A DJ gig turned undercover operation just shook up a 25-year-old murder case.
Pennsylvania police on Monday arrested 49-year-old wedding DJ Raymond Rowe for the murder of elementary school teacher Christy Mirack, per The Washington Post. Rowe was running an elementary school party when undercover agents snagged his chewing gum and water bottle, tested the recovered DNA, and connected him with the murder.
Mirack was found raped and strangled in her home days before Christmas in 1992, says NBC News. Rowe, also known as DJ Freez, isn't facing any criminal counts yet, but the area's district attorney told the Post he expects to levy a first-degree murder charge.
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This arrest follows a wave of cold cases heating up, like when the suspected Golden State Killer was arrested in late April thanks to DNA evidence. Police knew to test Rowe because a close relative submitted DNA to a public genealogy database. The same genetic testing company, Parabon NanoLabs, actually matched up DNA in both this and the Golden State case, per WGAL.
But even though this news seems hopeful, it also raises the privacy questions of who can get ahold of DNA that's uploaded online — and what they can do with it. Read more about the case at The Washington Post.
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