Select a topic on the left for details on five of the best-known cases."; dna_detective_wb3[i++] = new Array("","Sept. 11 attacks","","dna_septphoto.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "Louis Lanzano", "AP file", "88", "132", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); dna_detective_wb3[i-1].body = "More than 12,000 DNA samples have been taken in the effort to identify human remains recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. DNA readings from the remains are compared with cheek swabs from relatives or samples taken from personal effects such as toothbrushes or unwashed clothing. By the end of 2001, labs had identified 94 victims based solely on DNA, and the pace of identification is increasing.
New York City: DNA Collection "; dna_detective_wb3[i++] = new Array("","Green River killings","","dna_greenphoto.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "AP file", "88", "106", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); dna_detective_wb3[i-1].body = "Since 1982, 48 Seattle-area women have died in a collection of cases known as the Green River killings. Advances in DNA technology finally led to an arrest in November 2001, when tests found a match between minute samples recovered from the remains of four Green River victims and a sample of saliva taken in 1987 from Gary Leon Ridgway, a 52-year-old truck painter. Ridgway struck a plea agreement that resulted in a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Green River Killings"; dna_detective_wb3[i++] = new Array("","Boston Strangler","","dna_bostonphoto.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "AP file", "88", "106", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); dna_detective_wb3[i-1].body = "Eleven Boston-area women were strangled between 1962 and 1964. Blue-collar worker Albert DeSalvo confessed to the crimes. He later recanted, but the "Boston Strangler" label stuck. DeSalvo was himself killed in prison in 1973 while serving a sentence on unrelated charges. Now the mystery has been revived: In December 2001, scientists said they found no match between foreign DNA recovered from the Boston Strangler's last victim and samples from DeSalvo's exhumed remains.
Crime Library: Boston Strangler"; dna_detective_wb3[i++] = new Array("","The Innocence Project","","dna_innocencephoto.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "AP file", "88", "106", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); dna_detective_wb3[i-1].body = "Between 1989 and 2004, 140 convicted felons were exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence under the auspices of the Innocence Project. The 140 include Idaho death-row inmate Charles Fain, who was set free in August 2001, nearly 18 years after his wrongful conviction on charges of kidnapping, rape and murder. Spurred by such cases, the U.S. Justice Department had planned to spend $750,000 for DNA testing of convicts, but that money was diverted to help identify Sept. 11 terror victims instead.
Innocence Project"; dna_detective_wb3[i++] = new Array("","Thomas Jefferson's kin","","dna_jeffersonphoto.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "R. Peale", "AP file", "88", "106", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); dna_detective_wb3[i-1].body = "Even while he lived, America's third president was rumored to have carried on an affair with Sally Hemings, a slave at his Monticello estate. In 1998, Y-chromosome samples provided by the Jefferson family and descendants of Sally Hemings showed that there was a common male ancestor dating to Thomas Jefferson's era. Many saw the DNA findings as confirming the rumors, but the Jefferson family pointed out that Hemings' children could have been fathered instead by one of the president's relatives.
Monticello: Jefferson-Hemings Online Resource"; // END editorial data