The identification of a suspect in the decades-old Golden State Killer case using public genealogy databases has authorities in California hoping the same method can be used in the so-called Zodiac Killer murders in the 1960s and early 1970s.

According to the Vallejo Police Department, in the San Francisco Bay area, they have evidentiary items believed to contain the unknown serial killers DNA. That evidence has been sent to a lab for extraction to generate a profile of a suspect. Police plan to compare that profile to samples used for genealogy research.

While its unlikely Zodiac will be found in the database, there is a real possibility that a genetic match could be identified, which would enable investigators to create and follow a family tree directly to a suspect.

Police used the technique last month to identify relatives of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a former police officer whos since been charged in two cold cases that had been attributed to the Golden State Killer and the East Area Rapist. The cases involve at least a dozen deaths and nearly 50 rapes that were committed from 1976 to 1986.

Zodiac terrorized Northern California from 1968 to 1970. The killer sent cryptic letters and notes to police and newspapers, which were signed Zodiac, a moniker that was adopted by police and the media.

The Vallejo Police Department, the agency handling the DNA evidence in the Zodiac case, did not return multiple calls for comment from HuffPost on Monday. In an interview with The Associated Press , Detective Terry Poyser said his team is hoping to know something within the next few weeks.

It really comes down to DNA, Poyser said. Without it, you have nothing. Its a 50-years-old case.

Las Vegas criminologist Scott Bonn , who has spent years studying and interviewing some of the most notorious criminals, said hes excited about the prospect of police finally cracking the cold case.

It will be great if this works a second time, Bonn told HuffPost. We could finally have answers to one of the greatest whodunits of all time.