Forensic Genealogy helps identify a victim!


Orange County Sheriff's Office identifies woman in 1990 cold case murder September 28th, 2023 HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The Orange County Sheriff's Office identified an unknown woman decades after her murder in 1990. Using new technology and forensic genealogy, investigators identified a woman found by road crews 33 years ago. Experts believe som...

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Another cold case solved by a familial DNA match


Arrest in 1994 cold case killing of woman found slain in her Springfield home September 11th, 2023 A suspect has been arrested in the murder of a Virginia woman dating back almost three decades, detectives in Northern Virginia announced Monday. The victim, Robin Lawrence, 37, was found stabbed to death in her home on Reseca Lane in Springfield on N...

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Lancaster man charged for teen’s 1975 cold case murder after coffee cup DNA match


 David Sinopoli of Lancaster has been charged in the 1975 cold case murder of 19-year-old Lindy Sue Biechler after DNA on a discarded coffee cup appeared to match DNA left on the victim's clothing. July 18, 2022 LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) – David Sinopoli of Lancaster has been charged in the 1975 cold case murder of 19-year-old Lindy Sue Biechler a...

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Man charged 35 years after Roxanne Wood found dead in her Niles Township home


DNA CIGARETTE BUTT March 22, 2022 NILES TOWNSHIP, Mich. – An Indiana man has been sentenced to decades in prison in connection with a 1987 murder in Southwestern Michigan, effectively closing what was once a cold case. Patrick Gilham, 67, has been sentenced to at least 23 years in prison in connection with the slaying of Roxanne Leigh Wood, 30, who...

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Suspect charged in 25-year-old cold case murder in Northern California


Investigators submitted additional DNA evidence to the crime lab in 2020 where it was able to be analyzed for the first time and it matched a California inmate. December 10, 2021 Authorities in Northern California have charged a suspect already serving a life sentence with the 1996 cold case murder of a 21-year-old woman, the sheriff's department s...

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Man charged in cold-case murder of Mitchell County teen

A search warrant was obtained to collect Adkins' DNA, which led to his arrest in connection to Dunn's murder. June 18, 2021 MITCHELL COUNTY, Texas -- A man has been charged in the murder of Mitchell County teen Hailey Dunn -- over 10 years after she was last seen alive. Shawn Casey Adkins, 35, of Big Spring, TX , was arrested Monday and charge...

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She will always be 19': Arrest in 1980 cold case murder brings some relief, more grief to family of Barbara Tucker


June 11, 2021 A year ago, Susan Pater and Alice Juan were packing up their parents' home in Southeast Portland when they stumbled upon photos of their beloved sister, Barbara. Forty years had passed since Barbara Tucker was murdered at Mt. Hood Community College. In the family photos, Barbara never ages past 19. She was almost 6 feet tall, strong a...

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In Chico, California an Alleged Serial Sex Assailant Nabbed Through Familial DNA Search, Butte County District Attorney Reports

The familial search process involves searching the assailant DNA against the state's convicted offender database to identify potential relatives in the database April 27, 2021 In Chico, California an Alleged Serial Sex Assailant Nabbed Through Familial DNA Search, Butte County District Attorney Reports April 27, 2021 - The Butte County District Att...

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How a Sacramento County investigator solved a 40-year-old cold case

Keep the faith that we are trying and we hope for the families, we can help them." April 25, 2020 SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Sacramento County Sheriff's investigator Micki Links had been waiting to hear this news for years. "The lab criminalist from the DA's lab sent me a text. He sent me an email, he called my office line," Links said. Advertisem...

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California county’s oldest Jane Doe cold case murder solved after 52-year mystery

"After more than five decades, advances in investigative genetic genealogy did what old-fashioned police work could not: Give Jane Doe a name and identify her killer," he said. July 25, 2020 A California county's oldest Jane Doe murder has been solved through DNA and genetic genealogy. The crime-fighting technique helped identify the victim and fin...

