Recently in DNA Category

In an interesting case out of Los Angeles, police are apparently collecting DNA samples from johns arrested in area prostitution stings in hopes of matching one of them to a prolific serial killer whose been operating for two decades. Here's a story from City News Service:

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles police are taking DNA samples from johns arrested
in South Los Angeles prostitution stings in an effort to find a man who has killed 11 young black women since the mid-80s, it was reported Saturday.
"It's a needle in the haystack, but there is a needle out there somewhere and someone is going to find it," Los Angeles police Lt. Dennis Ballas told the Los Angeles Times.
While detectives have had the killer's genetic profile on record for years, they have been unable to make a match through law enforcement databases and have few other clues as to his identity.
They know he typically shoots his victims with a handgun, sexually abuses them and dumps their bodies in alleys along Western Avenue.
Detective Dennis Kilcoyne heads the squad stalking the elusive killer.
"We have a beautiful picture of what this guy looks like -- it's a dot, a dash and a line on a
screen," he said. "We just don't have a name to go with it."
Though a $500,000 reward in the case has produced some promising leads, none has panned out.
The killer, most active in the 1980s, seemed to stop killing for 13 years, only to resurface in 2002. His last known victim was found early last year.
Twenty years ago, his lone surviving victim described him as a black man in his 30s, according to Kilcoyne.
DNA dragnets, as the strategy is called, were first employed in Europe, where authorities have swabbed thousands of people and solved dozens of crimes. German authorities collected samples from 16,400 people in the search for a man who had raped and killed an 11-year-old girl. They found him.

From a press release:

Washington, DC - In light of recent developments in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case highlighting the effectiveness of DNA technology, the House today passed "The Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008" (H.R. 5057).  The bill included four amendments authored by Rep. Schiff that will improve DNA tools to help catch rapists, murderers and other violent criminals and help reduce the backlog of DNA samples waiting to be screened by federal and state investigators.  Most significantly, the bill includes an amendment authored by Rep. Schiff that would provide states with an incentive to collect DNA profiles from those arrested for murder or felony sex crimes. The bill will now be sent to the Senate for its approval before it is sent to the President to be signed into law. 
 
"DNA matching technology is one on the greatest advancements in forensic science since the fingerprint," said Schiff.  "DNA matching technology has the potential to be one of the most effective tools in catching violent criminals.  We can use this technology far more successfully to track down murderers and rapists.  Clearing the backlog of DNA samples and collecting more data from violent felons will go a long way towards finally solving hundreds or thousands of cold case murders and sexual assaults."