Anchorage, Alaska – When DNA evidence links a suspect to a crime, it’s usually a cut-and-dry case. But now, the state crime lab says it’s seen a case of duplicate DNA profiles, from two different people. That’s usually not possible, except when you’re dealing with identical twins.
But late last year, after a sexual assault, DNA found at a crime scene was linked to a man who was already in jail. The lab discovered that the man already in jail had gotten a bone marrow transplant from his brother. The brother was later arrested for the crime.
“You had one person having two genetic profiles. One was identity by inheritance and the other one was identity by transplant,” said Dr. Abirami Chidambaram, state crime lab.
A cheek swab cleared the man already in prison from the crime.
Here’s a plot for another episode of “Law & Order: SVU”
I’m confused. This sounds more like a record keeping mistake than one man having two genetic profiles. Especially since a cheek swab showed his DNA did not match his brother’s, who presumably committed the crime. So my question is how did the brother’s DNA get filed under the man in jail’s DNA database entry?
This was actually the plot device in an episode of CSI, s04e23, Bloodlines. The suspect had a bone marrow transplate that caused his blood to have a different DNA than the rest of him. The more I think of it, its exactly like this real life case.
It is also already a Law and Order SVU epsiode, couldnt tell you exactly which one, but it has to do with a homosexual serial rapist (enough said).
…makes you wonder if they’ll have any original plots in five years. Ten years. Twenty years. Or if they have any of them now.
Is the picture Armand Assante?