Using New DNA Technology: Southfield Police Arrest Neighbor in 1997 Cold Case

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Imagine, just for a second, a shadow hanging over your neighborhood,
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an unsolved, incredibly brutal crime that just kind of lingers
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over a community for well almost three decades. You know,
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you lock your doors a little tighter, you look at
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strangers a little longer, and you wait.
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Yeah, you wait for that big break exactly.
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You wait for a dramatic confession or maybe I don't know,
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a surprise witness to suddenly come forward after years of
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carrying all this.
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Guilt, which is how it always happens in the movies,
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right right, But.
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What if the resolution doesn't come from some dramatic courtroom
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outburst or like a secret diary found in an attic.
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What if the truth was just waiting patiently in microscopic traces,
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basically biding its time for twenty nine years until science
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finally caught up to it. It's just wild to think about,
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it really is, Because in February of nineteen ninety seven,
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a woman named Deborah Kennedy walked into her home in Southfield, Michigan,
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locked her door, and walked into an absolute nightmare. So
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today we are diving deep into the source material to
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dissect the anatomy of how that nightmare was finally and
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incredibly resolved in twenty twenty six.
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Because you know, while this has all the elements of
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a gripping police procedural, the reality of this source text
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is far more profound. We're looking at a story where
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enduring human grief collides with the relentless persistence of investigators,
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all while a literal technological revolution in forensic shenetics was
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just quietly happening in the background. I mean, the family
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was waiting, sure, but so is the science.
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Okay, let's unpack this starting with the person at the
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absolute center of this tragedy, which is Deborah Renee Kennedy.
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Based on the sources, she was born in nineteen fifty six,
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making your forty years old when this happened in nineteen
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ninety seven, right.
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She was right in the middle of building her life exactly.
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She was working at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.
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And for those of you listening who don't know the
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Detroit metro area, the GM Tech Center isn't just like
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a random office building.
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Oh No, it's huge.
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Yeah, It's this massive, brawling hub for automotive engineering and innovation.
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I mean it takes a very certain kind of driven,
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meticulous professional to really thrive in that environment.
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Which aligns perfectly with how she was described by her cousin,
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Reggie Daniel, and by her coworkers in the reports. They
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said she was incredibly reliable. They called her kind a sweetheart,
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someone who was fiercely independent, but had purposefully built this
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highly stable, orderly life for herself out in the suburbs.
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She was doing everything right exactly.
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She wasn't living on the edge. She was someone who
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really valued stability.
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And the setting of that orderly life is so crucial.
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Here we're talking about nineteen nineties Southfield, Michigan. This wasn't
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some transient, anonymous place.
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Not at all.
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We're talking about a community characterized by working professionals, families,
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and upwardly mobile residents. It was the kind of place
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where neighbors genuinely knew each other.
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You know, yeah, you talked over the fences.
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Right, You knew the cars parked on your shoe street,
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knew the kids riding their bikes down the block.
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And that creates a very specific social fabric. It provides
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this inherent psychological sense of security. You feel insulated from
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the chaos of the broader world because the environment is
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just so familiar, so predictable.
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It's a bubble.
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It is a bubble. Your brain basically stops scanning for
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threats the very moment you turn onto your street.
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Which brings us to the night of February nineteenth, nineteen
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ninety seven. Deborah returns home from her job at the
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tech center. And here is the terrifying detail that changes
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everything about this case.
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Yeah, this is the part that gets me.
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Investigators found absolutely no sign of forced entry none. The
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windows weren't smashed, the locks weren't jimmied.
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Nothing, And that lack of forced entry forces a very
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dark reality onto the table immediately for the police. Right,
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it suggests one of two scenarios. Either she knew her
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attacker and willingly opened the door for them, or or
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they just slipped in exactly. The attacker was already so
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intimately familiar with the rhythms of her neighborhood that they
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slipped through an unlocked door or window while she was
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like momentarily distracted, maybe caring groceries in or walking out
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to check the mail.
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It's the ultimate sub version of the suburban dream, isn't it. Yeah,
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Like the concept of the call is coming from inside
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the house.
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That's a great way to put it.
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We put all this energy into locking our doors, installing
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security systems, and worrying about the strangers in the shadows,
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the boogeyman. We don't know, right, But what happens when
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the threat is already embedded right there in the familiar
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fabric of your neighborhood. Your defenses are completely misaligned. You
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just don't put your guard up against the familiar.
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The psychological defenses are lowered, yes, but her physical defenses
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and the moment of the attack were staggering.
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Yeah. The sources make that very clear.
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What really defines the trajectory of this entire deep dive
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is what happened the exact moment she realized she was
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in danger. Deborah Kennedy, who was petite and stature, fought
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fiercely for life.
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The crime scene was reportedly.
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Chaotic, extremely chaotic. It showed all the unmistakable signs of
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a desperate, violent, defensive struggle. She did not just freeze up.
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She fought back with everything she had in her. Tragically,
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the attacker overpowered her and she suffered fatal stab wounds.
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But in the course of that ferocious, frantic fight, she
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did something remarkable.
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She reached into the future.
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She essentially did Yeah, she captured her killer's biological material.
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Because of that fight. She left behind physical clues. But
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those clues sat completely dormant, frozen in time for twenty
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nine years, just waiting, just waiting. And to understand why
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those microscopic pieces of truth sat in an evidence locker
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while her killer just lived his life, we have to
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look at the immense chasm between the technology of nineteen
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ninety seven and the tiny, almost invisible scale of the
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evidence she preserved.
