Forensic DNA ethics_PhaseI

 Crime: The murders of Clifford and Christine Walker (who was also raped) and their young children in December 1959.

Why authorities sought FDP testing: FDP testing was sought in 2005 into these unsolved murders; it is not clear whether DNAPrint, the company which was to conduct the FDP testing, was initially contacted by investigators or by the Sarasota, FL Herald-Tribune, as part of a special investigation into the murders conducted by the paper.

 Lab that conducted FDP analysis: DNAPrint, a Florida-based commerical, for-profit laboratory.

 Outcome: Seeking to solve the Walker family murders before his retirement in 2007, a Sarasota police officer related to the Walkers turned to DNA analysis.  The state crime laboratory had managed to recover a sample of what they believed to be the suspect’s DNA in 2004, and the Sarasota police planned to seek DNA samples from the original suspects in an attempt to find a match.  Given the backlog at the state lab, local company DNAPrint agreed in 2005 to conduct these analyses.  As reported by the Herald-Tribune, DNAPrint also wanted to conduct FDP testing on a DNA sample drawn from Christine’s underwear, but the evidence was too contaminated by mold for usable DNA to be recovered.

 Note: The only source for the claim that FDP testing was successfully used in the investigation of the Walker Family murders is a curriculum vita for Tony Frudakis, former Chief Scientific Officer of DNAPrint, that is publicly available online.