Police tapped consumer genealogical websites to identify an elusive suspect

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The break that authorities said led them to the man accused of being the Golden State Killer came when they linked DNA evidence from the slayings to genetic information contained on a consumer genealogical website, authorities said Thursday.

Investigators knew the killer only through a string of DNA recorded at several of the dozen slaying scenes. Shaun Hampton, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, said officials had struggled for years to figure out who that DNA belonged to. Recently, they tapped genealogical databases that the public uses to search for relatives and ancestors, he said.

Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that