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The results above are largely my own heritage genetically speaking. Despite the number of circled areas, it reflects a rather limited gene pool. The last Italian ancestor I had went up to the Volga land in 1786 to govern it for Catherine the Great. There the heritage was mixed with the German settlers. The German population on the Volga wasn’t huge. Nevertheless, enough DNA has been submitted by people of similar heritage that the strands could be categorized. There is even a genetic clock (1750). The first Germans that went up to settle the Volga at Catherine’s invitation left Hesse in 1767. The red area marks the genes specific to Germans From Russia. The minimal Italian remaining (though I would be more) marks the last strain of a very interesting and eccentric 18th century ancestor. But he was part Swiss as well, and from an old Lombard family (essentially Germanic). Not surprisingly, the yellow circle sweeps down and clutches Switzerland and the north of Italy where the Lombards and Burgundians had settled and refused to leave 1500 years ago.
My grandparents got out of Russia just before the Russian revolution and mixed with the massive German population of the Midwest USA, the branch above having married into an old German family from Kansas. The strands could even link to Germans from the Midwest.
The result of this test matched to 3 first cousins and 1 first cousin once removed. It pegged their relationship perfectly. I recognized all names. In the 4th to 6th cousin spread I recognized 2 surnames and one full name, descendants of my grandfather’s brother. There were close to 600 other names of possible relatives. This is amazing for a fairly limited heritage. There are only about 10,000,000 people in the civilian databases, so if many more had their DNA tested many more matches would be made, including to many other closer related cousins where the heritage is easy to determine based on a limited amount of research.
We now return to evil incarnate, or is incarnate the wrong word? EAR does not exist. Not in any meaningful way. An early and inaccurate sequence of Y markers has been said to have been leaked and published in a book by Michelle McNamara and touted by many to be the key to solving the Night Predator’s identity. However, Y-STR markers only trace paternal heritage, and according to the graph as published there is nothing closer to EAR than a 20th cousin or such— a relationship impossible to trace. The Y markers also lead to German and some Anglicized German surnames (Klein=Little, for example), and this inspired McNamara to assert he was German-English. This too is false. Moreover, surnames do not reflect ethnicity, only vaguely national origins [As of this editing April 27, 2018, EAR-ONS has been identified. He is of Italian and Dutch heritage underscoring how false the DNA presented in the book really was.]
Let’s clarify how it really works. Two males represented on a Y marker graph of 12 markers, with 12 out of 12 identical (perfect match), are males sharing a great grandfather. The next level is a comparison of 35 Y markers. Second cousins (sharing a great grandfather) would also probably show a 35 out of 35 Y marker match. The further back (67 Y marker comparison, for instance) it will begin to diverge. If a 12 Y marker series was run and it showed 11 out of 12 match, we’re talking about a mutual male ancestor about 1830s or so. This will spread even more the further back (more markers) the test goes. The more matches with less Y markers used the better.
EAR’s exact DNA results cannot be released by law enforcement, but the very fact that EAR has never been identified even with civilian DNA systems means there has never been a 12 out of 12 match or 35 out of 35 match, or even 11 out of 12 match. Rarity of surname means nothing. Remember law enforcement would have much more DNA than Y-STR markers. DNA from the maternal line would bring into the picture so many more relatives.
Complete DNA should also give LE some idea of origins and migrations, like the graph does above for my own cousin. They should be able to circle some place in the US indicating where his branch of family has affinity in the genome. Obviously, there is none.
There are two reasons for this. The first is obvious: no close relative of EAR has jumped on board the fad of having their DNA tested. And, once again, it need not be a male relative. No real relative has come on the radar. This means no female relative has been tested, not one nor apparently even a group of distant relatives to give a regional reference point that is within centuries. So EAR doesn’t have any kind of real relative in the US, nor probably ever has.
This raises the worst possibility: he was new to the USA. His father came over, and was the only one to do so, or EAR is himself an immigrant. And those that would be closer relatives in Europe have never submitted their DNA.
Yet he was a WMA adult, and from all likelihood from a heritage coming from northwest Europe. But therein is a problem— the bulk of Americans come from this area. There should be loads of names and relatives to match his full DNA profile to. There are not. He is, as one detective told me, “a loner in the genome.” Indeed he must come from a whole line of loners.
[Edited April 27, 2018: I am guessing a bit here, but when writing this article in early March I was directly told by Sac detectives that they were unaware that any such “specificity,” meaning DNA that could lead to heritage and cousins, existed for EAR-ONS’s DNA as claimed in McNamara’s book. Since Sacramento had not preserved any DNA samples, they had no say in its exploitation. It was for those jurisdictions with DNA to exploit it in what manner they deemed best. I knew Sacramento law enforcement was now going to reach out and inquire. (I was obviously upset during the conversion because I stressed for years how many of us investigating kept hearing that EAR-ONS was German-English based on those who followed McNamara’s assertions, and I even showed the detective emails where one of her followers was eliminating people’s POIs based on this ethnic assumption). I suspect Sacramento quickly obtained real DNA familial markers (not the false ones in the book). The District Attorney exploited them quickly in a familial database.
Obviously, in the real DNA there was a much closer relative than some 20th cousin in the bogus “German-English” pedigree of, well, wherever those Y markers came from in McNamara’s book. He or she was close enough that law enforcement in Sacramento and with the FBI could trace the connection. Lo and behold, they had him within a month: Joseph James DeAngelo. Clearly not a rare German name.]
As more people submit their DNA there is the chance of suddenly seeing that closer match. Yet even though 11 out of 12 may sound close, it is a daunting task to find the descendants of someone who lived in the 1830s, location unknown. [Edited April 27, 2018: Yet obviously they did it, making an arrest on April 24, 2018, of Joseph James DeAngelo.
Controversies are for later, as are clarifications. But as soon as those involved knew the potential was there they acted quickly. And as we know, the arrest was made. The rest you can read below if you like. It was written before the solution, before the DNA of the whole human family was consulted to find its most treacherous betrayer and predator.]
Should it really surprise us? Concerning the locations of the last remaining world mysteries, people have asked me: “Why are they always over the oceans or in the deep forest or deserts?” Well, where else could they be? The last mysteries remaining on this planet would have to be in locations where humankind does not frequently tread. This is the high mountains, the deep forest glades, the stifling deserts and the vast hydrosphere. This is the last place mystery can remain.
In like manner we should not be surprised that such a bizarre and prolific villain like EAR/ONS has proven to represent a human exception. He is a freak without any real human connection, both in spirit to us or even in genetic affinity. He is a monster, a chimera, and not one of us within our species. If he was, he would have been exposed long ago.
I lamented to Detective Sgt. Ken Clark how I dislike the acronyms and monikers given to EAR. He agreed. He said he had come up with what he thought was a perfect name. “The bogey man— because that’s what he is.”
You know, that’s true. Everything we fear in the night is crystalized into him. We created the Bogey Man of legend to exemplify our night fears and even used him to warn our children about what lies out in the dark. And finally he really materialized. He ravaged California nights for 10 years and maybe more before he vanished. There is no trail left. Not even a genetic family to indicate there was ever the sympathy of human DNA.
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