© Rich Pedroncelli, AP
Authorities probe the backyard of the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo, Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Citrus Heights, Calif.
Investigators hunting down the so-called Golden State Killer used information from genetic websites last year that led to the wrong man, court records obtained Friday by The Associated Press showed.
An Oregon police officer working at the request of California investigators persuaded a judge in March 2017 to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample.
The Oregon City man is in declining health and was unable to answer questions Friday about the case.
His daughter said authorities never notified her before swabbing her father for DNA in his bed a rehabilitation center, but once they told her afterward she understood and worked with them to eliminate people who conceivably could be the killer.
The case of mistaken identity was discovered as authorities hailed a novel use of DNA technology that led this week to the arrest of former police officer Joseph DeAngelo at his house outside Sacramento on murder charges. Critics of the investigative approach, however, warned it could jeopardize privacy rights.
Comment: The CIA can't help doing what it does for satanic forces, but it's appalling that a monastery appears to be covering up the murder of one of its own.