Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 20, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Molgaard Case just one of Many to use Dan testing the strongest evidence available by Bill Redekop staff reporter its called the silent witness and its becoming More and More prevalent in crime investigation and unravelling the truth. Its the Dan test the genetic fingerprint which last week absolved David Molgaard of the 1969 sex murder of Saskatoon nurses Aid Gail Miller. Molgaard served 23 years for slaying. But the Molgaard Case is just one of Many the relatively recent scientific procedure is being used. Dan has greatly expanded the amount of forensic evidence at a crime scene because Dan profiles can be made from so Many unlikely sources. A Dan profile can be obtained from a stamp or envelope that a been licked the sweat in a headband a piece of chewed gum a used tissue or even the dried saliva on an old cigarette butt. The Best and most obvious source for obtaining a Dan profile is blood. You can take Dan from blood specks so tiny they be blood typed by a ecologists but the second Best source for Dan samples is semen. Ramp forensic Dan labs process More samples from sexual assaults than any other Type of crime. That a because its very hard not to leave a Dan Sample at the scene of a sexual assault if not from semen then from a hair Root or even a sweat stain left behind containing skin cells. The rape and murder for which Molgaard was wrongfully convicted occurred before the Advent of Dan in the analysis that cleared Molgaard Friday All scientists had to work with was what was believed to be a semen Sample on the victims underwear. But even that was Uncertain. Scientists Only recently began to suspect it was a semen stain. It was not initially identified As such. And it being almost 29 years since the crime occurred the Sample had deteriorated contaminated and very Small. The stain in the Molgaard Case had been tested several years ago using the Rulp system that is being phased out by most police departments but failed to obtain a profile. Quot with Dan we find a lot of times the people who Are picked out of lineups by victims Are not real suspects this time the stain was tested by the newer per str polymerase Chain reaction Short tandem repeat system which can produce Dan profiles from much smaller samples and much quicker say ramp scientists. The per system was successful. Ramp labs in Ottawa Regina and Vancouver have All been converted to per str. The Winnipeg lab Hopes to have per str by fall of 1998. Lawyers say Dan is the strongest evidence available today even stronger than confessions which always have questions about whether they were made voluntarily. Dan is even More accurate than visual identifications says Terry Laber forensics supervisor at the Minnesota state forensic science Laboratory. A with Dan we find a lot of times the people who Are picked out of lineups by victims Are not real suspects a says Laber. For instance studies in the United states show that Dan evidence eliminates 17 per cent of the police a primary suspects. The Odds of getting a Dan match from two unrelated individuals Are said to be somewhere Between one in a billion and one in a Hundred billion Laber says. Dan is an acronym for the molecule called detox ribonucleic acid. It is a persons genetic blueprint the inherited coded material that determines ones appearance and physiology. Blood semen and hair Are the main sources used in forensic Dan testing. What forensic scientists do is amplify the Dan Sample so it can be seen and recorded. Dan is the genetic material that winds around a persons chromosomes. Its like a spiral ladder around the double Helix chromosomes. A when you pull the Dan out it looks like a Ball of thread a says or. Gary Shutler of the Winnipeg ramp biology lab. A in effect Dan is the thread and chromosomes Are the among the Steps in Dan processing is placing the Dan Sample on a gel and using an electrical current to a a organized Dan segments from Large to Small. The segments Are then transferred onto a Nylon membrane and subjected to a a Dirac or. Gary Shutler above examines Dan at the Winnipeg ramp biology lab. Dan testing absolved David Molgaard right of a slaying he spent 23 years in jail for. Tive probe to make the Dan illuminate on a Ray film. There you see the Dan pattern appear. Its painstaking time consuming work. For instance the last step of getting the Dan exposure on a Ray film can take up to 14 Days when the semen Sample is As Small and deteriorated As the one in the Molgaard Case. The average probe takes three to five Days. To dispel any fears of Bias the semen Sample was examined outside the country at the forensic science service in Yorkshire England ramp scientists by regulation do four probes per Sample to make a Dan profile and there were at least that Many probes taken on the semen Sample that cleared Molgaard says lawyer James Lockyer. Lockyer also represents Guy Paul Morin who was cleared by Dan and is currently the subject of a wrongful conviction inquiry. Probes Are performed at those junctures in the Dan spiral that demonstrate the greatest variance. To obtain a conviction at least four probes must match. Suspects Are often dismissed after just one probe because it is already obvious if they re Dan is not Matching. As in the Molgaard Case forensic Dan analysis is making a bigger name for itself for dismissing persons wrongfully convicted or accused of crimes. In the Molgaard investigation forensic scientists were expected to do from four to six probes of the semen stain to see not Only if it matched Mil Gaarde Edna but possibly that of Larry Fisher or another suspect his lawyers said. Fisher is a serial rapist who was fingered by Molgaard for the crime. Fisher volunteered a Dan Sample during a supreme court hearing into Mil Gaarde Scase in 1992. To dispel any fears of Bias the semen Sample was examined outside the country at the forensic science service in Yorkshire England. The Yorkshire lab performed new Dan probes from blood samples of both Molgaard and Fisher at the same time it probed the suspected semen stain. Britain a forensic Dan system is the most advanced in the world and has even started making Dan profiles from people convicted of break and enters. In the United states Dan Banks Are being made of sexual and violent offenders. Dan banking has not yet begun in Canada. A Bill to create such a Bank of convicted sexual offenders was before the House of commons but was died when parliament was dissolved for the june Federal election. To create a Dan data Bank a Dan profile is converted into a series of 12 numbers. The 12 numbers Are then stored in a computer. When a new Dan Sample from a crime scene is processed and numbered and entered the computer does a search for a Matching number. Only identical twins have Matching Dan. In Canada Dan helped Clear Guy Paul Morin 12 years after he was first charged in the murder of a nine year old girl. A ult Uhm Muumuu ;