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Tennessee convict charged with killing two women in 2001

Dentures collected by investigators, in that case, had been placed in a police property room June 24, 2020 MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee convict serving prison time for a 2001 rape has been charged with killing two women later that year, prosecutors said. A Shelby County grand jury has indicted Thomas Maupin, 70, on murder charges in the deaths...

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Phoenix police make arrest in cold case murder dating back to 1987

DNA at the scene of the crime was later matched to 52-year-old Darron Joseph Miniefield May 7, 2020 PHOENIX (3TV/CBS5) -- Phoenix police have made an arrest in a cold case murder that dates back more than 30 years. On Feb. 21, 1987, 41-year-old Marilyn Johns was found in an alley near Central Avenue and Lincoln Street in the downtown area. She had ...

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How a true crime book and a DNA hit led to an arrest in Spring Hill's coldest case — and maybe more


Baldwin, a long-haul truck driver who'd traveled across 48 states May 21, 2020 About a year ago, Spring Hill Police Department patrolman Ty Hadley saw a book on a desk inside a co-worker's office and unknowingly started a life-changing conversation. The hardback, "In the Name of the Children" by retired FBI Special Agent Jeffrey L. Rinek, belonged ...

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Ohio single mom's 1991 cold case murder solved using DNA uploaded to public genealogy site

"He's a ghost in the investigation,"​ March 13, 2020 A single mother's cold case murder in Ohio has been solved with an arrest after nearly 29 years. Rachael Johnson was 23 when she was raped, beaten, stabbed and set on fire on March 30, 1991. Her daughter was three at the time. On Thursday, Akron police charged Daniel Rees, 57, with the murder. Po...

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CRIME HUNTER: DNA links 'monster' to 1976 slaying

The magic elixir for solving the case was DNA and genetic genealogy. Enter Article DATE HERE On Jan. 12, 1976, Pamela Maurer left a pal's house to get a soda from a bodega. The 16-year-old vanished into thin air and was never seen alive again. Her frozen body was found the next morning on the frozen plains outside Lisle, Illinois. She had been...

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Man arrested in connection with 37-year-old cold case

"The implication of being able to solve these cases is immense. December 13, 2019 SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities in Salt Lake City made an arrest in a 37-year-old cold case, according to a press release issued Wednesday. Detectives from the Salt Lake City Police Department Homicide Squad said they have arrested Bryan Reed, 55. Reed is currently await...

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St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office: 100 cases under review

no one told Bell's staff after he defeated seven-term incumbent Bob McCulloch last year there were cases in which the work of the crime lab employee, who was fired in 2017, could be called into question November 11, 2019 CLAYTON, Mo. -- A pattern of improper analysis in the St. Louis County Police Department's crime lab by a forensic scientist has ...

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DNA ties California man to decades-old cold case murder, sexual assaults: police

California police say DNA has helped link a 52-year-old man to eight cold cases -- the rape and murder of a Fresno woman 23 years ago and the sexual assaults of seven Enter Article DATE HERE California police say DNA has helped link a 52-year-old man to eight cold cases -- the rape and murder of a Fresno woman 23 years ago and the sexual assau...

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Arrests made in cold case homicide reported in 1980

The Repository also assisted with the documentation of the victim's DNA profil Aufust 19, 2019 On November 5, 1980, the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office received a complaint related to the discovery of skeletal remains near Highway 28 West, in the Gardener area. The complainant reported the remains were located in a wooded area near Nichols Cemetery...

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Man pleads guilty to 1998 cold-case murder of Laurel teenager

Man pleads guilty to 1998 cold-case murder of Laurel teenager (DNA) August 1, 2019 BILLINGS – A suspect has been identified and pleaded guilty to the cold-case murder of Miranda Fenner, the Laurel teenager brutally killed while working at a video store in 1998. Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that...

