The "Phantom of Heilbronn" exposed

So much for DNA evidence. For some years, German law enforcement agencies have been hunting the so-called “Phantom of Heilbronn” – a female whose DNA was found at more than fifty “crime” scenes (from simple school pranks to the murder of a police officer), in Germany and beyond. Month after month reports appeared in the German media as to where her DNA had been found most recently, affording reporters the opportunity to fill page after page with speculations as to how the same person could be involved in so many vastly different “crimes” and why police weren't able to track her down.

Now it turns out that the DNA that was “found” at the crime scenes does not belong to any (serial) criminal(s), but most likely to a woman working at the place of production of the cotton swabs used to extract DNA samples from “evidence” found at the various crime scenes.

The swabs had been contaminated with a worker's DNA during production, and police, naturally, did not notice.

www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,615608,00.html

Seems that is where the trust in non-tangible evidence like DNA samples leads. Not the “serial criminal”, but the “case” turns out to be a phantom. In truth, the “criminal” police were hunting never existed. One of the most high-profile criminal “cases” in Germany turns out to be nothing but a miscarriage of police work.

I suppose the unidentified woman will now be charged with obstruction of justice. I don't suppose police will be made responsible for their trust in “scientific” evidence that isn't scientific after all.