Is it really easier, though? I don't know if there's a palm print database (like I think there is for fingerprints), and even if there were, there's no guarante

Is it really easier, though? I don't know if there's a palm print database (like I think there is for fingerprints), and even if there were, there's no guarantee the murderer would be in it. So pursuing this would involve opening up a lot of old physical records, looking at a complex whirling pattern and trying to see if there's anywhere in it that lines up with the print found at the crime scene. Not feasible at scale. I don't know if palm prints even have an easy classification system like fingerprints do (loop, whorl, etc) to help organize a search. So this really only works if you already have a name and are trying to confirm it. Also, it's not like palm prints follow mathematical heredity patterns. DNA worked here because they didn't need a hit on the guy, just somebody, distantly related to him. Much lower bar for success. Any they didn't even have to spend time and money building a searchable database and populating it with samples. It was handed to them on a silver platter.