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Let's examine exactly what she left behind, because it's crucial. Okay,
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there were two microscopic clues preserved from that chaotic scene. First,
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there were skin cells scraped from beneath Deborah's fingernails. That's
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the direct physical result of her fighting back and scratching
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her attacker.
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Right getting underneath the nail bed exactly.
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Second, investigators found a latent fingerprint lifted from a plastic
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credit card lying on her bedroom floor, which was likely
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dropped or knocked off a dresser during the struggle.
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Now, if you watch any modern procedural on TV, you
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see a fingernail scraping and a fingerprint and you just
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assume the credits are about to.
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Roll, you know, right, case close in forty five minutes exactly.
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But nineteen ninety seven was practically the stone age for
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this specific type of biological evidence.
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It really was. What's fascinating here is the stark limitation
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of the science at that exact moment in history. Let's
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look at the DNA first. By nineteen ninety seven, DNA
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forensics was technically in use. Sir Alec Jeffreys had pioneered
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the field in the mid nineteen eighties, but the methods
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they were using at the time, primarily restriction fragment length
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polymorphism or RFLP and the very early versions of short
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pandem repeat or STR analysis, they had a massive fundamental limitation,
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which would they required large, high quality, undegraded samples of
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DNA to work.
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Okay, So to put that into a metaphor for everyone
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using RFLP is kind of like trying to read a
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full intact sentence from a book to identify the author. Okay,
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Like that, if you have a massive bloodstain, you have
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the whole page. You could read the sentence clearly, but
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the skin cells under a fingernail, that's like having a
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single shredded letter from that sentence left out in the ring.
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That is a perfect analogy. RFLP literally required scientists to
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cut long strands of DNA with special enzymes.
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Wow, and then they would separate those fragments using an
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electrical current in a gel. It was an incredibly macroscopic
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process for a microscopic world.
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So it was just too blunt of an instrument.
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Exactly. If the DNA was degraded by time, heat, or bacteria,
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which it almost certainly is under a fingernail during a
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violent struggle, the RFLP process just wouldn't work. It would
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yield a blurry smear rather than a readable genetic barcode.
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The techniques of nineteen ninety seven simply could not amplify
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a few dozen cells into a definitive profile.
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So the biological material was there, but the magnifying glass
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they had to look through was just too weak. Exactly,
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But what about the fingerprint? I mean, they had a
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print on a credit card. We've been using fingerprints since
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what the early nineteen hundreds.
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We have, but a latent print on a non porous
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surface like a plastic credit card is a notoriously difficult
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piece of evidence, especially with nineties technology. Why is that
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we have to think about what a latent print actually is.
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It is not an ink stamp. It is an on
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smooth plastic that oil doesn't absorb. It just sits right
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on the surface, waiting to be smeared.
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Precisely. The traditional method in the nineties involved dusting the
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item with a fine powder that physically adheres to the
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moisture and oil of the print, like we see.
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In the old movies with the big brush, right.
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The big brush, But on a smooth plastic credit card
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that has been dropped on a floor, kicked around, or
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handled during a life and death struggle, the print gets
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horribly smudged.
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Makes sense.
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The powder binds to the smears, It binds to the
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background of the card itself, and the delicate ridge details,
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the loops, the whirls, the bifurcations, They just get lost
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in all the visual noise. They lacked the chemical enhancers
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and the computational power to separate the print from the.
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Plastic, which raises a crucial question about police procedure. And
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I'm sure you listening might be wondering this too. If
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the investigators in nineteen ninety seven knew their tools were
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too blunt to get a clear read on the DNA
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or the fingerprint. Why not just try anyway?
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Right, We're not just go for it.
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Yeah, you have a brutal murder. The community's terrified, The
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family is practically begging for answers. Why not throw that
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credit card and those figertail scrapings into the lab and
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just pray for a miracle.
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It's the most natural human impulse, honestly, to act to
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do something. But yielding to that impulse would have destroyed
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this case.
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Permanently because of how the testing works.
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Yes, it comes down to a core Agoni discipline within
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forensic science. Testing consumes the sample.
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Meaning the actual chemical process is required to extract the
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DNA literally destroy the cells in the process.
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Yes, you literally have to dissolve the cellular membrane to
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get to the nucleus where the DNA lives. If you
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only have a microscopic amount of material, you only get
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one shot.
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Oh wow.
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If you run it through a crude nineteen ninety seven
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RFLP test and it fails, you don't get to scoop
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those cells backup. That evidence is gone forever.
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And it's the same for the fingerprint IU.
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Exactly the same. If you apply the wrong chemical or
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the wrong powder in nineteen ninety seven, you ruin the
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fragile amino acid structures permanently. The south Field investigators made
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a highly calculated, incredibly restrained choice.
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They hailed back.
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They did they recognize the limitations of their own era.
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They chose to package that evidence with extreme care, seal it,
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and lock it away in a climate controlled freezer, essentially
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betting that one day science would evolve to meet the evidence.
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It takes an immense amount of foresight. I mean to
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look a grieving family in the eye and say, we
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have the killer's trace, but we cannot look at it
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right now.
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It's an awful conversation to have.
