It was out of character they said for her not to make contact, or to return home.
A day later, on November 20, the two were officially reported missing.
She had been raped, bound with plastic ties, and shot in the head.
Initially, investigators considered Cook, her boyfriend, a suspect.
They found his body two days later, nearly 75 miles from where Van Cuylenborg was discovered.
Cook had been beaten with rocks, and strangled.
He had a pack of Camel Lights shoved into his mouth.
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Years passed without much progress in identifying the killer, but 1994 offered new hope.
Each passing year, each new profile added to the database, offered new opportunities to identify the killer.
Codis never produced a DNA match.
An ethical conundrum
As DNA testing gained a foothold in the US, consumers saw opportunity.
For many customers, the experience stopped here.
Others began uploading the genetic information to online databases.
For genealogists, public DNA databases offered something else entirely: an ethical conundrum.
Science fiction had, for decades, predicted a government database containing the DNA of every citizen.
Genealogists agreed that they already had one.
What they couldnt agree on, however, was how to use this information ethically.
Perhaps they were right.
Talbott was no exception.
After years of chasing bad leads, progress came only after police had exhausted all other options.
They first collaborated with a genealogist to produce possible surnames based on the DNA profile of the collected semen.
They were all incorrect.
The call came just a few days later; Parabon had found a match.
Talbott had never submitted a DNA sample to a database, but two of his second cousins had.
Theyd found their suspect.
A cheek swab, once Talbott was in custody, confirmed the match.
Genealogists agree, however, that the site was aiding law enforcement by violating the privacy of its users.
The policy didnt turn out to be worth much.
This, of course, was within the terms it had set for for cooperating with law enforcement.
After some investigating, GEDmatch turned over a name to authorities: 34-year-old Christopher Williams.
Williams, though, was never charged with rape.
In fact, he wasnt charged with any crimes of a sexual nature.
Williams was charged with four counts of burglary and released on bond shortly after his arrest.
She writes:
Informed consent is the essential underpinning of ethical DNA testing and results-sharing.
The issue, she says, is one of consent.
Unfortunately, this does little to clear up what is still a complex ethical issue.
Its a system that assumes consent of an entire family based on the actions of one of its members.
The issue is a troubling one, an ethical and philosophical argument playing out in real-time.
It doesnt offer a simple answer.
Story byBryan Clark
Bryan is a freelance journalist.Bryan is a freelance journalist.
