Promise of Family DNA Testing: Inside the Lab that Cracked Suspected Killer Case; Promise of Family DNA Testing
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- seven minutes past the hour now. Your top stories just three minutes away. But first, a CNN exclusive. It is cutting-edge technology and it helps police in Los Angeles hunt down the "grim sleeper," an accused serial killer.</s>GRIFFIN: You have fascinating technology that looks for a family resemblance, a potential relative's DNA to provide a link to the suspect. It worked. And now it could help crack dozens of other cold cases. Thelma Gutierrez has an exclusive look inside the lab that cracked this case.</s>THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind these doors at the Department of Justice crime lab in Richmond, California, forensic investigators solved a landmark cold case that could change the way police investigations are conducted. We went inside for an exclusive look at the new DNA technology that led detectives to an elusive killer dubbed the Grim Sleeper. It was the 1980s. A serial killer was terrorizing south Los Angeles. Most of his victims were young African-American women. Some had been shot with the same .25 caliber firearm. Some had been strangled. Some sexually assaulted. Their bodies dumped in alleys. Over the years, Los Angeles police would follow numerous leads that went nowhere. In 1988, after eight murders and an attack on the potential ninth victim who got away, the killing stopped. Then nearly 15 years later, the Grim Sleeper would strike again. Who was he? Where was he hiding? Police would have to wait another two decades to find the answers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have about one-and-a-half million samples stored in the laboratory.</s>GUTIERREZ: A critical piece of the puzzle would be found here in the third largest DNA repository in the world. California has been collecting DNA from convicted felons since 2004. Police had the serial killer's DNA from the crime scenes. Was it possible it was here as well?</s>JILL SPRIGGS, BUREAU OF FORENSIC SERVICES: We are on the cutting edge of this technology.</s>GUTIERREZ: Jill Spriggs, who heads the lab, says forensic scientists recently developed a powerful investigative weapon called the Familial DNA Search Program, computer software that can find similarities between crime scene DNA and the DNA of a convicted felon. If the killer's DNA is not in the database, maybe a relative's is.</s>STEVE MYERS, CRIMINALIST: It is only convicted offenders that we're comparing to, not arrestees in California.</s>GUTIERREZ: Two years ago, detectives ran the killer's DNA searching for a link, but no match. Then a major break. Last year, criminalists entered the DNA of a man recently convicted of a felony weapons charge. His name was Christopher Franklin. Months later, detectives ran the "grim sleeper" killer's DNA again for the second time hoping for a match to a family member. They got it. Detectives zeroed in on Christopher Franklin's father, 57-year- old Lonnie David Franklin, who lived in south Los Angeles within walking distance to one of the victims, 18-year-old Alicia Monique Alexander. At one time, the man described as a polite neighbor even worked as a garage attendant for Los Angeles police. Detectives were confident they'd found their man. But before they could close in, they would need a sample of his DNA. With Franklin under surveillance, they picked up a piece of uneaten pizza crust, along with some eating utensils. Police sent it all to the lab. Soon after, they say they had a match. Between Franklin and the DNA found on victims.</s>JERRY BROWN, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think going forward this is going to be a very important investigative tool for police everywhere where we have a serious crime and where we have no further leads.</s>GUTIERREZ: As city leaders and Los Angeles Police announced what they believe will be the end of the Grim Sleeper's reign of terror, the victims' families cheered. But it was a bittersweet moment for the brothers of 18-year-old Alicia Monique Alexander, who's carried her frayed picture for 22 years. Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>CHETRY: We're crossing the half-hour right now. Time for a look at our top stories. The Obama administration calling the attacks that killed an American and injured several others in Uganda deplorable and cowardly. There were three explosions that happened within 50 minutes of each other. They hit two venues packed with people watching Sunday's World Cup final. Officials say at least 64 people in total were killed, another 71 being treated for injuries. So far, no specific terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack but the Ugandan government is pointing the finger at the Al Shabab group.</s>GRIFFIN: In just about 30 minutes, Swiss authorities will announce whether Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski is going to be extradited to the U.S.. He faces child sex charges here in Los Angeles. In 1977, he pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski infamously fled to Europe before he could be sentenced. We're going to bring that news conference to you live as it happens coming up at the top of the hour.</s>CHETRY: And right now there is nothing keeping the crude from gushing out of BP's broken oil well in the Gulf. The oil giant removed a containment cap and then they are replacing that with a tighter fitting cap and it could even contain the gusher completely. BP is also still working to drill those two relief wells on either side of the exploded well. The hope there is that this will finally end the 84-day-old crisis.