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More than 30 years later, a break in the death of a R.I. 10-year-old

A forensic scientist at the Rhode Island Department of Health determined on Wednesday that DNA from blood stains on the crotch of Christine's pants "was consistent" with the DNA profile of a man who was living above Saints Market when she stopped to buy milk on Jan. 6, 1988 July 18, 2019 PAWTUCKET, R.I. — A man who had lived above a market where a ...

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Ronald Jones pleads not guilty in death of 78-year-old Milwaukee woman

The Milwaukee Police Department Cold Case Unit used DNA evidence to link the crime to Jones.​ Enter Article DATE HERE MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee County judge bound over Ronald Jones for trial on Monday, July 15 — after testimony was heard during a preliminary hearing. Jones then pleaded not guilty to the single charge against him. Jones, 55, is c...

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dna-kept-for-decades-leads-to-arrest


"A little over a year ago came this concept of investigative genetic genealogy -- the latest and perhaps the greatest advancement to help law enforcement find the truth and solve violent crime July 7, 2019 SACRAMENTO, Calif. - For more than two decades, all California authorities knew about the man behind three violent sex crimes was his DNA profil...

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Idaho 1987 cold case solved through DNA recovered from victim’s fingernails, police say

The Idaho State Police lab initially lacked the capacity to conduct DNA testing on scrapings from Bristow's fingernails July 1, 2019 A 32-year-old Idaho cold case murder has been solved through DNA found on the victim's fingernails Tammy Bristow, 18, was found strangled in her apartment in Sandpoint on Jan. 8, 1987. Police had initially arrested a ...

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Kathleen Flynn cold case homicide: Suspect tracked for decades

The warrant details the process on how other suspects in Kathleen's murder were eliminated through DNA testing and hair samples. June 14, 2019 ORWALK — Marc Karun first popped onto police radar as a potential suspect two weeks after Kathleen Flynn was found sexually assaulted and strangled to death near Ponus Ridge Middle School in September 1986. ...

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Cold case in Missouri solved with DNA: Ex-Air Force member charged with 1993 murder of 9-year-old girl

Earl Webster Cox, 61, has been charged with the killing of Angie Housman, 9, who was found dead nine days after she disappeared in November of 1993, St. Charles County May 7, 2019 A former Air Force service member currently in federal custody has been charged in a 25-year-old cold case in which a 9-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and murdered,...

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Police identify killer in 47-year-old cold case murder of ISU student (DNA)


In 2009, familial DNA testing was requested, but it was never approved. May 3, 2019 INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — After nearly 47 years, police say they have identified the killer of an Indiana State University student. Pam Milam was 19 when her body was found in the trunk of her car on campus back in 1972. She was tied up and strangled.  Clothesline ...

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A Tossed Cigarette Helped Solve A 1994 Cold Case Murder


They say that smoking kills. For one man, it might have handed him a death sentence after his tossed cigarette May 10, 2019 They say that smoking kills. For one man, it might have handed him a death sentence after his tossed cigarette butt helped police solve a cold case after a DNA breakthrough. According to Fox News, Oregon native Richard E. Knap...

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Vancouver Police Make Arrest In 25-Year-Old Cold Case (DNA / Genealogy)


Police say advancements in DNA technology – and the use of public databases of genealogies May 1, 2019 The Vancouver Police Department announced Tuesday they've charged a Fairview, Oregon, man with a 25-year-old unsolved murder. On Sunday, police arrested Richard Knapp, 57. He's been booked into the Clark County Jail on a murder charge. Police decl...

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DNA helps police solve 1990 'Julie Valentine' cold case; charge mother with homicide

Detectives used DNA and genealogy tracing to interview the child's father, who led detectives to the infant's mother April 20, 2019 GREENVILLE, S.C. – A 6-pound newborn girl, wrapped in newspaper and abandoned in a cardboard box in a field on a cold February, left investigators here grasping for answers for nearly three decades. On Thursday, Greenv...