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It has to be. And while that evidence was safely
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locked away in a pristine evidence room, that people left
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behind by this tragedy were locked in a much more
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painful holding pattern.
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The psychological burden placed on the family during that twenty
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nine year gap is difficult to overstate. The source text
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really highlights the experience of Deborah's cousin, Reggie Daniel.
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Yeah, that part was heartbreaking.
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The trauma inflicted on the family was so absolute that
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they were unable to even return to the home on
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Lee Baker Drive where the murder occurred. The physical space
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just became a monument to unresolved terror.
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It's like their entire reality was fractured. You know. Psychologists
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talk about this state for families of unsolved murders as
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a liminal space, liminality meaning being in between thresholds, like
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you're stuck in the doorway.
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Precisely, it is an unbearable psychological suspension in a typical
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grieving process. Even after a homicide, a trial and a
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conviction provide an ending to the narrative, a punctuation mark, right.
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It doesn't erase the groef, obviously, but it allows the
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morning process to move forward. In an unsolved case, they
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are trapped. They cannot fully mourn because the justice process
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is glaringly incomplete. The final chapter is blink. Yet simultaneously,
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they are completely unable to move on because they know
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the killer is still out there. I mean, they could
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be standing behind them in line at the grocery store.
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And what makes that limital space even worse over the
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last two decades is the cultural landscape we all live
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in now. Oh absolutely, think about the massive explosion of
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true crime media. Since the late nineties, every streaming service
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has a new documentary about a cold case. We listen
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to deep dives about DNA. We see commercials for at
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home ancestry kits during football games.
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It's everywhere.
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For the average person, that's entertainment or just mild curiosity.
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But for Reggie, Daniel and Debra's family, every single one
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of those cultural touchdowns is an unintentional, agonizing reminder of
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their own unsolved nightmare.
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It is a constant cultural salt in the wound. The
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broader society became obsessed with the exact mechanisms DNA cold
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case investigations that were failing their specific reality. That has
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to be so isolating it is, and that trauma didn't
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just stay compartmentalized within the family either. It bled aggressively
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out into the wider community of Southfield.
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Because the illusion of safety we talked about at the
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beginning was entirely shattered.
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Residents who lived there at the time recalled a palpable
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overnight shift in the neighborhood psychology. There was a sudden
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intense vigilance.
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People were scared, terrified.
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Doors that had been routinely left unlocked for years were suddenly.
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Being dead bolted.
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People were viewing their own neighbors with a new heavy weariness.
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The community lost its innocence because they realized the perimeter
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had been breached, and they just didn't know who breached it.
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Living through an unsolved murder of a loved one, it's
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like hitting pause on a movie during the absolute worst,
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most terrifying moment of your life. Yeah, and for twenty
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nine years you are forced to just sit on the
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couch staring at that frozen frame of horror on the screen. Meanwhile,
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outside your window, the rest of the world just keeps
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walking by, totally oblivious, living their normal lives, fast forwarding
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through time while you were just stuck.
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You are frozen in amber. But the incredible shift in
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this narrative is that the frozen frame finally began to move. Yes,
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in June of twenty twenty four, a single detective decided
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it was time to take those preserved pieces of evidence
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out of the freezer and look at them through a
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modern lens.
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This is where Detective Brian Weeks of the south Field
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Police comes in. In June twenty twenty four, he makes
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a deliberate, comprehensive decision to reopen the file.
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He didn't just casually glance at it.
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No, he doesn't just skim it. He brings in retired
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investigators from the original nineteen ninety seventeen to rebuild the context.
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He completely re examines the physical evidence, he reinterviews surviving witnesses,
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and most importantly, he finally submits that dormant biological evidence
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to modern laboratories.
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And that submission is what triggers the technological dominos to
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finally fall. The first major breakthrough arrives in January twenty
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twenty five, regarding that smudged, seemingly useless fingerprint on the
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plastic credit card.
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So how does a smudge from nineteen ninety seven suddenly
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become a readable map in twenty twenty five. It's not
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just a better magnifying glass, is it.
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00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:25.440
No? No, it is an entirely different approach to the
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chemistry and the computation of the evidence. Modern crime labs
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don't just dust for oil anymore.
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What do they do? Instead?
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They use advanced chemical enhancers, substances like nine hydrogen or
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specialized cyanoacrylate fuming.
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00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:39.720
Oh cyanoacrylate like superglue.
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Exactly like superglue. These chemicals actually react on a molecular
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level to the specific amino acids and lipids left in
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a decade old sweat deposit, So.
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They aren't looking at the smudge itself. They are looking
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at the microscopic proteins trapped inside the smudge exactly.
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These chemicals can make those ancient amino acids fluoresce under
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specific wavelengths of LFE. Once they have that fluorescence, they
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photograph it using ultra high resolution digital imaging software. Okay,
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and that software can strip away the background visual noise
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of the credit card entirely. But the real magic happens next.
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AI assisted minutia.
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Matching minuschi being like the tiny little intersections of the
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fingerprint lines, yes.
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The forks, the sudden endings of a ridge, the tiny dots.
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A human eye looking at a partial decade's old print
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might struggle to confidently.
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00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:34.840
Map those points because it's still pretty blurry, right.
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00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:38.919
But modern AI software can map those minutia instantly, creating
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00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:42.679
this geometric constellation of points. It then takes that constellation
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00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:47.080
and runs it against massive digitized national databases at lightning speed,
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00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:49.320
comparing it to millions of known prints.
