SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Crime Lab has access to the national DNA database that helps match samples and identify possible criminals.
CODIS, which stands for “Combined DNA Index System,” is a database consisting of DNA from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing people.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that CODIS was the system that led to their arrest of 23-year-old Samuel Charon, who is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering 63-year-old Stacey Dramiga in September 2024.
After an in-depth report about CODIS on Thursday, KSAT was invited to the lab to see the program in action.
“This is the area where DNA is extracted and this is where our samples are set up,” said Bexar County Crime Lab Assistant Director Erin Reat.
The tour then moved to a different room where Reat said different machines gather the DNA genetic profile.
“Here, copies of DNA are made, and then once that is complete, it then goes onto these instruments here,” Reat said.
The team then confirms which samples meet the criteria for the CODIS system, which lists tens of millions of DNA samples.
“Samples from the victims don’t go into CODIS. So it’s just from the purported perpetrator,” Reat explained.
CODIS is simply a computer program, but it’s a powerful one.
Reat showed KSAT the computer in the lab where it’s used.
“Our analysts within the biology section would come in and then enter the profile in manually. Once it’s uploaded locally, it also goes to the state, and the state then uploads it to the federal level,” Reat said.
Once in the system, that piece of DNA is constantly scanned to see if it is a match with other people being entered into the program.
Reat said he has watched samples entered into their CODIS system hit a match, identify criminals, and solve crimes.
“That’s a great feeling. I have had cases from the 1980s that had gone decades without being solved. And because of the work by the investigator and the work that we did in the laboratory, we were able to then identify whose DNA this was and be able to identify who the perpetrator was on these cases. That’s an amazing feeling to know that you’ve done something that’s had real impact,” Reat said.
That impact for victims and families spreads far beyond Bexar County, potentially across the entire nation.
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