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Zodiac DNA Tests Produce Odd Results

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Sep 17, 2008 10:25 pm US/Pacific

Zodiac DNA Tests Produce Odd Results

Reporting
Kris Pickel
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― The FBI has received results in the first round of DNA tests that could link a local man's stepfather to the infamous Zodiac Killer. The tests did not conclude that Jack Tarrance is the Zodiac Killer, but they did not eliminate him as a suspect.

Tarrance's stepson, Dennis Kaufman, gave the FBI letters and envelopes from his stepfather for the DNA tests, convinced they would prove Tarrance is the Zodiac. According to Dennis, the tests on the envelopes came back inconclusive, and the results were odd.

Investigators found mixed DNA on the envelopes, as if two people licked the same envelope, rendering it useless.

The Zodiac Killer mailed letters to police and newspapers during the 60's and 70's, sending taunts and threats. Authorities tried creating a DNA profile off of that evidence in the 90's, but were unable to create even a partial profile until 2002.

Jack Tarrance would have known about DNA when he sent the tested letters in the 90's. This raises the question: Are the inconclusive results a shortfall of science, or did someone -- possibly Tarrance himself -- intentionally sabotage the envelopes?

"He was worried I was going to put him in prison," Dennis Kaufman said. "He told people that."

The inconclusive results explain why the FBI agents in Washington state picked up Tarrance's dentures two weeks ago: to get another DNA source. As far as we know, those tests have not come back yet, but because this is an open investigation, the FBI is not commenting.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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