ON "60 MINUTES": GENETIC GENEALOGY IS A POWERFUL NEW TOOL FOR CRACKING COLD CASE MURDERS

CeCe Moore Is One of the Best Genetic Genealogists in the Country - She Tells Steve Kroft About Her Work and the "Profound Moment" When She Discovers the Suspect

CeCe Moore is one of America's foremost genetic genealogists. Since April, her work has helped to identify more than a dozen suspects in rape and murder cold cases. Moore says years of finding birth parents for adopted children prepared her for this new role. Her extraordinary talent was suddenly in high demand after authorities used genetic genealogy to arrest a suspect in the notorious Golden State Killer case. Moore speaks to Steve Kroft for a 60 MINUTES report to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 21 (7:30-8:30 PM, ET/7:00-8:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Moore is the lead genetic genealogist for Parabon Nano Labs, a small DNA technology company at the forefront of this new industry. Since the Golden State Killer case broke in April, she has played a pivotal role in finding suspects in 13 of the 14 cases that have utilized this new tool.

Moore and Parabon are in the business of lead generation for law enforcement. If there are partial family matches to the DNA left at a crime scene, Moore takes the matches and builds family trees. "I'm trying to find the intersection where these two family trees come together so we're getting that right mix of DNA," she tells Kroft. "Who are their children, theirs, theirs and theirs," she says, pointing to the members of the family trees she constructs.

She fills in the blanks using public records like marriage licenses, birth and death certificates, obituaries, and social media. At the end of this painstaking process, if she's successful, she will make connections. "So a descendant from this couple and a descendant from this couple married and had only one son," she says, demonstrating it to Kroft. "When I give these names to law enforcement, I am really sure. Because all those pieces have to come together in a really specific way. And then for them to end up in the town where these crimes happened, it can't be a coincidence."

Moore says that it's a heavy moment when she first identifies the unknown suspect. "I know a secret that only the killer knows or the rapist knows... it's a profound thing. This has changed lives."

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