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New South Wales v Lian Bin “Robert” Xie
TrueAllele resolves complex mixture in quintuple family murder
| Crime | On July 18, 2009, police in Sydney, Australia, entered the blood-soaked home of Min and Lily Lin. Min, his sister Irene, wife Lily, and the couple’s two young boys—Henry (12) and Terry (9)—were found dead, killed by a combination of asphyxiation and a blunt, hammer-like object. |
| Evidence | Blood swabs were taken from the victims’ house directly after the crime. Later, a brown stain—found on the garage floor of Min’s sister and her husband, Robert Xie—was found and analyzed. |
| DNA | The New South Wales laboratory developed DNA data from the brown stain and blood from the Lin house. |
| Match | The lab found that all of their evidence contained a mixture of at least 3 people that were also related. This made the DNA hard to interpret using traditional methods of DNA interpretation. |
| TrueAllele | The computer separated out the mixture data into its contributors, finding that the brown stain and blood swab matched each other. Both pieces of evidence were found to match the genotypes of all 5 victims. |
| Cybergenetics | Cybergenetics Dr. Mark Perlin testified at an admissibility hearing in 2014, and then again in 2015 and 2016 in front of a New South Wales jury. |
| Outcome | Xie had two mistrials and then a hung jury before finally being convicted in his 4th trial. Xie was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences in prison without parole. |
Media
- Robert Xie jury discharged: Unable to reach verdict The Daily Telegraph
- Robert Xie trial jury discharged after failing to reach verdict over Lin family murders The Sydney Morning Herald
- Jury in murder trial of Robert Xie - accused of killing five members of his family - is DISCHARGED after failing to reach a verdict in 11 days Daily Mail
- Robert Xie found guilty of murdering five members of Lin family The Guardian
- Robert Xie murder trial: the evidence that helped catch a killer ABC
- Crime scene photographs reveal the Lin family bloodbath News.com.au
- Revealed: The REAL reason Rober Xie brutally bashed to death his five relatives – by the Sydney family’s only surviving child Daily Mail
- DNA tests changing criminal trials The Saturday Paper