Molly Bish.Photo: courtesy bish family
When Heather Bish’s younger sister, Molly Bish, went missing in 2000 and her remains were found three years later, Heather did everything she could to find out who killed the popular, happy-go-lucky 16-year-old.
“I put ads in every newspaper in Massachusetts one year,” Heather, 44, tells PEOPLE. “I put a billboard up. Put posters in 351 towns. Every year I did something different.”
In 2018, after learning how familial DNA searches can help police solve some of their most challenging cold cases, she wrote a bill that would allow law enforcement in Massachusetts to use these state-of-the-art inquiries to hunt down violent predators.
When Heather first heard about the use of familial DNA to search for unknown suspects, she says, “I knew it was a tool that law enforcement could use.”
Though police investigated several suspects over the years, no arrests were ever made. On June 3, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. announced a new suspect in the case, convicted sex offender Francis Frank Sumner Sr., who died in 2016 at age 71.
For more on the investigation into the murder of teen lifeguard Molly Bish,subscribe to PEOPLE now, or pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.
So, says Heather, the familial DNA bill she’s backing could still help catch whoever killed Molly – and countless other victims of violent crimes in the state.
“We have an 8,000 rape kit backlog in Massachusetts,” she says. “Let’s get this familial DNA in there, use science, fund the lab more – and get these bad guys.”
Mass. State Sen. Anne Gobi, the bill’s lead sponsor, remembers the dark day when Molly vanished from the pond.
“For those of us who lived in the area when Molly disappeared, you remember where you were when you first heard that a kid from the neighboring town went missing,” says Gobi, who was elected the year after Molly vanished.
Molly Bish.Boston Globe/Getty
“Heather came to me more than a year ago and said, ‘Look what’s happening in these other states. Why don’t we do it in Massachusetts?'” says Gobi.
The state senator agreed. “It’s about giving new hope to families,” she says. “We know that other states are using it and are successful with it.”
Among the states that have familial DNA laws are New York, California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Texas.
Not only can it be used to find violent predators, says Gobi, “it can be used to exonerate people. I think sometimes that gets missing from the story.”
The Difference Between Familial DNA and Genetic Genealogy
But, points out forensic science consultant Rock Harmon, familial DNA searching is different than genetic genealogy, which has made headlines in recent years.
In 2018, long-feared “Golden State Killer” Joseph DeAngelo was arrested with the use of genetic genealogy after detectives used information they found in public DNA databases and family trees to track him down.
When Harmon – a former prosecutor who worked on the 1995 O.J. Simpson criminal trial and who helped implement familial DNA searching in California that led to the arrest of the “Grim Sleeper” serial killer in 2010 – heard that Heather was working on a familial law bill, he offered to help her.
When it comes to familial DNA searches and genetic genealogy, Harmon says, “I’m a huge advocate for these tools to be used.”
But, he cautions, it’s important to understand the difference between them.
When investigators are trying to find an unknown suspect based on DNA left at a crime scene, they can tap into DNA profiles they have of criminal offenders who are already in their databases.
“If they can’t find a match, then they can ask a different question of the database: Is there a close relative of the person who left evidence behind at the crime scene?” he says.
“The premise of familial searching is very simple,” he says. “Crime runs in families.
“The premise behind genealogy is that a relative who is close – or distant – from the person that committed the crime has used genealogy services at one time,” he says. “So this is totally different.
“A familial DNA search is a limited inquiry for close relatives – full siblings or parent/child – as opposed to genetic genealogy,” he says.
Genetic genealogy casts a wider net, he says.
Opponents of familial DNA searches are concerned about privacy.
Heather says protocols would be put in place for district attorneys to use familial DNA searches in certain cases to protect people’s privacy.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Harmon praised Heather’s perseverance in trying to get the bill passed.
“It’s a testament to Heather and her family that she’s carried the burden of trying to get law enforcement to add familial searching,” he says.
“She’s doing this for her sister’s case, but she’s doing it for everybody else,” he says. “This will help solve cases.”
source: people.com
