Today I Learned (TIL)

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TIL that after hunting a serial killer whose DNA was found at 40 crime scenes across Germany and Austria for 16 years, police discovered the DNA belonged to a woman working at the swab factory (news.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] NounsAndWords 10 points 7 months ago

It's the perfect crime.

[–] reddig33 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

“One company making swabs said they were not intended for analytical, but only medical use, while another said that there had been no requirement for the swabs to be free of DNA.”

If they were for medical use then they should have been sterile, which means no residual DNA. Sounds like a real fuckup on the part of the company manufacturing the swabs.

[–] cm0002 7 points 7 months ago

Not necessarily, medical sterilization is to primarily prevent infections and the bar for this is "Free from viable microorganisms"

The bar for laboratory use is much much higher where even trace amounts of anything, no matter how dead or "unviable", can throw things wildly off

[–] slazer2au 1 points 7 months ago

Or just maybe, Dexter?