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Crosscurrents

Should you be worried about the way police tracked down the Golden State Killer?

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Golden State Killer renderings

California has seen some notorious serial killers over the years, including the Zodiac Killer, the Grim Sleeper, and the Hillside Strangler. But the Golden State Killer might be the most terrifying. 

Beginning in late ‘70s, he raped roughly fifty women, and killed at least twelve people throughout the state. By 1986, the gruesome murders came to a halt, and the killer vanished.

Police finally arrested a suspect at his home in a Sacramento suburb last week.

 

Yet the way this case was solved brings up some interesting questions about privacy and how police investigate rape cases. KALW justice reporter Holly J. McDede talked to Crosscurrents host Hana Baba about the case.

"Once your brother or distant aunt uploads DNA online, police can trace genetic lines to you, your children, your grandparents. You can't control what family members are putting up online."

 
 

Crosscurrents