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It took nearly 28 years for police in Prince George’s County, Maryland, to determine the identity of the man detectives say killed 50-year-old Sherry Crandell back in 1998. The case had gone cold until a few years ago, when the department turned to what’s known as “genetic genealogy” in the hopes of using DNA taken from the crime scene to look for new leads. “Its effectiveness has led to the Department of Justice, basically expanding its grant programs so that local law enforcement can take advantage of this process, because it’s an expensive process,” said Robert Dean, a special assistant state’s attorney in Prince George’s County. “The actual laboratory work, a lot of that is done by private labs, and they charge.” Typically, a case costs between $30,000 to $60,000. Prince George’s County applied for and was awarded a $500,000 grant in 2020 to help solve cases such as the Crandell case. “I’m proud to say that this was the first case that was submitted for testing,” said County Executive Aisha Braveboy, who was the county’s top prosecutor at the time the grant application was submitted. The closest genetic hit that investigators got came from a fourth cousin of the suspect. The FBI has also started providing local departments with greater resources, especially on the genealogical side. “Our investigative genetic genealogy team started working Sherry’s case four years ago,” said Jimmy Paul, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office. “They kept at it, following lead after lead, a thorough, detailed and time consuming process, which finally paid off this year.” It’s a process that’s worthwhile, he added. “Through investigative genetic genealogy, investigators are able to solve the worst of the worst crimes and identify the worst of the worst criminals, even when decades have passed since the crimes took place,” Paul said. Millions of federal grant dollars are now available to departments that apply for them to solve cases with genetic genealogy. Dean said without that support, the Crandell case would not yet be solved. “It would have taken longer. So maybe we would be talking, instead of four years after this grant was available, maybe eight years,” he said. “The technology is there, but accessing the technology does cost money.” Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here. © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
