Thanks, me either. I only saw lab error as a cause for less than 100% accuracy.
At least my reading list stays the same. lol.
With this case IMO there seems to be so much information still out there that could help connect a perp to this crime. I am going to start praying that the local LE will become an ally in this quest.
I have worked with DNA in the past and rapid kit lab methods for other things (like bacteria). I HAVE NOT worked with human DNA! (disclaimer).
I know that in the field of microbiology, if you process things the "old fashioned way" which requires all hands on tests over a multitude of days it is more accurate than the new rapid ident methods. Now there are machines or devices to help clean, multiply and then identify the samples in a fraction of the time. It was decided that having an occasional false positive or negative was an acceptable error in return for having a test done in 3 days rather than 10.
I don't know how they are doing the DNA comparisons. Back in the 90s when I would look at a gel to compare DNA markers for plants nearly everything was done by hand, but there have been a lot of advances since then. I would be curious as to WHY the false positives occur. It must be something to do with the testing procedure.
That being said, we would double test nearly everything, especially if something was positive we would retest immediately to check accuracy. If this test does have a high false positive I would hope they would retest to confirm.
I am going to try to look up info about this if CarlK doesn't beat me to it! Hopefully some of our clever WSers can be of use to Jan.
I wonder how difficult it would be to get a new artist rendering done?
But maybe the first step would be to acquire the appropriate paperwork that is owed to Jan's family?