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That's incredible.
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00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:52.960
What was an unreadable smear in nineteen ninety seven was
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computationally resurrected and matched to a specific individual in January
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twenty twenty five.
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That alone is staggering, but then just a few months later,
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00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.559
in September twenty twenty five, the other shoe drops the
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DNA breakthrough from the fingernail.
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Scrapings, and if we connect this to the bigger picture,
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the evolution of DNA technology over those twenty nine years
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is arguably one of the greatest scientific achievements in criminal
353
00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:17.799
justice history.
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It really is.
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We move from the macro cutting of RFLP in nineteen
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ninety seven to what is known today as next generation
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sequencing or NGS combined with highly enhanced str or short
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tandem repeat kits.
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00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.319
Going back to our book analogy for a second, if
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00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:37.680
RFLP was trying to read an intact sentence, how does
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00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:40.880
next generation sequencing work on those tiny degraded cells from
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under her fingernails?
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Next generation sequencing is like having a supercomputer that can
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00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:48.279
take thousands of shredded individual letters from a completely destroyed book,
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00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:52.960
analyze the fragment simultaneously in massively parallel sequences, and mathematically
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reassemble the original sentence. Wow, these modern kits are so
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00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.559
exquisitely sensitive that they can generate a complete, undeniable genetic
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profile from what we call picogram quantities of DNA.
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00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:05.519
To put that into perspective for everyone listening, a pickogram
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00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:07.400
is one trillionth of a gram.
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It's infinitesimally small.
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We're talking about a margin of error so small that
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if a detective in nineteen ninety seven had simply breathed
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heavily over the evidence without a mask or touched it
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with an ungloved hand for a split second, the twenty
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twenty five test would have just read the detective's DNA.
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00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:28.000
The sensitivity is truly astonishing. It means the lab only
378
00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.880
needed a few individual cells that actually survived under that fingernail,
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00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.160
and they had them. They had them. Furthermore, the National
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00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:40.319
Database CODIS, the Combined DNA index system, has expanded exponentially.
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In the nineties, it contained a fraction of the profiles
382
00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:43.799
it does today.
383
00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:46.240
Right, mostly just very serious offenders back then.
384
00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.960
Exactly now it houses millions of offender profiles. So when
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00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.599
they sequence those pickagrams of DNA in twenty twenty five,
386
00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:56.200
they got a high definition genetic match and the statistical
387
00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:58.920
odds of that match being a random coincidence reached into
388
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.039
the trillions to one, trillions to one.
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00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:03.000
I mean, you cannot argue with that math. There's a
390
00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:06.079
fantastic quote from the south Field Police Chief, Elvin barn
391
00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.200
that perfectly summarizes this leap.
392
00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:09.920
Oh yeah, I remember that quote.
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00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:12.799
He noted that the technology and processes in nineteen ninety
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00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.880
seven simply couldn't get a clear read, but the new
395
00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:19.440
systems allowed for both the fingerprint and the DNA to
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00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:20.960
be enhanced and clarified.
397
00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:25.039
It is the ultimate vindication of the nineteen ninety seven investigators. Honestly,
398
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.559
they're disciplined to preserve that evidence, to not mess with it.
399
00:19:28.599 --> 00:19:30.880
Is the sole reason Chief Baron was able to stand
400
00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:32.720
at a podium in twenty twenty six.
401
00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.759
But here's where it gets really interesting, because when that
402
00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:38.440
name finally came back from the AI fingerprint match and
403
00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.759
the code is DNA database, the science wasn't pointing to
404
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:42.599
some random drifter.
405
00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:43.359
No it wasn't.
406
00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.160
It wasn't a serial killer passing through town on the interstate.
407
00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.720
The trillions to one odds were pointing to someone who
408
00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:51.720
had been hiding in plain sight. The entire time.
409
00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:55.240
The microscopic evidence finally gave the shadow a name, and
410
00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.759
that name snaps our focus out of the high tech
411
00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:00.799
laboratory and drops us right back onto the quiet suburban
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00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:05.319
pavement of Lee Baker Drive. The suspect identified was Robert Covington,
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00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:07.759
now fifty eight years old, and who.
414
00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:10.599
Was Robert Covington in nineteen ninety seven. He lived directly
415
00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:12.039
across the street from Deborah.
416
00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:13.480
Kennedy, literally across the street.
417
00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:16.400
He wasn't a stranger. He lived there with his wife
418
00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:17.720
and his mother in law.
419
00:20:18.039 --> 00:20:22.319
This revelation fundamentally rewrites our understanding of how the crime unfolded.
420
00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:26.119
The geographic proximity is chilling, and it provides a critical
421
00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.480
lens for speculation on the motive and the method. The
422
00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:33.160
investigation revealed that Covington's mother in law actually had an
423
00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:35.000
established friendly connection with.
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00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:38.119
Deborah, which perfectly explains the lack of force entry we
425
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:38.920
talked about earlier.
426
00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:44.839
Exactly, investigators theorized that Covington weaponized that familiar connection. He
427
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:47.519
didn't need to break a window. He likely walked across
428
00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:50.319
the street, knocked on the door, and either used his
429
00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:53.039
mother in law's name as to borrow a household item
430
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.279
or simply relied on the fact that Deborah recognized him
431
00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:58.200
as the neighbor from across the street.
