Genealogical sites have helped solve major crimes. Police in Nancy Guthrie’s case might turn to them

Authorities trying to solve the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie say they might tap DNA genealogy databases, the same step that police took to unravel a decades-old series of murders in California and the fatal stabbings of four college students in Idaho.

The strategy could be fruitful: If unidentified DNA evidence can be connected to someone — even a distant relative — in a common genealogical database, it would give investigators more information and possibly lead to a suspect in Guthrie’s kidnapping in Arizona.