The Cato Road Murders

William Danso and Patrick Dunne were both shot dead in Cato Road, Clapham, south London, on 20th October 1993. Danso, 31, had two disputes that day with Gary Nelson, 36, one of Britain’s most dangerous gangsters, at a mobile phone shop where he worked as a security guard and while working as a bouncer at a Brixton nightclub where he refused Nelson entry. Later that evening, Nelson and two other people showed up at Danso's apartment with a Tanfoglio self-loading handgun and a 9mm semiautomatic. Six shots were fired at Danso. Patrick Dunne, a 44-year-old police officer who was responding to a domestic dispute in the area, contacted Nelson after hearing the gunfire. Subsequently, he was shot in the chest.​

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Nelson was charged with the killings five weeks later, but the case was withdrawn because there was not enough evidence. It remained unsolved for eight years until modern DNA technology enabled the police to get a complete profile of Nelson from the blood and saliva he left on Danso’s clothing. He was already serving a life sentence for another murder he had committed in 1996 when they apprehended him in 2001 after matching his DNA to the national database. Nelson maintained his innocence and denied any role in the murders on Cato Road. In 2006, he was found guilty in absentia since he did not show up for his trial. The court called Nelson a "psychopathic killer" and one of the most dangerous persons in the nation, and he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 35 years.

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The Cromwell Street Murders

Hundreds of officers, forensic scientists, archaeologists, and psychologists worked together to investigate the Cromwell Street Murders (which occurred between 1967 and 1987). The operation began in February 1994, when police investigated the property of married couple Fred and Rosemary West and discovered the remains of nine victims buried beneath the cellar, garden, and patio. Fred West confessed to killing at least 12 women and girls, including his first wife, Catherine Costello and one of his daughters, Heather West and was charged with 12 counts of murder. Rose West denied any involvement but was charged with 10 counts of murder. DNA evidence played an important role in identifying the victims. The police employed mitochondrial DNA analysis (which traces a person's maternal lineage) to compare the bones discovered on Cromwell Street to blood samples from the victims' relatives. This procedure helped to confirm nine victims' identities. The remaining three victims were identified using various methods, such as dental records and clothing. Rose West's fingerprints were discovered on the tape used to gag and bind some of the victims, linking her to the torture and murder of the young women. She was convicted of ten murders in November 1995 and sentenced to life without parole. She’s currently serving her sentence at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire. Fred West hanged himself in prison in January 1995, before his trial could begin.

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Murder of Anna Jean Kane, 1988

The cold case of Anna Jean Kane’s murder goes back over 35 years, making it one of the longest unsolved cases in Pennsylvania. She was 26 when her body was found on October 23, 1988, in a wooded area near Reading. After decades of dead ends, breakthrough DNA genetic genealogy technology finally identified Scott Grim as the killer. In February 1990, the cold case was reopened when an anonymous letter, signed by a “concerned citizen”, was addressed to the newspaper containing “numerous intimate details” about the murder, which, according to the police, would be known only by the killer. The State Police Trooper said that this led them to believe that the letter’s author may have been responsible for the homicide. The saliva-sealed envelope from which the letter was sent tested positive for DNA matching that on Kane’s clothing, indicating Scott Grim as a primary suspect. Unfortunately, Grim passed away in 2018 due to natural causes before he could be put on trial.

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Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi, the then-serving Prime Minister of India, was visiting Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, to campaign for the 1991 general election. As he left his car and began walking towards the dais, well-wishers poured in to greet and garland him. The assassin too approached Gandhi to greet him, but as part of a premeditated conspiracy. As she bent down to touch his feet, an RDX explosive-laden belt tucked below her dress detonated. On investigation, remains of a female with an explosive belt were recovered from the site of the blast. Forensic teams (Central Forensic Sciences Lab, NSG, and others) collected tissue from the charred flesh on the belt and nearby clothing fragments. Using DNA fingerprinting (RFLP), scientists compared those tissue samples and found that they came from the same person and were linked to Sri Lanka with the help of matching samples from her family members. The suicide bomber was thus identified as Kalaivani Rajaratnam alias Dhanu, a member of the radicalised organisation LTTE. The motive behind the killing was said to be the animosity of the LTTE chief towards Gandhi for sending the IPKF to Sri Lanka and the numerous war crimes committed by their personnel. This case was India’s first use of DNA fingerprinting, not only to identify victims but also to identify a suicide bomber.

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Sheena Bora murder case

Sheena Bora, 25, was working as an assistant manager for Mumbai Metro One when she went missing on 24 April 2012. She was living with her mother, Indrani Mukerjea (who introduced her as her sister to the society) since 2006. Her disappearance went unnoticed due to Indrani’s influence and claims that she had gone abroad. Sheena was reportedly lured into a car by Indrani, drugged, and then strangled with the help of her ex-husband, Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamvar Rai. Her body was stored overnight in a car and then taken to a forest in Raigad, where it was burnt and dumped in a remote spot. The case was accidentally cracked in August 2015, when the driver confessed to his role in the murder and disposal of Sheena’s body while being interrogated for another case. This led the police to exhume skeletal remains from the Raigad forest. DNA tests conducted on the bones matched them with Indrani’s samples, confirming a mother-daughter relationship. This evidence provided a breakthrough in the case and led to the prosecution of all the accused.