Enllel Alonso's missing persons poster from Isabel-Claudino alert. Credit: Isabel-Claudino alert
Two years ago when Brazil’s “Robbery of the Century” was selected as the 2020 DNA Hit of the Year, the processing of 457 pieces of evidence and over 580 reference samples shined a light on the power of the country’s DNA database program.
Now, almost exactly 5 years after the crime, the 2022 DNA Hit of the Year program is looking at how Brazil—and Latin America in general—is leveraging their incredibly successful DNA database programs to solve sexual assaults, missing persons cases and more.
51 rapes, 2 rapists
Between 2012 and 2015, a serial rapist targeting young girls aged 11 to 16 was moving throughout Brazil, running from state to state to commit his travesties. In September 2015, after committing a robbery and rape in the state of Rondônia, Célio Roberto Rodrigues was finally arrested. The timing couldn’t have been better as the legislation that created Brazil’s DNA database was about to go live and connect all 26 Brazilian states.
DNA samples collected from Rodrigues immediately hit to four unsolved rapes in neighboring Mato Grosso. As more states began to come online in the new National DNA Database, Rodrigues’ genetic profile was detected in more casework. Ultimately, his DNA linked to over 14 rapes across 4 separate states, some as far as 2,000 kilometers apart.
While Brazil continues to clear its sexual assault backlog, police and legislators anticipate finding Rodrigues’ DNA in more cases.
“With tens of thousands of kits in backlog, he’ll likely be linked to more [rapes], proving that a serial rapist cannot hide from a fully functioning DNA database,” said Vanessa Lynch, Regional Leader, Africa, at Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs, the organization behind DNA Hit of the Year.
As another Brazilian case proves, they can’t hide from the analysis of sexual assault kits, either.
This serial rapist committed all his crimes in one city. In 2018, when the state’s crime lab uploaded its first batch of backlogged kits to the DNA database, a search immediately linked five rapes to one unknown offender. It happened again in April 2019 when the next batch was uploaded and an additional four rapes were linked to the others.
At this point, a task force was formed to find the serial rapist, but not before the next kit upload linked him to 22 rapes throughout the state.
Finally, in September 2019, Brazilian police identified the suspect through a cell phone he stole from a victim. They were able to prove his link to 37 rapes—and counting.
“These two cases not only exemplify the power of a DNA database, but also the urgent need to test all sexual assault kits because even if you don’t get a match to a criminal offender, linking cases through the DNA database gives the police the intelligence they need to identify and remove these monsters from society,” said Lynch.
‘Rush’ cases and missing persons
Of course, Brazil is not the only DNA database leader in Latin America. While the national government has yet to pass legislation on the topic, that has not stopped the state of Mendoza, Argentina from building one of the strongest databases in all of the Americas.
In 2016, the Mendoza Congress passed a law requiring all arrestees to enter the database, and the state instituted a “no backlog” goal. And now, the national DNA laboratory is adding Rapid DNA to their workflow for “rush” cases. In one such case, for example, analysts were able to obtain a single source genetic profile from a hat and face mask left at the scene of a murder in just 90 minutes. Five minutes after the DNA was uploaded to CODIS, a match was made and forwarded to the police, who arrested the suspect barely 24 hours after he committed the murder.
In Central America, Guatemala is marking itself as a global DNA database leader in a different way—through the establishment of a missing persons DNA database. In 2019, authorities resolved the first missing persons case using the new legislation.
In February 2019, a mother named Sandra donated her DNA in hopes of finding her 18-year-old missing daughter, Enllel. Her profile was stored in the CODIS missing persons database for future use. Then, in April 2019, police received a tip regarding the location of buried bodies. Excavation was carried out and three bodies were found, one of which was dismembered and couldn’t be identified. Her genetic profile was searched against the missing persons database and it matched Sandra.
“It was a very routine use of the database, but it was a very exciting moment for us because it was not just the first match under the new law, but we know it will be the first of many identifications we will be making in the future,” said Nancy Say, National DNA Database Coordinator, National Forensic Institute of Guatemala.
Guatemala is set to launch a public awareness campaign later this year to increase the number of samples donated by people with missing loved ones. In anticipation, Say said they are already taking steps to establish a facility to handle the—hopeful—increase in samples created by the missing persons DNA database program.
Lastly, according to Say, Guatemala is actively working with other countries and immigration groups to establish missing persons DNA database sharing protocols to enable matches across borders.