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In part two of this two-part episode, retired agent Steve Busch and retired Bureau attorney Steve Kramer review how, after the success of the Golden State Killer case, they became the co-founders of the FBI’s first Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) team, assisting law enforcement agencies in the identification of suspects, and then the co-founders and architects of the FBI’s National Investigative Genetic Genealogy (or IGG) program and team.
During this time, they continued to solve dozens of previously “unsolvable” cold case murders and rapes, two of which they review in this episode. They also trained thousands of investigators and lectured all over the world about this new investigative genetic genealogy technology.
A growing mountain of unsolved cold case murders made it clear – the manual method was just not fast enough. They share why they retired from the FBI in 2021 to create Indago Solutions, AI-based software that automates DNA matching and the production of investigative leads, transforming how people can be identified through public records and DNA.
In the private sector, Stephen Busch and Steve Kramer continue to work regularly with the US Department of Justice and with state and local investigators to solve cases through the use of genetic genealogy.
Special Agent (Retired)
Stephen Busch
2002 – 2021
“One of the questions that we get often asked is, well, how’s this going to hold up in court? Is it going to be okay in a legal setting? Are we going to be able to overcome some of the legal hurdles? One of the things that Steve and I have pushed with investigators from the beginning is, this is for investigative leads only.”—Retired Agent Stephen Busch
Stephen Busch served in the FBI for 19 years. Formerly a private sector engineer, in the FBI, he worked a variety of investigative assignments, including counterterrorism and white-collar crime, while also honing his leadership skills as a SWAT Sniper Team Leader in the Los Angeles Division.
As the architect of the FBI’s National Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) program (now known as Investigative Genetic Genealogy or IGG) program, he is the co-founder of the FBI’s first FGG team, the first agent assigned to work full time to assist law enforcement agencies in the identification of suspects using genetic genealogy, and the cofounder of the FBI’s national investigative genetic genealogy team.
FBI Attorney (Retired)
R. Stephen Kramer
2001 – 2021
“Paul Holes and I called each other, and we were like two kids at Christmas. Like literally, we were so excited. We had thousands of matches, thousands of relatives of the Golden State Killer. The first forensic lead in 43 years.”—Retired FBI Attorney Steve Kramer
Steve Kramer served in the FBI for 20 years. He was an in-house counsel for the Los Angeles Division, responsible for legal matters in the FBI’s criminal and national security investigations, where he oversaw the FBI’s investigative techniques and strategies.
Previously, Steve had worked as a federal prosecutor, and deputy district attorney, where he prosecuted homicide cases, corporate fraud cases and national security cases. After assembling and leading the team of investigators that solved the notorious Golden State Killer case, he finished his Bureau career as the cofounder of the FBI’s national genetic genealogy team.
The following are links to the interim DOJ guidelines and articles about investigative genetic genealogy and cold case murders solved by the technology:
DOJ Interim Policy – 11/01/2019: Forensic Genetic Genealogical Dna Analysis And Searching Guidelines
National Institutes of Health Library – 8/1/2022: Bridging Disciplines to Form a New One: The Emergence of Forensic Genetic Genealogy
NBC 26 (VIDEO) – 12/27/2020: Local man’s Work with FBI Helps Crack Green Bay Cold Case, Colleagues Say
San Diego Union Tribune – 2/20/20202: Rapist charged in multiple attacks gets 50 to life for crimes dating to 1995
Desert Sun – 5/7/2019: Ariz. man faces 8 counts in rapes 24 years ago in San Diego. He’s suspected in Coachella Valley
NBC4LosAngeles – 9/19/2022: Man Sentenced for Cold Case Killings of Two SoCal Women in 1980s
Los Angeles Times – 8/18/2022: Man convicted in two 1980s rapes and murders after genealogy search
People magazine – 8/18/2022: Man Who ‘Targeted Young Women’ Convicted of Decades-Old Murders with Help of Investigative Genetic Genealogy
New York Times – 2/4/2019: FamilyTreeDNA Admits to Sharing Genetic Data With F.B.I.
Wall Street Journal – 8/22/2019: Customers Handed Over Their DNA. The Company Let the FBI Take a Look
The Intercept – 8/29/2023: FBI Hoovering Up DNA At A Pace That Rivals China, Holds 21 Million Samples And Counting
Listen to Part One of this two-part episode here:
306: Steve Kramer and Steve Busch – Investigative Genetic Genealogy, Golden State Killer
Listen to this episode to learn more about the Golden State Killer investigation:
242: Julia Cowley – Golden State Killer, BAU Profiler
I just tried to download my “raw data” (DNA snippet) from the 23andMe website so that I could upload it to the site that is helpful to law enforcement and 23andMe has “temporarily disabled” the feature that allows you to do that. Just thought you’d be interested to know!
Wow! That’s really interesting. It doesn’t seem right for them to prevent you for accessing your own data.