FINALLY SEE JUSTICE. NO FACE, NO NAME, JUST A SINGLE BONE AND A MYSTERY THAT MAY NOW FINALLY BE SOLVED. THERE’S QUITE LITERALLY NO LEADS. THESE SKELETAL REMAINS JUST ARRIVED HERE AT OREM, A FIRST OF ITS KIND LAB LOCATED JUST OUTSIDE HOUSTON. ITS MISSION TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE BIGGEST DNA SEQUENCER ON EARTH TO HELP SOLVE MURDERS, RAPES AND OTHER VIOLENT CRIMES. WE CALL THIS A REVOLUTION AND COLD CASE RESOLUTION. THIS IS CERTAINLY IN MY OPINION, THE MOST EXCITING THAT’S HAPPENED IN THE LAST 30 YEARS. TELEVISION CAMERAS HAVE NEVER CAPTURED THIS BEFORE. SCIENTISTS STARTING THE PROCESS OF RELEASING HIDDEN DNA FROM A SMALL PIECE OF THAT BONE. FIVE INVESTIGATES WAS INVITED IN BY AUTHOR FOUNDER DAVID MIDDLEMAN FOR A FIRSTHAND LOOK ON THE FRONT LINES OF FORENSIC GENETIC GENEALOGY. SOMETIMES IT’S A BONE FRAGMENT. OTHER TIMES IT’S EVIDENCE FROM POLICE, THE DNA FROM A CRIME SCENE, SEXUAL ASSAULT KIT, A CIGARET –, A PIECE OF STAINED FABRIC, PRESERVED MATERIAL FROM AUTOPSY SLIDES. AND WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS ROOM, WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND? I THINK THIS IS WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS. THE MAGIC UNLOCKING THAT DNA AND RELEASING CLOSE TO A MILLION MARKERS, IDENTIFIERS UNIQUE TO THAT PERSON. THE MARKERS ARE CLUES. THEY COMPARE TO DNA DATABASES. BUT NOW THEY DON’T NEED AN EXACT MATCH. EVEN A VERY DISTANT RELATIVE CAN PROVIDE A CRUCIAL INVESTIGATIVE LEAD. YOU GET ANY MATCHES UP TO SIX COUSIN, FIVE COUSIN, FOURTH COUSIN. AND WE’RE ABLE TO RECONSTRUCT THE FAMILY TREE AND GIVE BACK TO LAW ENFORCEMENT A POSSIBLE IDENTITY FOR THE VICTIM OR PERPETRATOR OF THAT CRIME. DAVID AND HIS WIFE, DR. KRISTEN MITTLEMAN, AND THEIR TEAM AT OREM HAVE ALREADY SEEN RESULTS WITH CASES HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THESE ARE FACES OF PEOPLE WHOSE REMAINS WERE RECENTLY IDENTIFIED, INCLUDING A CASE THAT HAUNTED THE COMMONWEALTH FOR DECADES. THE LADY OF THE DUNES, THE VICTIM’S HANDS WERE MISSING, PRESUMABLY REMOVED BY HER KILLER. SO SHE COULD NOT BE IDENTIFIED THROUGH FINGERPRINTS. THE FBI ASKED OSTROM TO JOIN THE CASE AFTER OTHER LABS WEREN’T ABLE TO EXTRACT DNA FROM THE BONES FOUND IN PROVINCETOWN IN 1974, WHICH HAD BEEN TREATED WITH FORMALDEHYDE. FORMALDEHYDE CAUSES, CROSS LINKS IN DNA. SO BEING ABLE TO BREAK THAT AND STILL READ THAT SEQUENCE OF DNA IS VERY, VERY DIFFICULT PROFILE HELPED INVESTIGATORS FIND A CLOSE RELATIVE LEADING THEM TO IDENTIFY RUTH MARIE TERRY OF TENNESSEE AS THE LADY OF THE DUNES. ARTHUR MAY ALSO HELP SOLVE ANOTHER CASE THAT BAFFLED MASSACHUSETTS DETECTIVES FOR DECADES TO IDENTIFY THE WOMAN KNOWN ONLY AS THE GRANBY GIRL. 28 YEAR OLD PATRICIA ANN TUCKER. WHEN YOU FIND OUT A CASE HAS BEEN SOLVED, WHAT IS THAT LIKE FOR YOU? IT’S REALLY EXCITING AND IT’S IT’S TRULY VALIDATING WHEN THIS IS DONE AT SCALE, IT BENEFITS SOCIETY AT LARGE. THAT’S WHEN IT BECOMES A DETERRENT FOR CRIME. THAT’S WHEN YOU START TO SEE REAL IMPROVEMENT IN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. I IDENTIFYING REMAINS IS THE FIRST STEP. NOW INVESTIGATORS ARE WORKING TO DETERMINE WHO KILLED THESE WOMEN. WE’RE TRYING TO NOT ONLY GET ANSWERS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT, BUT ALSO ENABLE ANSWERS FOR FAMILIES THAT THAT HAVE BEEN WAITING FAR TOO LONG. DO YOU BELIEVE THERE WILL BE MORE MASSACHUSETTS CASES SOLVED HERE? 100%, 100%. AND YOUR MESSAGE TO PERPETRATORS OUT THERE WHO HAVE NOT YET BEEN CAUGHT? IT’S A MATTER O
Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigation turns to genetic family tree: What’s that?
