Post by Graveyardbride on Feb 19, 2017 9:28:49 GMT -5
DNA Phenotyping May Solve 2007 Valentine’s Day Murder
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Parents of a North County woman brutally killed on Valentine’s Day 10 years ago are hoping a new composite of a possible suspect built with cutting-edge DNA technology will lead to closure in the cold case. Jodi Serrin (above), 39, was found in her Carlsbad condo raped, beaten and strangled on Feb. 14, 2007. Serrin was a highly-functioning mentally disabled woman. Her parents, Arthur and Lois Serrin, actually stumbled on the crime when it happened but, thinking they had interrupted their daughter and her boyfriend, had no idea the suspect in the crime would escape right under their noses. When her parents walked into their daughter’s apartment to check on her, Jodine would not open her bedroom door.
Carlsbad police and San Diego District Attorney’s office investigators recently got in touch with Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company that specializes in predicting physical appearance and ancestry from unidentified DNA evidence. DNA phenotyping conjures a physical likeness of the person who left the sample, including traits such as geographic ancestry, eye and natural hair color and even a possible facial shape. Law enforcement officials used the company’s Snapshot DNA Phenotyping Service to narrow a list of suspects and generate leads. The software used individual predictions to create a composite of what the person of interest may have looked like in 2007. This is the first time DNA phenotyping technology has been used on a case in San Diego County.
The composite above shows a man in his 40s with green or blue eyes, blond or brown hair and some freckles. “Just knowing hair color and eye color, for example, could really narrow down the suspect pool,” said Tony Johnson, an investigator with the DA’s office.
Although the Serrins have to relive the most horrible day of their lives every Valentine’s Day, they say catching the person who killed their daughter is what keeps them going. “We feel that somehow, somewhere, somebody knows something. Whatever that might be it will help,” Arthur said.
Anyone with any information about the murder of Jodine Serrin is asked to visit this site, call the Carlsbad Police Department’s Cold Case Team’s tip line at (760) 931-2225 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477. A combined $52,000 reward is being offered in this case.
Sources: Samantha Tatro and Gaby Rodriguez, KNSD, February 15, 2017, and Veronique Greenwood, National Geographic, July 2016.