432
00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:59.400
That is horrifying.
433
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.839
Iveraged the social contract of the neighborhood to gain her
434
00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.200
trust just long enough to get her to open the
435
00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:07.599
door before forcing his way inside.
436
00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:11.400
It is so incredibly insidious to use the very fabric
437
00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.160
of the community's safety to completely dismantle it. But he
438
00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.119
didn't just commit this horrific act and then politely live
439
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:20.240
across the street for the next thirty years, did he?
440
00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:24.720
No, he didn't. Interestingly, Covington actually had a prior criminal
441
00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:27.839
history that included breaking into homes and assault of.
442
00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:29.519
Behavior, so the red flags were there.
443
00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:33.000
The red flags were definitely there, but investigators in nineteen
444
00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:35.839
ninety seven failed to connect those dots to the quiet
445
00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:39.400
neighbor across the street. But Covington didn't stick around to
446
00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:42.839
press his luck. He left Michigan just two months after.
447
00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:44.680
The murder, fled the scene basically right.
448
00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:47.920
He bounced around the country, spending some time in Arizona
449
00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:52.079
before eventually settling down in a place called Royal Lake's, Illinois,
450
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.799
flying completely under the radar for almost three decades.
451
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.480
Until March twenty ninth, twenty twenty six. That is the
452
00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:01.839
day the net finally closed, and the details of the
453
00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:06.839
takedown are fascinating because it's a masterclass in controlled psychological
454
00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:07.480
police work.
455
00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:08.160
It really is.
456
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.119
They didn't send a swat team to kick his door
457
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.920
down in the middle of the night. Detectives from Southfield
458
00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:16.519
collaborated with local Illinois authorities and executed what is known
459
00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:19.720
as a pretext traffic stop. They pulled him over while
460
00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:22.880
he was driving and cited a completely fictional warrant.
461
00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:28.279
That is a highly strategic, calculated de escalation tactic. When
462
00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:32.000
law enforcement is arresting a suspect for a brutal, upclose murder,
463
00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:35.000
even one that is twenty nine years old, they must
464
00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:38.079
operate under the assumption that the suspect is highly dangerous
465
00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:42.160
and well cornered. Right, by using a minor traffic pretext
466
00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:46.160
and a fake bureaucratic warrant, the officers artificially lower the
467
00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:47.640
suspects defenses right.
468
00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.279
Because if he thinks he's just being pulled over for
469
00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:52.599
an unpaid ticket or like a clerical error, his brain
470
00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:54.960
isn't jumping to fight or flight for my life.
471
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:58.440
Precisely, he believes he can just clear up the misunderstanding
472
00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:00.880
at the station. It allows officers to get him out
473
00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:03.599
of the car in handcuffs and into an interrogation room
474
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:08.480
without initiating a violent, potentially deadly incident on a public street.
475
00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:11.359
And the tactic worked flawlessly. They get him into the room,
476
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.359
and this is the moment twenty nine years of lies
477
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.000
are about to violently collide with trillions to one hard science.
478
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:19.839
I can only imagine the tension in that room.
479
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:23.240
Covington is sitting there, and the bodycam footage describes him
480
00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:27.839
as visibly nervous. The detectives start asking about Southfield in
481
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:32.599
nineteen ninety seven, and Covington flatly denies ever being inside
482
00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:37.000
Debrah Kennedy's home. He draws a hard, unequivocal line in the.
483
00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:42.039
Sand and legally strategically that absolute denial is his fatal
484
00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:43.359
error in the interrogation.
485
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:44.799
Why is that.
486
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.200
Because if he had said, yes, I went over there
487
00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:50.160
to borrow sugar sometimes, or I helped her fix a sink,
488
00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:53.279
he might have planted a tiny seat of plausible deniability
489
00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:55.839
for why a stray hair or a fingerprint might be
490
00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:56.480
in her house.
491
00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:57.160
Oh, I see.
492
00:23:57.359 --> 00:23:59.759
But by stating unequivocally that he was never ever in
493
00:23:59.799 --> 00:24:02.759
side her home. He locks himself into a narrative, and
494
00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:05.480
once he is locked in, the detectives spring the trap.
495
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:08.680
They confront him with the inescapable reality of the DNA
496
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.599
and the fingerprint. They tell him we have your skin cells.
497
00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:14.680
They were found under her fingernails inside that house on
498
00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:15.799
the exact night she died.
499
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:18.519
And his reaction to that revelation is incredibly telling. The
500
00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:21.519
footage shows that he goes completely totally silent.
501
00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:23.880
Total silence, because what can you possibly say?
502
00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:24.319
Nothing.
503
00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:28.599
There is no innocent explanation, no semantic gymnastics that can
504
00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:31.920
explain why your skin cells are lodged under the fingernails
505
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.240
of a murdered woman across the street seconds after you
506
00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:37.680
just swore to police who had never crossed her threshold.
507
00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:42.039
The silence is deafening. Covington was subsequently extradited back to
508
00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.319
Michigan on April eighth, twenty twenty six, and upon arraignment,
509
00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:46.759
he pleaded not guilty.
510
00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:49.599
And while Covington is now sitting behind bars in the
511
00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:53.359
Oakland County Jail awaiting trial, the reality is that bringing
512
00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:56.079
a twenty nine year old case to an active, modern
513
00:24:56.119 --> 00:25:00.359
courtroom presents a massive, incredibly complex set of la legal
514
00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:01.519
and ethical hurdles.
