COLD CASE : CRIME IN THE GENES | TF1 | Reportages

It’s a revolution in criminal investigations: thanks to a new technique for interpreting DNA, it is possible to find a killer even 30 years after the event. Hundreds of old cases hitherto forgotten by the law¾”cold cases”¾can now be reopened and solved. This technique has a name: familial DNA search. The principle is simple, but somebody had to think of it: if a criminal is not in the national file of genetic fingerprints, maybe a member of his close family is. First we followed the work of Gendarmerie investigators in Corsica, who used this technique to find a man suspected of a murder more than 20 years ago. The familial search would never have existed but for Commander Pham Hoai. This investigator introduced the technique to France and, thanks to him, one of the best-known cold cases in France¾that of Elodie Kulik¾is about to be completed. And finally, we return to the hunt for one of the worst serial rapists in French criminal history, accused of having raped and assaulted more than 40 women. Today, a man is in prison, betrayed by the DNA of his brother.