CeCe Moore uploaded Individual A to GEDmatch and got two second-cousin matches overnight.
1. Serial Killer Podcast Documentary centers on the 1987 murders of Tanya Van Kylenborg and Jay Cook and the genetic genealogy work that followed.
2. CeCe Moore is the investigative genetic genealogist, and Detective Jim Sharp is the Snohomish County cold case detective; both matter because they connect DNA analysis to the case file.
3. The episode asks how a semen sample, a GEDmatch upload, and old family-tree records led investigators to William Earl Talbot II.
4. Tanya Van Kylenborg and Jay Cook left Vancouver Island for Seattle on November 18, 1980, in Jay’s parents’ van, planning to sleep near Jen’s Co. Heating.
5. Tanya’s body was found six days later in rural Skagit County, and Jay’s body was found the following day under High Bridge.
6. Investigators found zip ties, a surgical glove, a palm print on the van, bullets at a Bellingham tavern, and Tanya’s pants with semen on them.
7. The semen did not match Jay, and the profile became known as Individual A.
8. Lisa Collins uploaded Individual A to CODIS, but the database produced no match over the years.
9. More than 200 names filled the case file, including Charles Sinclair and an anonymous letter writer who taunted the families.
10. In 2017, Detective Sharp used Parabon Nanolabs’ snapshot phenotyping to generate a predicted look for the suspect at ages 25, 45, and 65.
11. CeCe Moore decided to work the case after the Golden State Killer arrest showed how consumer DNA databases could identify a suspect.
12. On April 27, 2018, Moore uploaded Individual A to GEDmatch and found two second-cousin matches by the next morning.
13. One of those matches was Chelsea Rustad, who had uploaded her Ancestry DNA data and later told investigators her Talbot relatives were online family matches.
14. Moore built the two family trees and says it took her two hours to converge on the person she believed killed Tanya and Jay.
15. Detective Sharp then tailed William Earl Talbot II, collected a white paper cup from his truck, and sent it to the lab for testing.
16. Lisa Collins later said the DNA profile from the cup matched Individual A, giving investigators the confirmation they needed.
17. The June 2019 Snohomish County Superior Court trial was the first jury trial involving a suspect identified through investigative genetic genealogy.
18. Prosecutors and the defense stipulated that the DNA from Individual A came from William Talbot, while the defense argued there was insufficient evidence beyond that DNA.
19. The episode has a procedural, interview-driven style with court testimony, forensic explanations, and emotional reactions from family members.
20. Listeners interested in cold cases, forensic genealogy, and courtroom procedure will get the most from it, while listeners avoiding long procedural true-crime cases may skip it.
