Genealogy websites helped lead investigators to Golden Gate Killer suspect

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Investigators in California narrowed in on the Golden State Killer suspect by using the genetic profile of a relative on ancestry websites that solicit DNA samples from users, a Sacramento County prosecutor said on Thursday.

The suspect, identified as former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested on Tuesday outside the Sacramento-area home where he has lived for at least two decades. He is accused of committing a dozen murders, 45 rapes and scores of home invasions in a crime-spree spanning 10 years and 10 California counties during the 1970s and 1980s.

(Reporting in Sacramento by Fred Greaves. Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)