CODIS - DNA Database Program
The Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS) blends forensic science and computer technology into an effective tool for solving violent crimes. CODIS enables state and local crime labs to search DNA profiles from unsolved cases against DNA profiles from solved cases as well as convicted offenders.
When a DNA profile is developed, the profile is stored and indexed for future comparison. CODIS uses two indexes to generate investigative leads in crimes where biological evidence is recovered from a crime scene. The Convicted Offender Index contains DNA profiles of individuals convicted of felony sex offenses and other violent crimes. The Forensic Index contains DNA profiles developed from crime scene evidence. CODIS automatically searches these indexes for matching DNA profiles, in the hopes of finding profile matches.
Matches made among profiles in the Forensic index can link crime scenes together; possibly identifying serial offenders. Based on a match, police can coordinate their respective investigations, and share leads that have developed independently. Matches made between the Forensic Index and the Convicted offender index provides investigators with the identity of the perpetrator(s).
For example, in September of 1977, 6 year-old Lisa Marie Bonham and her family were vacationing in Reno, NV. While playing at a small amusement park, Lisa left her brother decided to go get an extra dollar from her parents in order to go on more rides. She was never seen again. Clothes that she was wearing were later discovered in Toiybe National Forest, Nevada.
In 1977 the technology to complete DNA testing was not readily available. However, in a continuing effort to solve this case, the blood recovered from the found clothing was analyzed and tested. A DNA profile was obtained and entered into the Nevada State DNA database at the Washoe County Sheriff's Office Crime Laboratory. This database search resulted in a match to 57 year-old Stephen Robert Smith who had been parole since his release from prison in 1976 for a previous conviction for sexually molesting two young girls. The Reno Police Department arrested Smith for the 23 year old unsolved homicide, and on October 4, 2000, Smith plead guilty.
The story of Lisa Marie Bonham is very encouraging. It gives us proof, as well as hope that the CODIS system will be as helpful to us to stimulate leads in other cases similar to this one. It is noteworthy that the evidence had been well preserved and thus, enabled investigators to perform DNA analysis on it.
The significance of the CODIS system is determined by the assistance it provides law enforcement personnel as well as the number of "hits" it will generate. Other noteworthy cases where CODIS has been helpful include:
Richmond Virginia, July 1998:
A rape and homicide had baffled the police since the body was discovered in 1994. Although the police had samples of blood and semen found in the victim's apartment, they were unable to develop a solid suspect in the case. A recent routine computer search on the State's DNA database identified a suspect in the case. A 20 year-old convicted offender, already serving a sentence for a different rape and murder, was arrested for the 1994 crime.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, February, 1997:
In 1992 five women were bound, gagged, and stabbed in a reported drug house in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation developed a DNA profile for the killer in 1995, based on evidence at the crime scene. In the California Department of Justice used CODIS to match the evidence profile against Danny Keith Hooks, who was convicted of rape, kidnapping, and assault in California in 1998.
Tallahassee, Florida, February 1995:
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement linked semen found on a Jane Doe rape-homicide victim to a convicted offender's DNA profile. The suspect's DNA was collected, analyzed, and stored in the CODIS database while he was incarcerated for another rape. The match was timely; it prevented the suspect/offender's release on parole scheduled eight days later.
St. Paul, Minnesota, November, 1994:
A man wearing a nylon stocking over his face and armed with a knife jumped out from behind bushes and forced a woman who was walking by to perform oral sex. Semen recovered from the victim's short skirt and saliva was analyzed using DNA technology. The resulting profile was searched against Minnesota's CODIS database. The search identified Terry Lee Anderson, who confessed to the crime and is now in prison.
