DENVER -- Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted triple-murderer to three additional murders from 1979, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA '' fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

When he died, Groves was serving a life sentence for the 1980s strangling of two young women. He had been released on parole in 1987 after serving five years in prison for killing a third woman in suburban Denver.

See the article here:
Denver: DNA tests link convicted killer to other murders

Every day for the past 27 years, Becky Sager Guess prayed about the whereabouts of her 30-year-old brother, who vanished after making a withdrawal from a northwest Harris County bank on June 7, 1984.

She feared for her brother, George "Bud" Sager Jr., but says police refused to investigate his disappearance as a missing persons case. Sager's pickup was discovered abandoned at a Conroe shopping center on July 3, but no clues were found in the truck, Guess said.

"It was devastating to me," said Guess, of Warren, Ark. "I didn't know what to do or where to go."

So she and other family members waited.

Guess finally got some answers in November after Thomas Duroy, a Montgomery County cold case squad detective, learned through DNA tests that a skull discovered in Walker County in 1989 was that of her brother, a former Harris County employee.

Guess had contacted Duroy after seeing a cable news program about cold case investigations.

"I just couldn't give up," said Guess, 60. "He was my little brother. I loved him."

Duroy said he was intrigued by the unique circumstances of the case.

Someone collecting cans discovered the skull along Interstate 45 on Dec. 18, 1989, and reported it, he said.

Inside the skull was a note. It said the skull was found in the woods but that the author could not get involved. Police have a scanned copy of the note, but haven't determined who wrote it.

Read more:
Police link woman's DNA to remains of long-missing brother

Small circles of extrachromosomal DNA appear to be widespread in mammals, and may be byproducts of small deletions in the nuclear DNA of somatic cells.

A newly identified form of DNAsmall circles of non-repetitive sequencesmay be widespread in somatic cells of mice and humans, according to a study in this weeks issue of Science. These extrachromosomal bits of DNA, dubbed microDNA, may be the byproducts of microdeletions in chromosomes, meaning that cells all over the body may have their own constellation of missing pieces of DNA.

Its an intriguing finding, said James Lupski, a geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston who did not participate in the research. Most DNA studies use cells drawn from blood, but that snapshot of a persons genome may not be giving a complete picture, Lupski explained, if cells in other organs have their own set of chromosomal snippets missing.

But the findings do not surprise Sabine Mai, who studies genomic instability at the University of Manitoba. Extrachromosomal DNA is a well-studied phenomenon in cells ranging from plants to humans, she says. This research is just renaming an old phenomenon, previously referred to small polydispersed DNA. Small circles of DNA have been identified before, Mai says, though new deep sequencing techniques will allow for a deeper characterization of these extrachromosomal snippets.

Anindya Dutta, who studies DNA replication at the University of Virginia, and his colleagues were aiming to investigate intrachromosomal shuffling of genes in mouse brain tissuewhere recombination at homologous sequences could create extra loops of DNAbut the widespread nature, size, and sequences of the DNA they turned up surprised them.

After purifying the nuclear DNA from mouse brain tissue samples, the researchers targeted and digested the linear DNA, leaving only circular pieces behind. After enriching and sequencing the circular DNA, the scientists saw that they the circles tended to be small, most 200-400 base pair long, and non-repetitive. Dutta argues that this distinguishes them from previously characterized extrachromosomal circles, like small polydispersed DNA, which are often enriched for repeated sequences. They repeated the experiment with other mouse tissues and human cell lines.

Going back to the linear DNA they had originally discarded, Duttas group was able to correlate microDNAs with specific locations where microdeletions had occurred, suggesting that bits of DNA were being excised from the genome and forming independent circles. If true, that would mean that somatic tissues are subject to a higher and more widespread degree of mosaicism than previously thought, said Dutta, meaning that the genomic DNA in the cells of a given tissue dont all match.

Such a phenomenon could explain certain difficulties in identifying disease-causing alleles, Dutta said. If a microdeletion in some brain cells has disrupted a gene and contributed to cognitive decline, for example, thoroughly sequencing all the cells in your blood wont identify the genetic culprit.

Its unclear what processes underlie microDNA formation, but its most likely they occur during DNA replication or repair. Beyond that, the researchers determined that microDNAs are rich in cytosines and guanines, and tend to cluster at the 5 untranslated areas, exons, and CpG islands. To Dutta, this information suggests the possibility that nucleosomes important for gene regulation may be involved. These tend to be fall in the 5 end of genes, and DNA wrapping could explain microDNA size, which roughly corresponds to the length of DNA entwined on a nucleosome. What DNA repair processes are being used to produce microDNA is ripe for investigating, said Dutta.

