Zaneyah Hughes
20 Nov 2025
Genetics
Dr. Barbato
Truly One of A Kind
I think I remember watching a Law & Order: SVU episode of this maybe 5 or 6 years ago. Truly amazing and no longer fiction, the first conviction made from a scientific advancement for identical twin DNA analysis happened on August 21st, less than 4 months ago. In 1987 in Woodbridge, Virginia, Russell Marubbio sexually assaulted a gas-station store clerk. When the investigation was conducted, a wall was hit when they traced the DNA family tree to identical twins, and from there the case went cold until it was recently reopened by Master detectives Pinedo and Grantham.
The investigators used a technique called ultra-deep whole-genome sequencing to detect somatic mutations, tiny mutations that happened after the twins split in the wound. Although hard to find, this mosaicism is further proof that even though you may start from the same genetic materials, each individual is truly one of kind. Before reading this article I hadn’t considered looking for rare mutations in otherwise identical genomes. I also feel like part of this conviction was a miracle. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t believe the investigators solved this case completely by luck at all, but finding mutations in genomes is already challenging enough. On top of that, the age of the case also didn’t help, which is why this is honestly remarkable. Although I really don’t anticipate this technique being used except as a last resort effort to identify a suspect, I will be keeping up to date on any future forensic and medical implications this may have.
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