For years, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office’s sciences lab has been analyzing crime scene evidence: data from cell phones and computers, tire tread marks and fingerprints, just to name a few.
But analyzing DNA evidence—a field that takes not only a science background and specialized training but also technical equipment in its own sterile lab—had to be done in outside laboratories.
This was not only costly for the county, but it also added time onto criminal cases as investigators waited for backlogged evidence to be processed.
That is set to change soon.
Sheriff’s officials on Tuesday gave a tour of the new DNA lab, a $1.8 million addition to the sciences building that is expected to begin operation in 2027, after accreditation by the California Bureau of Forensic Services and the FBI.
Investigators using DNA evidence have solves numerous crimes recently, the most recent being the 30-year-old case of a missing 13-year-old girl.
The unveiling also came with another announcement—the county’s General Services Department and Angeles Contractor, Inc., which built the lab, earned an award of excellence in job contracting from Gordian, a company in Greenville, S.C., that pairs organizations and businesses with contractors.
“This $1.8 million DNA lab project stood out for us in terms of its unique scope, the strong collaboration between the teams, partnerships and the lasting impact we see it has in Santa Cruz County,” said Gordian President Kris Gorriarán.
The lab, which took about one year to build, includes new HVAC, electrical and plumbing, specialized cabinetry and specialized work stations.
Santa Cruz County Forensic Services Director Lauren Zephro said the idea for the DNA lab began about 10 years ago, but was championed by former Sheriff Jim Hart.
“The DNA lab exists because he made it a priority,” Zephro said. “He advocated for it, and willingly set aside other projects to see it through.”
Zephro oversees a team of five criminalists, employees who use their education and training to analyze evidence from crime scenes.
While the building in which they do their work is located on the same property as the sheriff’s headquarters, it is kept deliberately separate from the law enforcement side to allow the team to work independently, Zephro said.
An investigator pushing an analyst to work through a piece of evidence, for example, could inadvertently introduce bias.
“We are neutral,” Zephro said. “We are fact finders. We don’t have skin in the game, we don’t have hunches—our job is to be scientists. It doesn’t factor into my work how badly the investigator wants it to be this suspect. It shouldn’t factor. I need to be focused on the evidence and information that I have in front of me to do my job.”
DNA analyst Susan Seferyn said she and a colleague recently spent three days bleaching every surface in the lab, including the undersides of shelves and cabinets.
Anyone coming in must first don gloves, a coat and a mask to avoid introducing their own DNA.
Seferyn said that DNA testing has advanced exponentially over the years, with investigators now able to analyze a drop of blood as small as the period at the end of this sentence.
Still, intensive training and attention to detail is essential for the job, she said.
“On forensic casework, we don’t have do-overs,” Seferyn said. “There is no ‘oops, I need another piece of evidence.’ So it’s super-essential that what we’re doing we know how the instruments are going to behave. We know our limitations and what we can and can’t do and how much we need.”