515
00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:03.440
It's not over yet, not by a long shut.
516
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:05.720
Catching the killer with science is only the first half
517
00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:08.599
of the battle. We are now shifting from solving the
518
00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:11.759
puzzle to actually prosecuting it before a jury right because.
519
00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:14.119
The South Steel Police Department isn't operating in a vacuum here.
520
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:17.440
This specific scenario dusting off old boxes and making an
521
00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:21.200
arrest decades later is happening all over the country right now.
522
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:24.319
We are currently living through a massive, unprecedented wave of
523
00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:29.240
cold case resolutions. Nationwide. Law enforcement agencies are suddenly clearing
524
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.680
homicides from the nineteen seventies, eighties, and nineties at a
525
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:33.559
staggering rate.
526
00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:35.000
It feels like there's a new one in the news
527
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:36.240
every week exactly.
528
00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:39.920
And this boom is being driven by a convergence of factors.
529
00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:43.480
You have substantial new funding from the Department of Justice
530
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.960
dedicades specifically to cold case units, the radical leaps in
531
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:50.279
DNA extraction methods like NGS that we discussed, and the
532
00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:52.559
massive expansion of genetic databases.
533
00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:55.440
Now whenever this topic comes up, people immediately point to
534
00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:58.240
the Golden State killer case in twenty eighteen. Is the
535
00:25:58.279 --> 00:26:00.880
match that really lit the powder case for this era.
536
00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:05.000
Yes, the capture of Joseph James DiAngelo, the Golden State Killer,
537
00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:09.240
fundamentally changed the public and investigative perception of what was
538
00:26:09.319 --> 00:26:10.799
possible with cold cases.
539
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:12.400
It was a waterhead moment, it was.
540
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.759
However, it is vital to draw a technical distinction here
541
00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:18.440
based on the source text. The Golden State Killer was
542
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:23.039
caught using investigative genetic genealogy, right, which is different, very different.
543
00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:26.640
That is where detectives take crime scene DNA and upload
544
00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:31.039
it to public, consumer facing ancestry databases like ged match
545
00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:34.759
to find distant, third or fourth cousins, and then they
546
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:38.720
painstakingly build family trees backward until they land on a suspect.
547
00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:41.759
The Covington's case was much more straightforward exactly.
548
00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:45.440
Covington's case did not require genealogy. It was a direct
549
00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:49.599
one to one hit. His profile was matched directly via CODIS,
550
00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:55.319
the FBI's official offender database and standard automated fingerprint identification system.
551
00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:56.400
He was already in the system.
552
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:59.200
He was already there. The technology just finally allowed the
553
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.279
evidence to speak to the database. But regardless of whether
554
00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:05.319
a case is solved via genealogy or a direct CODIS hit.
555
00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:09.720
This massive boom in prosecuting historical crimes is stressing the
556
00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:12.039
legal system in entirely new ways.
557
00:27:11.799 --> 00:27:13.920
Because it's not just about pointing a finger and saying
558
00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:16.920
the computer said so. You have to prove it to
559
00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:20.440
twelve jurors using physical evidence that it has been sitting
560
00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:23.759
in a cardboard box or a freezer since the Clinton administration.
561
00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:26.720
This raises an important question about how the defense will
562
00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:30.000
actually operate in that courtroom when you have a twenty
563
00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.599
nine year delay. The defense attorney's playbook is essentially written
564
00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:38.759
for them. First and foremost, they will relentlessly surgically attack
565
00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:39.759
the chain of custody.
566
00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:42.480
Explain how that works in practice. They aren't just asking
567
00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:44.200
where the box was kept right.
568
00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:47.039
Oh, No, they are demanding a minute by minute accounting
569
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:50.160
of twenty nine years. They will demand to know exactly
570
00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:54.720
whose hands touched that evidence envelope in nineteen ninety seven, Wow,
571
00:27:54.759 --> 00:27:57.240
who transferred it to the freezer in two thousand and five?
572
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:00.680
What temperature was the freezer set to in twenty and
573
00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:04.000
are their calibration logs to prove it? Did the evidence
574
00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:06.519
room ever lose power during a summer storm? Was the
575
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:08.240
seal ever broken even slightly?
576
00:28:08.359 --> 00:28:11.160
During an audit, because if the defense can prove that
577
00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:15.440
the evidence wasn't perfectly flawlessly handled for three straight decades,
578
00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:18.599
they can introduce the concept of contamination to the jury.
579
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:21.119
Precisely, if there is a single gap in the log
580
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:24.319
they will argue the sample was contaminated. Furthermore, they will
581
00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.119
aggressively attack the statistical interpretation of low level DNA mixtures
582
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:32.599
the picograms exactly. Remember, we are dealing with pekograms of
583
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:37.160
DNA from under a fingernail. That sample likely contains genetic
584
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:41.319
material from Deborah from Covington, and potentially a tiny trace
585
00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:44.240
from a third unknown person who handed her a coffee
586
00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:45.039
earlier that day.
587
00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:45.920
Well, that makes sense.
588
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:48.559
The defense will bring in their own experts to argue
589
00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:52.400
that the mathematical software used to separate those overlapping genetic
590
00:28:52.440 --> 00:28:54.680
profiles is flawed or.
