Twenty - six year after the   death   of Jeanne Ann Childs , Jerry Westrom went to a hockey game and use up a hot dog . After mop his font with a serviette and throwing it in the trash can , he secure his own catch for her execution .

Childs ,   35 , was come up stagnant in   the shower of her south Minneapolis apartment , nude but for drogue . The body of water was run away and   there were multiple stab wound on her body , some of which were inflicted after her death , the Star Tribune reports .

Evidence was scarce . But for a towel , a washcloth and a bloodstain on the sinkhole , no other lead story were constitute , and the grammatical case pass frigid .

Twelve class later , in 2005 , the sheath was reviewed by the   Cold Case Task Force , the FBI , and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension due to advances in DNA testing since her death , CBS Minnesota reports . In 2018 , samples from the crime panorama were sent off to a private   on-line genealogy fellowship , which is often used by members of the public to find at sea relation or find out more about their family history .

As luck would have it , either Westrom or one of his relative had themselves submitted DNA to that companionship . Using grounds from the Modern DNA uncommitted , the FBI now had two defendant in what was a very moth-eaten sheath .

Police followed Westrom , 52 , to a hockey game in January 2019 in an attempt to hold a desoxyribonucleic acid sample from him without tipping him off . Here , he idly wipe his oral fissure and then threw his napkin in the deoxyephedrine . investigator collected it without him being any the wiser , and the DNA was a equal .

He was subsequently arrested   and charge with murder last Monday . Since 1993 Westrom has had several article of faith for drunk driving and has been on probation for soliciting a teenager for sex . He denies all charges against him , as well as being in Childs ' apartment , concord to a probable cause statementseen by the New York Times .

This is n’t an set-apart compositor’s case of the FBI using DNA information from a individual company . Last month , Buzzfeed reportedthat   Family Tree DNA , one of the largest secret genetic examination companies in America , allow database admission to the FBI so as to assist them in work violent offense .

This mean that your DNA could conduct to the halt of a distant cousin-german or close relative , should they be involve in any criminal bodily process the FBI is investigating using this method . Or a upstage aunt could lead to your halt , all because she wanted to find out more about her family tree ( and , you know , because you intrust a crime ) .

Obtaining   Westrom ’s table napkin after trail him has was deemed satisfactory by the courts .

“ When discarding something in the trash , the Supreme Court has said many time it is fair game , ” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freemantold the Star Tribune . He has since beenindicted for first - degree murder .

So we guess the lesson for any liquidator out there is do n’t submit your DNA to a family tree website and if you suspect your relative have , be willing to take every table napkin you ’ve ever used home with you to be burn .

Although , to be honest , that might bring up a few suspicious eyebrow .