Paul Holes is a retired investigator from the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. He was the Lead Cold Case Investigator for the infamous Golden State Killer Case. Holes worked in the East Bay for more than 27 years, with roles in the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office crime lab and the DA’s office. His tenure in East Bay law enforcement coincides with the evolution of the use of DNA technology as a law enforcement tool. He became a sworn criminalist in 1994, the same year the sheriff’s lab invested in a DNA program. Paul came up with the idea of using DNA from a crime scene to build a fake genetic profile on GEDmatch, a genealogy site, which lead to distant relatives. A team of investigators then spent months combing through public records to piece together potential family trees. All that hard work eventually lead to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo, 72, on April 25. It also made Holes a bonafide hero in the true crime community.