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How can cutting-edge technology help solve a murder mystery? The answer forms an integral part of NBC’s exciting new crime drama series, ” Paralyzed three years earlier by the notorious serial killer the Bone Collector, former NYPD detective and forensic genius Lincoln Rhyme serves as a highly sought-after consultant for the police department. Advanced video communication technology allows Lincoln’s partner, Amelia Sachs, to be his eyes and ears in the field in a way that would not have been possible even five years ago. For real crime cases, similar developments in scientific technology have turned forensic investigative methods that would have previously seemed far-fetched — or even fantastical — into reality.
Read on to learn about some of the incredible-yet-actual forensic techniques that Lincoln, Amelia and the NYPD may employ on the new series as they track down an enigmatic serial killer. Don’t miss the season premiere of Fridays on NBC and streaming the next day.
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Can suspects be identified if they’re not in any criminal databases?
Police departments now partner with genealogy database companies to compare DNA from specific crime scenes෴ with the millions of profiles that have been voluntarily submitted by people interested in learning about their ancestry. Genetic DNA analysis can identify suspects whose own genetic material is not in any databases by suggesting a close relationship to someone whose DNA is on file. was identified using a familial DNA search that matched genetic material from one of the crime scenes with one of the suspect’s distant relatives. As ♐additional verification, to the sample from the crime scene.
But what if only a small amount of biological material is recovered at a crime scene?
Since the initial development of DNA profiling more than 30 years ago, the amount of genetic material needed to allow extraction of a DNA sample has shrunk significantly. As Mark Desire, assistant director of the Department of Forensic Biology in the NYC Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, told The Post, “Thanks to improved technology, we can work from samples no larger than the head of a pin.”
In December 2017, Desire used to solve a cold-case rape from 1994. In this complicated but amazing DNA analysis, tiny robots were used to separate the victim’s cells from those of the perp💃etrator, so the rapist’s sperm cells could be broken up to release the DNA. The DNA was then amplified in a polymerase chain reaction machine, which used heat and enzymes to copy and increase the DNA enough to create a profile. The suspect’s resulting DNA profile was then compared with a prison database and cꦫonfirmed as a match.
Is it really possible to predict what a suspect may look like based on DNA found at a crime scene?
Yes. can use DNA to predict a person’s physical appearance, including genetic ancestry; the color of one’s eyes, hair and skin; the shape of the face; and even freckling! Developed by Parabon NanoLabs in 2015, the DNA phenotyping has helped to generate leads in cases where there are no suspects or database hits, to narrow suspect lists, and to help solve human remains cases.
, explained, “[It] is not going to be a photograph. We don’t know how [suspects] wear their hair or what they weigh. The greatest value is in elimination. You can move people to the bottom of the list when they don’t match and then focus on the ones that do.”
DNA phenotyping has been used to close hundr♋eds of cases around the world.
Fascinated by forensics? Tune in to to see Lincoln and Amelia work together to leverage his knowledge and intuition and her gift for profiling to crack the city’s most confounding cases, Fridays on NBC and streaming the next day.