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SLO sheriff identifies suspect in 2 unsolved Atascadero murders — after 41 years

In 2018, authorities, with assistance from the California Department of Justice's familial DNA search team, conducted a familial DNA search to find matches to the evidence. April 18, 2019 After more than 40 years, a suspect in a pair of Atascadero murders has been identified thanks to DNA evidence, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office announ...

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DNA identifies Arkansas homicide victim 30 years after death

Last seen over 30 years ago, William C. Reed's remains were identified in Oklahoma thanks to DNA technology. April 13, 2019h OKLAHOMA CITY — (AP) - An Arkansas man whose remains were found in Oklahoma has been identified more than 30 years after his death thanks to advances in DNA technology. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Thursday...

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Queens man, 80, is arrested over cold-case killings of two 19-year-old women who were strangled and shot in Virginia Beach 44 years ago

A police source familiar with the investigation revealed to DailyMail.com that the case involved DNA evidence April 10, 2019 Police in New York City have arrested an 80-year-old man in connection with the brutal 1973 murders of two 19-year-old women in Virginia Beach. Ernest Broadnax, an ex-convict with a lengthy criminal record, was taken into cus...

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Supreme Court rejects Gage County appeal of $28 million wrongful conviction ruling

The six people were wrongfully convicted for the rape and murder of Helen Wilson. They spent more than 75 years combined in prison until DNA evidence cleared them in 2008. March 4, 2019 The U.S. Supreme Court is rejecting an appeal from a Nebraska county that has to pay a $28 million court judgment to six people wrongfully convicted for a 1985 slay...

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Pamela Cahanes cold case: DNA match leads to arrest in Navy grad's killing — 34 years later (Public Database)

Using a public database, he said, investigators matched DNA found on Cahanes' body to Thomas Lewis Garner, a 59-year-old dental hygienist from Jacksonville. March 14, 2019 In the summer of 1984, Pamela Cahanes' body was found in an overgrown lot in unincorporated Sanford. The 25-year-old had graduated from boot camp at the Orlando Naval Training Ce...

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Arrest made in cold case murder of teenage girl (1994)

It's been 24 years since a 14-year-old Minidoka County girl was brutally murdered, and now a man has been arrested in connection to the case. Enter Article DATE HERE RUPERT — It's been 24 years since a 14-year-old Minidoka County girl was brutally murdered, and now a man has been arrested in connection to the case. Regina Krieger disappeared F...

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DNA, genealogy used to solve cold case rapes, homicide in Rockville

Cold case detectives are investigating other crimes that Day may have committed. March 15, 2019 Montgomery County police have identified a suspect in two cold case rapes and a homicide that happened in Rockville, Maryland, in 1989 and 1994. The suspect, Kenneth Earl Day, died in March 2017 in West Virginia, at 52 years old. Investigators collected ...

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Police make arrest in 30-year-old cold case of a murdered Philly woman

Voci says with the developments in DNA and other technologies, this case should serve as an example to families of cold case victims. March 14, 2019 PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Police have arrested the former boyfriend of a Philadelphia woman, found dead in Montgomery County 30 years ago. It was November 1, 1988 state police found the body of 3...

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Man arrest in connection with 2002 Hartford cold case murder

This work relies upon the latest investigative techniques and the newest technology, including highly sophisticated DNA analysis March 9, 2019 HARTFORD — Hartford police and the Office of the Chief State's Attorney Cold Case Unit made an arrest in 2002 cold case murder. James Raynor was charged on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, while serving a 37 year pri...

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James Neal, of Monument, has been accused of killing 11-year-old Linda O’Keefe in Newport Beach, Calif., in 1973


Linda disappeared July 6, 1973. She was seen walking home from summer school, and her body was found the next day. Enter Article DATE HERE COLORADO SPRINGS — A Colorado man arrested after DNA tied him to the 1973 killing of an 11-year-old California girl has yet to decide if he will fight extradition.. The Colorado Springs Gazette reports 72-y...