</s>GRIFFIN: And for the 84 days, BP has been dumping dispersants into the Gulf. Over 1.5 million gallons so far. And the oil using the best estimates almost 210 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.</s>CHETRY: So what is this doing to the fragile ocean life down below? In a CNN exclusive, our Amber Lyon went into the Gulf to see for herself. She joins us live from New Orleans this morning. Hey, Amber.</s>AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kiran. Well, I'm an avid scuba diver. Let me put things into perspective for you. Normally at this time of the year when you want to enter the Gulf, you wear something like this, it is known as a dive skin. It's made of nylon and spandex. Well, due to the uncertainty of what's in the water, this, unfortunately, is the new reality of scuba diving in the Gulf. It's a huge very heavy hazmat suit. Now we wanted to see what's going on under these waters with all of these dispersants. So we invited environmentalist, Philippe Cousteau, to come along with us on a dive. He says it is not the big globs of oil you see on top of the water but what's hidden underneath that scares him the most.</s>LYON (on camera): So we're taking three small boats. We're heading down the Mississippi. From there, we're going to head out into the Gulf.</s>BRUCE BUCHANAN, EMERGENCY RESPONSE DIVERS INTERNATIONAL: What we're doing is we're actually - if you ever wash dishes, you put a glove on to keep your hands dry while you're washing dishes, well, we're doing the same thing only we're doing this with her whole complete body.</s>LYON (voice-over): BP has pumped more than 1.5 million gallons of dispersant into the Gulf breaking up the crude into little beads that stay under the water. We went on a dive to search for that hidden oil.</s>PHILIPPE COUSTEAU, ENVIRONMENTALIST: I don't want to have to be here. If I was here, I would want to be doing like a free dive off one of these rigs with a bathing suit on.</s>LYON (on camera): It just screws, pops right into the suit and keeps any water from getting on your hands. If this looks uncomfortable, it is. (voice-over): CNN photo journalist Rich Brooks went in first.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rich entering.</s>VOICE OF RICH BROOKS, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: There were a couple of sharks swimming by. They're just curious coming around to check out what's going on.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You OK, Amber?</s>LYON (on camera): Yes, I'm good to go. You OK?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>LYON: We're about 48 miles away from the Deepwater Horizon spill and if you look in the water, you can see it's cloudy right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The oil is</s>LYON: I was talking to BP's COO Doug Suttles and one of the main things I said is how is it going to be cleaned up? Because there is no technology to come down here and</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yes, there is bacteria that consumes oil in the water. What scientists are finding is that bacteria also consumes oxygen. So that when</s>LYON (voice-over): At the end of the day, we ran into a patch of dispersed oil that stretched as far as we could see. (on camera): You can see all around us, it is very cloudy. This is a lot of dispersed oil. You know, if you were to fly over this area, you'd probably look down and you wouldn't really be able to tell that there was oil here because it's kind of become the hidden oil.</s>LYON: And if you saw the water color in that piece, normally it is supposed to be a blue color, not that green murky color we were seeing. In addition to that, we just saw pieces and pieces of little beads of oil all around us. Millions of them. And as far as a hazmat training goes, we were talking about this earlier. It is very expensive. A suit like this alone costs about $2,000. That's in addition to weeks of training. That's going to affect a lot of people who have to enter these waters for their professions. We had a marine scientist on the boat with us and he says he used to enter the water in a normal dive suit but last time he went diving a couple weeks ago he saw a chemical cloud under the water and wasn't going to take any chances anymore. So he says because he doesn't have hazmat training, now he can't enter the water to do his research on corals and fish to see what type of effect this oil crude dispersant mixture is having on the Gulf. Kiran, Drew.</s>CHETRY: And if you guys have to suit up to that extent to get in the water, did Philippe Cousteau give you any indication of what he thinks, what effect this is having on the marine life who are out there obviously without suits on?</s>LYON: Yes, well that's a really good point, Kiran. Because Philippe and I felt very lucky to be under there. You almost felt a little guilty wearing such a protective suit when you'd see - we saw sharks swimming around us, they didn't have anything to protect them and other fish. I think that's what bothers Philippe the most, is that there is dispersed oil hanging there in the water column in about the first, you know, 30 feet of water in some areas of the Gulf.</s>CHETRY: All right. Amber Lyon for us, a very unique perspective. Thanks so much.</s>GRIFFIN: Well, another continuing disaster is in Haiti where quake recovery has been so slow. But there's some hopeful signs. Wyclef Jean is going to be joining us live, coming up.