Lupski would also like to see data surveying how microDNAs vary across the population, which could lend clues to the potential consequences of widespread microdeletions in somatic tissues. Though this will be a difficult undertaking in human populations, the apparent ubiquity of microdeletions has serious implications for DNA replication and repair, Dutta agreed. Its not as perfect as we tend to believe; its sloppy.

Originally posted here:
New Type of DNA Discovered?

Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted triple-murderer to three additional murders from 1979, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA fingerprint was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBIs national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they werent eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes, Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denvers police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

When he died, Groves was serving a life sentence for the 1980s strangling of two young women. He had been released on parole in 1987 after serving five years in prison for killing a third woman in suburban Denver.

The rest is here:
DNA links deceased Colo. serial killer to 3 other murders

DENVER Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted triple-murderer to three additional murders from 1979, and they said he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings. But the process of developing an identifying DNA `' fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities said Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they weren't eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes," Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

When he died, Groves was serving a life sentence for the 1980s strangling of two young women. He had been released on parole in 1987 after serving five years in prison for killing a third woman in suburban Denver.

Authorities launched a task force in the late 1980s to investigate a string of slayings after authorities began finding an average of a body a month, all possibly killed by the same person, Morrissey said. At that time, Groves was suspected of up to 20 killings between 1979 and 1988, he said. In one case from 1980, investigators had seminal fluid, but could only develop a blood type from the sample.

Read the original here:
DNA evidence links convicted killer to more murders

DENVER (AP) Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted triple-murderer to three additional murders from 1979, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA " fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they weren't eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes," Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

When he died, Groves was serving a life sentence for the 1980s strangling of two young women. He had been released on parole in 1987 after serving five years in prison for killing a third woman in suburban Denver.

Read the original here:
DNA tests link convicted killer to other murders

Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted triple-murderer to three additional murders from 1979, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA " fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

AP

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they weren't eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes," Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

See original here:
DNA Tests Link Killer to 4 Denver Deaths

DENVER (AP) Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted a triple-murderer to four additional murders, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA " fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk in 1979.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they weren't eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes," Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

When he died, Groves was serving a life sentence for the 1980s strangling of two young women. He had been released on parole in 1987 after serving five years in prison for killing a third woman in suburban Denver.

More:
DNA tests link convicted killer to 4 Denver deaths

Scientists have decoded the DNA of the western lowland gorilla, a feat that could boost conservation efforts for the endangered apes as well as broaden researchers' understanding of human origins.

The complete sequence of 20,962 genes extracted from the skin cells of Kamilah, a 34-year-old gorilla who lives at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park was compiled by an international team of more than 60 researchers who worked on the project for about five years.

"The gorilla genome is important because gorillas are our second-closest living relatives," said Richard Durbin, senior author of a paper about the discovery published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

By comparing the new gorilla DNA sequence with reference genomes of humans, chimpanzees, orangutans and macaques, scientists have already made a few surprising insights into the crucial periods when we diverged into separate species.

For instance, the new genetic data bolster fossil evidence that gorillas split off as a separate species about 10 million years ago and that humans and chimps parted ways about 6 million years ago. Previous genetic evidence had seemed to point to a more recent split, prompting a contentious debate between genetics experts and fossil scholars, said Durbin, who leads the genome informatics group at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England.

"We're proposing a way to make a consistent story between the genetic evidence and the fossil evidence," Durbin said.

"That's significant," said University of Wisconsin anthropologist John Hawks, who was not involved in the research. "There's an argument about early hominids are they really our ancestors? This helps settle that. It shows it's possible."

The data also show that humans and gorillas differ in only 1.75% of their DNA, much less than previously believed. Humans and chimps, our closest living relatives, differ in only 1.37% of their genomes.

When Durbin and his colleagues matched up the DNA letters of gorillas, chimps and humans, they found that in 15% of cases, gorilla DNA was more like human DNA than was chimp DNA.

This result "tells us that there are individual genes for which, if you want to find the closest sequence to humans, you won't necessarily look at chimpanzees. In a few cases, you'll look at gorillas," said Jeffrey Rogers, a geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and coauthor of an editorial on the research, also published in Nature.

See the original post here:
Gorilla DNA offers clues about humans too