LAKE WORTH, Fla. — Update: GEDmatch has now been used to crack a 21-year-old cold case in Tampa Bay. Law enforcement says 61-year-old Robert Brian Thomas has been arrested and accused of sexual assaults in Pinellas and Sarasota Counties in the late 1990s.
Original story: A Lake Worth man's genealogy hobby has led to another arrest.
We told you in April about Curtis Rogers, the 80-year-old creator of GEDmatch, a database of DNA test results.
Now, CBS affiliate WKMG reports Orlando law enforcement officials were able to identify a suspect in the 2001 killing of a University of Central Florida student by first tracking down a relative via GEDmatch.
Benjamin Lee Holmes was later arrested after investigators compared DNA taken from one of his used cigars to semen found at the crime scene. Holmes has pleaded not guilty.
Rogers' DNA database gained national attention when it was central to locating Joseph James DeAngelo, the suspected Golden State Killer.
DeAngelo is accused of murdering 13 people and raping women while their husbands or boyfriends were nearby.
Rogers told 10Investigates he had heard of dozens of cases that had been solved with the help of GEDmatch.
"It is so heartwarming to get emails from people that have been affected," he said. "To me, it is helping these people that have been hurting for so long."
What other people are reading right now:
- Amber Alert: 2 children reported missing in Florida
- 'I'll be happy to meet you again with a baseball bat': Residents warn porch pirates to stay away
- Hallmark apologizes, says it looks to 'reinstate' gay wedding commercial
- Military academies probe possible 'white power' signs before Army-Navy game
- Police identify man accused of masturbating on woman at Walmart
- 12 Christmas light displays to see this year around Tampa Bay
