>So, the implication is that none of the known members of
>the umbrella club match the CODIS-eligible genotypes and
>that all who have been sampled have been excluded.
>
>I don't know if I'd go that far ...
>
>Mame has indicated that (inside) information she has implies
>there were INCONCLUSIVE results on some of the suspects
>compared. I think I'd also be somewhat reluctant to say
>that BEFORE the files were all turned over to Keenan's
>office that ALL tests that needed doing had actually been
>done. (Didn't I read a statement from Bennett - recently -
>that the first months were spent sorting through all the
>files and getting tests done that needed doing - or
>something along that line?)

Well, it is entirely possible that the samples obtained by BPD are problematic. For one, it seems they did a lot of mouth swabbing, rather than drawing blood. I cannot imagine why they would swab rather than draw blood. Drawing blood would definitely be the preferred way to go, and this was known by 1996. They would get much, much more DNA from blood than from scraping the inside of the mouth. This would allow more tests as the science got better. Plus the mouth has lots of bacteria, which is a major source of degradation. Bacteria like to have DNA for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, midnight snack, etc.

So, one problem that Keenan may have is that there are big problems with the samples collected by BPD. Helgoth is dead (never sampled), and Santa McReynolds has died. Do they need to try to resample people? We can't know because Keenan is keeping (blabber/leaking) mouths closed, which is possibly for the best.

Santa McReynolds' genotypes could probably be reconstructed, if needed, from the genotypes of Janet McReynolds and their children and other relatives.

I do worry, however, that the case will never be solved BECAUSE DA Keenan is keeping so much information unavailable to the public, who could help solve the case. The old-fashioned forensics method is to keep information secret and not available to the public, in order to prevent potential harm to the prosecution of a case. But that approach is not always the way to go now that DNA is going to be a major piece of evidence that convicts - and, I have posted cautions about the potential for abuse of this. In 1996, I don't think most perps were savvy enough to know enough about planting DNA. But LE personnel and experts available to defense attorneys were.

I think Keenan should get as much information as possible out to the public, to let the public help with solving this crime. Boulder could redeem its sinful handling of this case by encouraging its citizens and others to help solve the crime. Other times I think, no, Boulder just wants it to go away, keep pretending they are the perfect town, keep letting parents send their kids to college there by keeping a lid on everything, never solving the crime, and just letting it quietly fade away.

I would strongly advise any parent from letting a child go off to college in Boulder. There are equally attractive and safer alternatives. For assertive undergraduates or graduate students or faculty who like to climb rocks or ski, this crime and the shameful way the investigation was handled - it probably won't make much of a dent.

But I hope that the more the public becomes aware of what happened in Boulder and what continues to be the case in Boulder, the worse it is going to be for Boulder. Because that will be the main press that causes this crime to be solved. And I pray that the DNA that has been sent in to CODIS is really the perp's and not some lying, false (i.e., let's put this poor, street person's DNA into CODIS) DNA. I don't think it is.