Sartaj Singh
Helmed by Lisa France, ‘Her Secret Family Killer’ follows an ice cream parlor owner as the people around her are murdered one by one, with the killer’s DNA indicating a relative’s hand behind the deaths. Growing up as an orphan, Sarah operates an ice cream parlor in a small town with her brother Will and cousin April. For her birthday, Sarah is gifted a DNA testing kit by her best friend, Victoria.
However, when Victoria is murdered, the killer’s DNA samples found on the body match Sarah’s. With suspicious cousins and other family members residing in the town, the horrified small business owner begins her own investigation, getting closer to life-threatening danger with every step. Initially titled ‘DNA Killer,’ the 2019 Lifetime thriller employs an interesting forensic concept to fuel its mystery, generating questions about any real-life parallels to its story.
Her Secret Family Killer Explores the Use of Genealogy in Finding Killers
The use of genetic genealogy in solving crime is a game changer that has helped solve many real-life murders by narrowing down suspects through DNA tests. Though the makers haven’t revealed the inspiration behind the film’s plot, ‘Her Secret Family Killer’ seems to utilize the method to imply that a relative of the protagonist is the killer or that someone is setting them up. While the Lifetime movie supposedly employs the concept to create the premise of its murder mystery, its story itself is fictitious and written by Brooke Purdy. One of the most prominent cases to be cracked by DNA analysis and genealogy is that of the Golden State Killer.
Known earlier as the Visalia Ransacker and Night Stalker, the Golden State Killer terrorized Southern California throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, stalking, breaking into homes, stealing, raping, and murdering. He killed at least 13 people and raped 51 women, and for a long time, was thought to have gotten away with it. With advancements in biotechnology, genetic genealogy became a means to use DNA testing to infer relationships between individuals and discover family history.
With a limited DNA database initially rooted in individuals giving voluntary tests to ascertain their ancestry, GEDmatch became an open-source repository available for public access. In 2017, authorities uploaded the Golden State Killer’s DNA to the GEDmatch and worked with genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter to construct a family tree and narrow down suspects. Just as Sarah from the Lifetime film makes her DNA test results available through a kit, so did one of the relatives of the Golden State Killer. This provided investigators with a DNA match and their first lead in decades.
The Arrest and Outcomes of Investigative Genetic Genealogy
Acclaimed cold case detective Paul Holes had been leading the renewed investigation into the Golden State Killer. The DNA tests ruled out the main suspect he had been stubborn about, revealing the human margin of error owing to confirmation bias. Instead, all DNA evidence pointed to Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer and mechanic. Gathering DNA samples from his car door handle and garbage bin resulted in a match with that of the Golden State Killer’s collected from a Ventura County rape kit of one of his victims.
Accepting a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty, DeAngelo was given multiple life sentences after having pled guilty to thirteen counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping. Despite the case serving as a prime example of the good that can be achieved in crime fighting through genealogy, it raised concerns about the ethicality of using genetic information in public domains and the violation of citizens’ privacy. Since then, organizations like GEDmatch have imposed tighter restrictions on the use of their information for investigations.
While ‘Her Secret Family Killer’ is fictional, it seems to draw on the real-world advances made in genetic genealogy and its potency in narrowing down suspects. Actor Matt Shevin’s portrayal of Roger is inspired by Edward Norton’s performance as Aaron Stampler in ‘Primal Fear,’ lending further authenticity to the performance of his dual personalities. The film raises its stakes through the genealogy angle by having Sarah discover her relation to the killer, making for a thrilling and unique murder mystery setup.
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