591
00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:57.200
Subjective, and they don't just attack the results, they attack
592
00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:00.839
the science itself right using legal standard It's like Doughbert
593
00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:01.319
or Fry.
594
00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:04.960
Yes, this is a critical hurdle. Before the jury even
595
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:08.200
hears the evidence, the defense will likely request a Dobert
596
00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:11.759
hearing or a Fry hearing, depending on the jurisdiction. These
597
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:14.599
are legal standards that essentially force the judge to act
598
00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:16.000
as a scientific gatekeeper.
599
00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:18.720
So what exactly is the judge looking for in those hearings.
600
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.720
Under the Fry standard, the judge must determine if the
601
00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:26.400
scientific method used, like next generation sequencing on microscopic mixtures,
602
00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:30.160
is generally accepted by the broader scientific community. Under the
603
00:29:30.200 --> 00:29:33.440
Daubert standard, it's even stricter. The judge has to look
604
00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:36.519
at the scientific methods, known error rates, whether it has
605
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:40.279
been pure reviewed, and if it adheres to strict scientific methodology.
606
00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:43.759
The defense will argue that applying these new ultra sensitive
607
00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:47.839
tests to old graded evidence is experimental and shouldn't even
608
00:29:47.880 --> 00:29:48.839
be allowed in a courtroom.
609
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:51.720
It is an absolute gauntlet. The prosecution has to fight
610
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:54.359
a war on the science before they can even talk
611
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:55.079
about the murder.
612
00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:57.119
It's exhausting just thinking about.
613
00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:00.039
It, it is. But beyond the legal maneuvering this, a
614
00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:04.119
massive wave of cold case arrests forces us into a
615
00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:08.799
much larger, almost philosophical discussion. It's the ethics of time
616
00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:12.599
and preservation. I mean, how far back should society pursue justice?
617
00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:16.319
Does the mere passage of time eventually make prosecution inherently
618
00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:17.599
unfair to the defendant.
619
00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:21.000
It is a profound ethical debate within the legal community.
620
00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:23.720
The sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a speedy trial,
621
00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:27.039
partly so defendant can mount a fair defense. If you
622
00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:30.240
charge a man thirty years later, his alibi witnesses might
623
00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:32.759
be dead, the receipts that prove he was out of
624
00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:35.759
town are long gone. People's memories of that night are
625
00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:36.759
completely faded.
626
00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:40.559
It's tough, and the physical evidence retention is a massive
627
00:30:40.599 --> 00:30:43.599
issue in itself. In the nineteen nineties, a lot of
628
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:47.480
police departments actually threw away biological evidence from unsolved crimes.
629
00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:51.519
They did. It wasn't necessarily malicious, it was logistical. Storing
630
00:30:51.559 --> 00:30:57.079
biological evidence indefinitely in specialized, climate controlled freezers requires immense
631
00:30:57.119 --> 00:30:59.519
financial resources and physical.
632
00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:01.559
Space, which most departments don't have exactly.
633
00:31:01.960 --> 00:31:06.319
Many departments routinely purged older evidence, especially if the statute
634
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:09.440
of limitations had run out on lesser related charges. The
635
00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:12.160
only reason Deborah Kennedy's case was solved is because the
636
00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:16.119
Southfield Police Department made the proactive, ethical and financial choice
637
00:31:16.119 --> 00:31:19.200
to retain it, safeguarding it for decades on the here
638
00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:21.000
hope that science would catch up.
639
00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:23.160
But let me push back on that for a second,
640
00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:27.720
just to play devil's advocate, let's be brutally pragmatic as taxpayers.
641
00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:29.079
How do we balance this?
642
00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:30.240
Okay, I see where you're going.
643
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:34.599
How do we justify spending immense financial resources, thousands of
644
00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:39.319
hours of specialized detective work, incredibly expensive private lab sequencing fees,
645
00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:43.000
the cost of an interstate extradition, and a massive, drawn
646
00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:46.519
out trial to prosecute a thirty year old crime.
647
00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:47.759
That's a lot of money.
648
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:51.400
It is, especially when we desperately need those exact same
649
00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:56.359
resources to stop active crimes and clear modern homicide backlogs
650
00:31:56.359 --> 00:31:57.720
happening in our cities right now.
651
00:31:57.960 --> 00:32:01.119
It is a highly valid question of resource allocation, and
652
00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:04.519
it's one that city councils and police chiefs wrestle with constantly.
653
00:32:05.079 --> 00:32:08.000
But the argument presented by criminal justice advocates and the
654
00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:12.160
broader societal philosophy centers on two vital concepts that transcend
655
00:32:12.279 --> 00:32:15.680
line item budgets. H are the societal value of closure
656
00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:18.920
and the immense detern effect of a justice system with
657
00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:20.240
a long memory.
658
00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:22.079
Tell me more about the deterrence aspect.
659
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:25.480
If a society signals, either through policy or practice, that
660
00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:29.480
it simply gives up after twenty years it actively emboldens criminals.
661
00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:31.799
It tells them that if they can just hide long enough,
662
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.920
they win, They outrun the clock. Exactly. Conversely, when a
663
00:32:35.960 --> 00:32:38.000
fifty eight year old man living a quiet life in
664
00:32:38.039 --> 00:32:41.200
Illinois is suddenly pulled over and arrested for a brutal
665
00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:43.680
crime he thought he got away with three decades ago,
666
00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:48.480
it sends a chilling, undeniable message to every single offender
667
00:32:48.519 --> 00:32:51.680
out there, which is science does not forget, the DNA
668
00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:54.319
does not expire, and the clock will not save you.
