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You are here: Home / Forensics / Elodie Kulik and familial DNA

Elodie Kulik and familial DNA

February 7, 2017 By Alice

Elodie Kulik
Elodie Kulik

In the night from January 10 to 11, 2002, Elodie Kulik (24) was murdered. She was kidnapped and raped. Her body was set on fire. Her remains were left in a farmer’s field. Her attacker(s) tried to burn anything that could identify them but they didn’t succeed.

The authorities found Elodie’s red Peugeot less than a mile from the crime scene. The passenger door was open, no fingerprints on the door handles, no fibers on the seats, and no tracks to follow. However, one used condom and two cigarette butts would break this case open.

On Jan. 10, 2002, Elodie Kulik went missing after an evening out. Around 11pm, she told her friend that she would take the dark country back roads home to avoid traffic. The last we heard from Elodie was a 26-second screaming call for help to the local fire department around 1220am on Jan. 11, 2002. Two men were heard yelling in the background of Elodie’s call.

A complete DNA profile was taken from the used condom. The search for a match included nearly 2 million arrestees and suspects. No match was found. To make matters worse, the found profile didn’t point to any of the 5500 people targeted by the French police in the Somme region. About 14,000 cellphones were seized. Again none could be connected to Elodie’s murder. Her own phone was never found. But police doesn’t give up and doesn’t forget.

Years later Capt. Emmanuel Pham-Hoai contacted Denver Police Crime Lab Director Gregg LaBerge to discuss familial DNA. Of course, there were many legal issues about privacy and civil rights of family members and the regulations related to international collaborations. However, the call proved to be well placed.

LaBerge suggested that Pham-Hoai cross-checked a rare marker found in the DNA profile against people in France’s national DNA database who had the same rare marker and lived in the region where the murder happened. Pham-Hoai did exactly that.

The same rare markers from the unknown DNA sample pointed to a convict in prison for sexual assault. He had the same Y chromosome (it identifies the male gene). Police then checked his family. They found that the convict had a son, Greg Wiart. Wiart was killed in a road crash a year and a half after Elodie’s murder. Despite dismay of Wiart’s family, a judge ordered his body exhumed to get a tissue sample. It was a match.

This was the first use of familial DNA searching in a criminal case using the French STR DNA database. It holds about 1,800,000 profiles. The identification was based on confirming the Y-chromosome DNA from the putative father, an STR profile from the mother, and finally a tissue sample from the exhumed son’s body. Read more about the technical details here.

In 2013, French police arrested and jailed one of his Wiart’s friends. Willy Bardon is the owner of a small café. Police believe his voice is on Elodie’s 911 call. However, after a year and a half with no charges and no other evidence against him, Willy Bardon was set free. Bardon denies having anything to do with Elodie’s murder. There is no DNA to tie him to her or the crime scene. Despite that, he will stay on the authority’s radar.

Rest in peace, Elodie Kulik.

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Filed Under: Cold Case News, Forensics Tagged With: Elodie Kulik, familial DNA, France, Y-chromosome DNA

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  1. Sum it Up! #55 - Defrosting Cold Cases says:
    December 15, 2017 at 5:00 am

    […] of familial DNA to try and zero in on the suspect. The French used it to solve the cold case of Elodie Kulik. Dutch police (the Netherlands) used it in the cold case of Marianne Vaatstra. Now, Dutch police […]

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On this website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and are in need of renewed media attention. I only do research and leave the active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

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Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

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