Crime scene evidence is often not enough to identify suspects. Randy Gail Sperino was last seen alive on the evening of 9 November 1993, as she was getting into a pickup truck in Granite City, Illinois. The 34-year-old's body was found hours later in a field nearby, the victim of blunt force trauma. The identity of her killer was a mystery.

DNA evidence found at the crime scene was tested against standard law enforcement databases, but no matches were found. For three decades, investigators from the Madison County Sheriff's Office chased leads and interviewed hundreds of people as they attempted to identify the perpetrator. The case looked like it would remain one of more than 250,000 unsolved homicides in the US.

A Fresh Approach

Then, last year, detectives tried a fresh approach. They sent genetic evidence to Othram, a Houston-based company that uses DNA technology to help identify the perpetrators in cold and current crime cases. The Madison County detectives had been inspired by investigative genetic genealogy techniques used to identify the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, back in 2018. In that case, an investigative team constructed a family tree to help identify the killer, thanks to DNA data that relatives had provided to commercial databases, similar to consumer ancestry platforms.

Unlike traditional forensic DNA testing, which generally relies on a direct comparison between evidence and a known person, investigative genetic genealogy can identify distant genetic relatives of an unknown individual. Othram set about applying this technique to track down Sperino's killer.

While the killer's own DNA profile wasn't available, profiles submitted by his extended relatives allowed the company to identify a male family member. Captain Tim Lawrence of the Madison County Sheriff's Office stated, "That lead broke the case open." This crucial clue led the detectives to Albert 'Buddy' Zigler, 70, who then confessed to the murder. He was charged in May this year.

Wes Sperino, Gail's son, expressed his relief at a press conference: "I finally get closure and I finally know who did this."

Revolutionizing Forensic Cases

The technique that led detectives to Zigler is credited with revolutionizing how forensic cases are solved. It has been highly successful in helping solve cases involving unidentified human remains and identifying suspects in longstanding investigations. Othram claims it has helped solve thousands of cases.