Cold-Case Murder Conviction Overturned

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) – An appeals court in Washington state has overturned the cold-case murder convictions against a man accused of killing a young Canadian couple in 1987.

Detectives arrested William Earl Talbott II in 2018 using genetic genealogy to identify him as the killer of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg.

The practice involves finding suspects by entering crime-scene DNA profiles into public databases that people have used for years to fill out their family trees.

The Herald of Everett reports the appeals court found Monday that one of the jurors should have been dismissed because she said she didn’t know if she could be fair in a trial about violence against women.