To Solve a Cold Case, French Police Bent DNA Privacy Law

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:00)
A quick heads-up before we get started. This episode discusses violent crimes, including sexual assault. Please listen with care.
The long saga of one of France's most notorious cold cases began in 1998, when a man who came to be known as the Predator of the Woods attacked a teenage girl.

**Matthew Dalton** (0:28)
This happens in the port city of La Rochelle in Western France.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:33)
Our colleague Matthew Dalton is a Paris correspondent for The Journal.

**Matthew Dalton** (0:37)
A 16-year-old teenager is walking home from school when she is approached by a man in a car, who by different accounts either lures her into the car or forces her into his car, brandishes a knife, takes her to a wooded area outside the city, and rapes her, leaves her alive but very traumatized, and leaps.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:05)
Police didn't have much to go on except a description of the attacker. Tall, gaunt, with light-colored eyes, maybe blue or green.

**Matthew Dalton** (1:15)
They distributed the police sketch. That was their main way of trying to find the person because they didn't really have many other leads.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:24)
Over the course of the next decade, the man continued to terrorize France.

**Matthew Dalton** (1:30)
He is believed to have raped at least four other young women and teenagers through 2008

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:39)
In each case, the police did collect DNA. It all belonged to the same person.

**Matthew Dalton** (1:44)
They plugged it into their, the French law enforcement database, and there were no matches.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:52)
But that database was pretty limited. It only included DNA from people who had been previously arrested for serious crimes.
With no real leads, the cases went unsolved for decades.

**Matthew Dalton** (2:05)
I would say, you know, amongst cold cases in France, it was one of the most perplexing and one of the most well-known.

**Jessica Mendoza** (2:17)
Then, nearly 15 years later, the French police decided to do something they've never done before. Go around long-standing privacy laws to crack the case. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Wednesday, August 12th.
Coming up on the show, how DNA crime-solving is putting Europe's privacy norms to the test.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:59)
This episode of The Journal is brought to you by Harvey, an AI platform designed for legal and professional services. Built and tested by lawyers, Harvey is trusted by more than 60 percent of the Amla 100 The platform dramatically reduces time spent on research, drafting, and document review without sacrificing quality. All while meeting the highest industry standards for security and compliance. Harvey, AI, tailored for law.
Visit harvey.ai to learn more and request a demo.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:32)
For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.
Tramfya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start.
Tramfya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tramfya, proper training is required. Tramfya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more, or visit tramfyaradio.com.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:38)
In the last decade in the United States, a new way of solving crimes, especially cold cases, has revolutionized law enforcement, genetic genealogy. It's been made possible by the explosion and popularity of recreational DNA testing.

**Matthew Dalton** (4:53)
Recreational DNA testing has become a very big business, particularly in the United States. ancestry.com, Maya Ancestry.

**Jessica Mendoza** (5:03)
23andMe.

**Matthew Dalton** (5:04)
23andMe.
All of those companies, you can take a swab of your DNA, you send it in. They give you your DNA results. And then they will find distant relatives of yours, or maybe close relatives of yours, who have already submitted their DNA.

**Jessica Mendoza** (5:23)
Tens of millions of Americans have voluntarily submitted their DNA to these databases. For many of those people, the goal is to learn about their genetic heritage and piece together family trees. Adopted people have found biological family. And sometimes, long hidden family secrets were revealed. But law enforcement saw those huge databases of DNA information and realized they had another possible use. Something most people hadn't intended their DNA to be used for. Solving crimes.