barbara rae-venter (born july 17, 1948) is an american genetic genealogist and retired patent attorney best known for her work helping police and investigators identify a suspect in the golden state killer case. born in new zealand, she earned a doctorate at the university of california at san diego and later completed law school at the university of texas at austin. after retirement from her law career, she started researching her family history as a hobby in an attempt to help a family member find his biological family. through this work, she was asked to help identify a woman who had been abducted as a child. her efforts in this case eventually identified a deceased suspect in the bear brook murders in new hampshire. subsequently, rae-venter was a key member of the team who used genetic genealogy to identify a suspect in the golden state killer case. in 2019 she was included in the "time" 100 list of most influential people and in 2018 was recognized in nature's 10, a list of "people who mattered" in science by the journal "nature."