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Detectives Solve Decades-Old Cold Case Using Public DNA Database

To catch him, law enforcement agencies tapped into the increasingly popular field of consumer DNA testing; they searched a free online database where anyone can share data from at-home genetic tests to hunt for familial matches. February 1, 2019 Detectives in Oregon solved a 40-year-old cold case with the help a popular ancestry and genealogy datab...

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Murdered 20-year-old woman finally identified 31 years later

Enter Headline here February 6, 2019 Southern California cold case investigators announced this week a breakthrough in identifying a 1987 stabbing victim whose hands had been hacked off by her killer. The investigators identified the Jane Doe homicide victim as Tracey Hobson after 31 years using "forensic genealogy techniques," according to the Ora...

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Portland Police Solve 40-Year-Old Cold Case Murder With DNA Match (Genealogy)


Detectives used forensic genealogy to map familial lines through DNA collected from the crime scene January 31, 2019 Portland's Cold Case Homicide Detail announced the identification of the person it says is responsible for the 40-year-old murder case of Anna Marie Hlavka. Twenty-year-old Hlavka was found dead after being sexually assaulted in her ...

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Cold Case Justice: Identified after 20 years

North Carolina authorities said through advances in forensic science and contacting members of the victims' family trees they were able to determine the woman was the mother of the young male victim. February 6, 2019 (WYFF/NBC News) Investigators have identified a mother and son found dead at two separate crime scenes more than 20 years ago. The wo...

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Rape suspect arrested in 1990s cold cases after familial DNA leads investigators to twin brother

In August 2018, investigators, partnering with the FBI's Investigative Genealogy Team, submitted DNA f January 12, 2019 Investigators have arrested a man on suspicion of raping two victims — a 9-year-old girl walking home from the store and a woman jogger, both 1990s cold cases from Orange County — after genealogical data led them to the suspect's ...

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Tracy police name victim’s cousin as suspect in 2009 homicide cold case (DNA)


Authorities said Mason died in a vehicle accident in 2015, a year before he was identified as the homicide suspect. November 20, 2018 TRACY — The Tracy Police Department has closed an almost decade-old homicide cold case, but said the suspect is dead. Police announced this week that 72-year-old James Mason is the lone suspect in the killing of his ...

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How investigators cracked unsolved murder of Harvard graduate student nearly 50 years later


"We now feel confident that the man identified as Michael Sumpter entered Jane's apartment through the window, assaulted her, murdered her in her bed and then fled the apartment," Ryan told reporters Tuesday. Enter Article DATE HERE Investigators finally have cracked a cold case murder that has haunted the Boston area for almost 50 years. The ...

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Cold case murder: ECSO makes arrest in 2010 homicide after tip from prison inmate


The case file on the shooting contains Florida Department of Law Enforcement documents that link a DNA profile matching Sangster to swabs of the interior of the vehicle in which Allen was found, according to the report. Enter Article DATE HERE Two men argued in a vehicle. A gun went off. Then the passenger pushed the victim's body aside and to...

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Colorado Springs police arrest man in connection with decades-old homicide (DNA)


Police took DNA samples from semen left by the killer and interviewed several suspects who had seen her early that morning. September 20, 2019 Colorado Springs police have taken one step closer to solving a decades-old cold case with the arrest of a 46-year-old man in connection with the alleged rape and killing of Mary Lynn Vialpondo, police chief...

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Bushwick Man Gets 25 To Life For 2004 Cold Case Murder Of Teenager (DNA)


His DNA was entered into the national database after an arrest in 2014 for armed robbery in Florida September 10, 2018 A 40-year-old man was recently sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder of a 17-year-old Bushwick resident. Sharabia Thomas was murdered in 2004 according to a report in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. "Thanks to DNA technology and h...

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