669
00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:57.119
Wow. And then there is the emotional debt we owe
670
00:32:57.119 --> 00:32:57.559
the families.
671
00:32:57.559 --> 00:33:00.039
Of course, exactly for the victims' families, there is no
672
00:33:00.200 --> 00:33:03.920
expiration date on their trauma or their grief. Therefore, there
673
00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:06.799
can be no expiration date on society's pursuit of truth
674
00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:07.480
on their behalf.
675
00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:11.319
That makes absolute sense. Well, having explored the incredible leaps
676
00:33:11.359 --> 00:33:15.160
in forensic science, the chilling proximity of the suspect, the
677
00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:19.240
tactical arrest, and the massive societal implications, it is time
678
00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:21.480
to bring the focus of this deep dive back to
679
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:25.000
where it truly belongs, the victim and her famili's path forward.
680
00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:27.759
Because the resolution of a cold case is rarely a
681
00:33:27.799 --> 00:33:31.599
purely joyous occasion. It is incredibly complex. Following the arrest
682
00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:34.279
in twenty twenty six, Reggie Daniel spoke at the press conference,
683
00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:37.279
and his statement perfectly encapsulates these mixed emotions.
684
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:37.960
What did he say?
685
00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:41.720
He expressed profound gratitude to the detectives, noting that the
686
00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:45.079
arrest brings a massive measure of peace, but he also
687
00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:49.359
acknowledged that it simultaneously revives the raw, agonizing pain of
688
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:52.960
the original loss. The wound is essentially reopened so that
689
00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:55.200
it can finally be properly cleaned.
690
00:33:56.119 --> 00:33:58.799
And the family isn't just taking their closure and going
691
00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:03.079
home quietly either. They are channeling this emotional momentum into
692
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:04.640
systemic change.
693
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:06.440
They're advocating for others.
694
00:34:06.599 --> 00:34:11.199
Yes, their new stated goal is actively advocating for the
695
00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:14.920
creation of a dedicated, permanent cold case unit within the
696
00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:17.960
south Field Police Department. They want to ensure that other
697
00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:20.559
families don't have to wait twenty nine years trapped in
698
00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:22.440
that liminal space we talked about earlier.
699
00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:26.000
If we synthesize the ultimate meaning of this entire sprawling
700
00:34:26.119 --> 00:34:28.599
case from the source text, it fundamentally comes down to
701
00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:32.199
victim agency. I agree completely, Deborah Kennedy's story did not
702
00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:35.920
end in silence on the floor of her bedroom. Her frantic, desperate,
703
00:34:36.039 --> 00:34:38.519
violent fight for her life in nineteen ninety seven is
704
00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:41.599
the singular action that captured the microscopic DNA that would
705
00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:42.800
eventually trap her killer.
706
00:34:42.840 --> 00:34:44.239
It's amazing when you frame it that way.
707
00:34:44.440 --> 00:34:47.639
She essentially solved her own murder in the final terrifying
708
00:34:47.639 --> 00:34:50.199
moments of her life. She just needed to wait for
709
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:52.679
the science of the future to catch up to her bravery.
710
00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:55.679
So what does this all mean for you the listener.
711
00:34:56.199 --> 00:34:59.039
We've talked about a devastating tragedy from nineteen ninety seven,
712
00:34:59.239 --> 00:35:02.480
the mechanics of DNA sequencing, the complexities of the courtroom,
713
00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:05.280
and a technological triumph in twenty twenty six.
714
00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:07.599
A lot of ground covered today, A lot of ground.
715
00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:09.960
But I want to leave you with a fascinating, maybe
716
00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:12.760
slightly chilling concept to mull over on your own time.
717
00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:14.199
Okay, lay it on us.
718
00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:18.280
We walk through the physical world every single day, completely
719
00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:21.719
oblivious to the fact that we are leaving a microscopic,
720
00:35:21.880 --> 00:35:26.199
invisible trail of ourselves everywhere we go, everywhere, every breath
721
00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:28.599
we take in a closed room, every door handle we touch,
722
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:31.880
every single skin cell we shed on a chair. We
723
00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:35.199
think of ourselves as passing through spaces cleanly. But if
724
00:35:35.199 --> 00:35:38.800
forensic science has evolved so rapidly from needing a highly visible,
725
00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:41.599
quarter sized pool of blood in nineteen ninety seven to
726
00:35:41.719 --> 00:35:45.679
needing just a few completely invisible, degraded skin cells to
727
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.400
generate a trillions to one match in twenty twenty six,
728
00:35:48.519 --> 00:35:51.360
it makes you wonder, it really does. What will the
729
00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:53.920
science of twenty fifty be able to see that we
730
00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:58.159
currently think is completely invisible. What microscopic traces of our
731
00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:00.800
lives are movements and our secrets to be leaving behind
732
00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:04.400
right now, in this exact moment, that a future detective
733
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:06.920
armed with unknown technology will be able to read like
734
00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:08.079
a perfectly clear book.
735
00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:09.559
That is a wild thought.
736
00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:11.639
Think about that the next time you touch a door knoll,