get to 1705 Ireland before hitting a brick wall.  Most of CeCe's cases involve families that have been in the US for quite some time, it gets more difficult when trying to research records in another country.

[SunnyBeBe]

I missed this episode, so I’ll have to catch up. 
 

I intend to watch the McNamari piece too.