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DNA and CODIS Solve Decade Old Crime - Missing and Exploited Children

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MissingandExploitedChildrenSite
ErikaLynSmith
BellaOnline'sMissingandExploitedChildrenEditor

DNAandCODISSolveDecadeOldCrime
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the bodys unique biological code which contains the genetic
design of each living organism. Each living organism contains an individual DNA profile. DNA
stores information about the individual organism. Since a persons DNA is individualized
specifically to that person it can be an identifier in forensic science or cases or paternity. Lately
DNA is becoming a household word often heard on the news regarding the arrest, conviction, or
release of a person involved in a crime.
Back in the early 50s James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick, were the first biochemists to
propose a model for the structure of DNA. Their work in the structure and identification of DNA
has opened up a whole new world for science and a Nobel Prize for both men in 1962. In the
present their work brings to the forefront of crime a way to identify parents of children and
criminals.
Identical twins form when one fertilized egg divides into halves. Identical twins are the only people
who have the same DNA. Fraternal twins form when two eggs, fertilized by two different sperm.
Fraternal twins have their own individual DNA. The DNA of a fraternal twin is no closer to
matching the DNA of the other fraternal twin than any other sibling DNA would match as most
siblings and fraternal twins share about 50% of their genes.
Although identical twins have the same DNA genotype, or internal cell DNA, their DNA has
different phenotypes or external ways the DNA shows up. In other words, identical twins have
individual fingerprints. So, if a serial rapist has an identical twin, law enforcement must find more
evidence to use for conviction. A simple fingerprint however can and will distinguish identical
twins.

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Federal Law requires all convicted felons provide DNA to the Nations Combined DNA Index
System (CODIS). CODIS essentially takes the best of forensic science and computer technology to
compare DNA samples of unsolved violent crimes nationwide. If the DNA evidence collected from
a crime scene or crime victim was entered into CODIS, and later a felons DNA is entered and it
matches law enforcement is notified.
This same simple DNA sample for CODIS is exactly what led to the arrest of a serial rapist in a
crime over a decade old in Missouri. The sexual assaults happened from 1996 through 1998. As far
as law enforcement knows four girls were assaulted. All the girls were assaulted in their or a home
of a friend, while parents or adults slept in rooms other bedrooms of the homes. The girls were age
11 to 17 at the time they were raped.
Charles Joseph Steffani was 54, when he received his sentence of 20 years in prison. This sentence
given for sexual assaults committed in June 2005 in both the St. Louis and St. Charles counties of
Missouri. What happened next is exactly what CODIS is designed to have happen. Steffani, now a
felon, had to give DNA sample for CODIS and when he did and it was tested it gave a hit that he
was a match for the rapes of the four young women in Missouri.
The only downfall is CODIS has caused a backlog in Missouris state crime lab as in most states,
and this backlog prevented law enforcement officials from receiving the news of the match sooner.
Law enforcement only learned last summer about the match with Steffani. Once officials learned
there were several hits they began to compare notes among themselves and review old cold cases to
see what fit and what did not fit and soon the cold cases heated up.
The first assault occurred when a man entered a home through an unlocked sliding glass door, and
assaulted a17-year old in her bedroom, after pulling a pillow case over her head. The next night he

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DNA and CODIS Solve Decade Old Crime - Missing and Exploited Children

entered another suburban home using a garage door opener from a car in a driveway. This time he
assaulted a 12-year old, after pulling her shirt over her head. This was November 1996.

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Then nothing, until April of 1998, when a 12-year old girl is assaulted while at a sleep over with
two other girls. The rapist left all 3 girls with a message from God. He told the girls to go to
church on Sunday and not to have sex until the girls were married. The last known attack occurred
in June of 1998. Once more the man entered the girls home with a garage door opener he grabbed
from a car in the driveway.
The prosecuting attorneys office talked to all four survivors recently. How incredible to be able to
tell these women that the monster who terrorized them has been identified and is in prison, thanks to
the modern wonders of DNA. Now a decade later, the women could finally place a name and face
to a childhood monster that crept out of the darkness so quietly a decade ago, Charles Joseph
Steffani. A Grand Jury charged Steffani with 17 felonies. Those include multiple counts of forcible
sodomy, sexual abuse, and one count of statutory sodomy and forcible rape for each woman.
There was a time unless a survivor could positively identify her attacker, there was no case. DNA
technology can identify a rapist years, even decades later. Yes, technology is amazing. Yet, DNA is
only as good as the person who collects and preserves the evidence. A crime scene once
contaminated loses any DNA that is present.
Recently DNA from stamps attached to an envelope several decades old held clues to the identity of
a serial killer who had mailed letters about the crimes he or she committed to a newspaper years
earlier. A crime once considered unsolvable, before DNA was even considered as a tool in crime
fighting; now one day may be able to identify a serial killer who has tormented a country. Currently
any DNA evidence properly collected and preserved increases the chances of the case one day
having a resolution, even if several more years down the line. DNA is just the beginning of what is
to come in forensics, crime fighting and helping survivors bring closure.

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07.16.2013 at 11:30

BellaOnline Summer is
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So do stop by & say
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articles on everything
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Terri Lindy Johansen

Mondays Exercise of
the Day
This is a great balance
exercise!
Stand tall with your
feet about hip width
apart; take a breath and
relax your shoulders.
Raise your right leg
until your hip is
approximately at 90
degrees. Use your right
hand to hold onto your
knee, without pressure.
Engage your core
muscles so you dont
start tilting.
Keep your hips facing
forward; put your left
hand on your knee and
bring the knee across
your body, to the left,
until you feel a
comfortable stretch in
your hips and butt.
Change hands putting
your right hand on the
knee and move it out to
the right side of your
body. Engage your core
and keep your pelvis
facing forward. You
should feel the stretch
in the inner thigh.
Bring the leg back to
center and release.
Take 3 deep breaths
and repeat on the other
leg. Do the exercise 3
times with each leg.
ENJOY!
07.15.2013 at 1:04

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