Car Vandal Nabbed Thanks To Brother's DNA

DENVER (KUSA) -- The idea of using DNA technology to solve a crime is not new, but for the first time, Denver police have successfully used the DNA of one criminal to connect another to a crime.

It's called familial DNA.

Investigators are using the DNA of family members to link suspects to a crime. The conviction in Denver is the first in the country using the technique.

Seventy-four-year-old Stanley Howe is a big fan of the technology. Howe vividly recalls the morning when he walked out to his car and realized it had been broken into.

"There was glass on the floor of the back seat, and the front seat," Howe said.

And there was something else the thief left behind.

"I saw a blood stain on the front seat," Howe said.

Howe's car was one of many at his Denver apartment complex broken into the morning of Feb. 20, 2008. In Howe's case, the thief only made off with some spare change and a pair of gloves.

"They've got no concept of how people feel," Howe said.

Denver Police collected the blood sample on Howe's seat and ran it through their DNA database. They did not get a match. At most police departments, the DNA search would stop there, but DPD also ran the blood sample through their new familial DNA database.

"It helps us narrow down who committed the crime," DPD Spokesperson Sonny Jackson said.

"We were able to determine the individual in our database did in fact have a brother," Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said.

Police focused in on 21-year-old Luis Jaimes-Tinajero. His brother was in the system because of a felony conviction for auto theft, Morrissey said.

Detectives got a court order to take a DNA sample from Jaimes-Tinajero. It matched the blood sample from Howe's car.

Jaimes-Tinajero recently pleaded guilty in the case. The conviction is the first in the country using familial DNA.

"It was a car break-in this time, but it could have easily been one of the rapes or murders we've been working on in our cold case project," Morrissey said.

"If it's a way to bring in those that want to commit these felonies, yes, I'm totally for it," Howe said.

The ACLU of Colorado does not support the use of familial DNA.

ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein says, "The use of so-called familial DNA matches dramatically expands the potential for invasion of privacy posed by law enforcement's ever-growing DNA databases."