Suspect in 1987 murders -- and 'genetic genealogy' -- go on trial
EVERETT — Over 100 potential jurors filed into the Snohomish County Courthouse Tuesday for the outset of the double-murder trial of William Talbott II.
Media including The New York Times, PBS, ABC, CTV and others have been keeping tabs on the case as trial neared for the SeaTac man, 56, charged with brutally murdering a Canadian couple in late 1987.
At stake is justice for Jay Cook, 20, and Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, whose families waited decades for advances in DNA technology to guide detectives to the suspect.
This will also be the first criminal trial in the U.S. involving a powerful, controversial new forensic tool known as “genetic genealogy.” Talbott’s case will be a kind of proving ground — and could eventually set legal precedents — for police use of the new methodology. Talbott was among the first arrested in a national wave of breakthroughs in cold cases, propelled by genealogists and private labs applying their skills to unsolved crimes.
This will also be the first criminal trial in the U.S. involving a powerful, controversial new forensic tool known as “genetic genealogy.” Talbott’s case will be a kind of proving ground — and could eventually set legal precedents — for police use of the new methodology. Talbott was among the first arrested in a national wave of breakthroughs in cold cases, propelled by genealogists and private labs applying their skills to unsolved crimes.
A genealogist can build a suspect’s family tree by comparing crime-scene DNA to public genetic profiles on ancestry websites like FamilyTreeDNA. Talbott’s case will be the first genetic genealogy case in the nation to go before a jury.
Second cousins on both sides of Talbott’s bloodline had uploaded data to GEDMatch, a site that has since changed its policy to require users to “opt in” for police to use their data. (After working in secret with the FBI, FamilyTreeDNA now has an ad campaign touting how its service can help solve crimes.)
Talbott worked as a trucker, though employment records suggest he was out of work around the time of the crime, according to court papers. His parents lived seven miles from the bridge near Monroe where Cook’s battered body was found.
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