New forensic expertise has already helped to resolve a number of instances in New England
Investigators looking for clues within the Arizona kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie are turning to genetic family tree, a forensic expertise that has already helped to crack a number of infamous chilly instances all through New England.The 84-year-old mom of NBC “In the present day” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie was reported lacking from her residence on Feb. 1 after spending the earlier evening with household, police stated. DNA from gloves discovered a couple of miles from Guthrie’s Tucson-area residence didn’t match any entries in a nationwide legislation enforcement database, the Pima County Sheriff’s Division stated. Subsequent, the division stated it’s trying to feed DNA proof into different “genetic family tree” databases.Whereas the division didn’t elaborate on the databases that investigators deliberate to make use of, the toolset also called forensic genetic family tree, has been essential in making latest progress in quite a few instances, together with a number of that have been chilly instances for many years. How does forensic genetic family tree work?Conventional DNA testing could hit a restrict if there was not a identified particular person in a DNA database in opposition to which to match the pattern.However forensic genetic family tree can match a DNA pattern to individuals within the suspect’s household tree, as long as a relative is in one of many DNA databases being checked. It will possibly even be a distant relative.”We construct DNA profiles which have tons of and tons of of hundreds of markers. And so once we add these profiles to those databases, you get any matches as much as sixth cousin, fifth cousin, fourth cousin,” Kristen Mittelman, of Texas-based Othram, instructed sister station WCVB throughout an unique 2023 interview. “After which we take all of these matches and the gap of every match from the DNA that we received from the crime scene. And we’re in a position to reconstruct the household tree and provides again to legislation enforcement a potential id for the sufferer or perpetrator of that crime scene.” “When that is carried out at scale, it advantages society at giant. That is when it turns into a deterrent for crime. That is if you begin to see actual enchancment in society as an entire,” Othram founder David Mittelman stated.What instances have been solved via genetic family tree? In recent times, investigators have used forensic genetic family tree to resolve quite a few chilly instances. The case of Stephen Paul Gale, for instance, is scheduled to go to trial subsequent month. He is charged with raping two girls in 1989 in a Massachusetts retailer.Whereas legislation enforcement developed a DNA profile from proof in 2001, they did not have a DNA match till the survivors pushed for the case to be reopened and despatched to outdoors laboratories to carry out forensic genetic family tree. That work helped to establish members of the family of Gale, a few of whom agreed to supply DNA for the investigation. Gale was arrested in Los Angeles in August 2024 after a dramatic police chase, which was the ending to a monthslong nationwide manhunt.Final 12 months, with Gale again in custody in Massachusetts, a courtroom compelled him to supply a DNA pattern. Prosecutors stated it was a match for the proof from the 1989 crime scene.The expertise was essential to find the id of the Girl of the Dunes, a girl whose physique was present in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1974. A DNA profile helped investigators discover a shut relative of the girl, which in flip led them to establish her in 2023 as Ruth Marie Terry of Tennessee.Skeletal stays present in Granby in 1978 have been recognized via using this expertise as Patrician Ann Tucker, who was 28 on the time of her loss of life. Much more lately, in 2025, genetic family tree helped police to establish the ultimate sufferer of a infamous murder case, often known as the Bear Brook murders in New Hampshire. In that case, investigators assembled a household tree containing about 25,000 people and recognized doubtless ancestors relationship again to a few born within the 1780s. The household lineage was traced ahead, and Randolph stated the workforce discovered a 2005 obituary for a relative who was survived by a daughter named Pepper Reed, who disappeared from the data through the Nineteen Seventies.From there, extra DNA connections to relations have been found and investigators confirmed Pepper Reed was the mom of the little Jane Doe, whose true identify was Rea Rasmussen. The kid’s father, investigators stated, was Terry Rasmussen, who additionally glided by Bob Evans. He died in jail about 15 years in the past and is believed to be the killer within the Bear Brook murders.
Investigators looking for clues within the Arizona kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie are turning to genetic family tree, a forensic expertise that has already helped to crack a number of infamous chilly instances all through New England.
The 84-year-old mom of NBC “In the present day” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie was reported lacking from her residence on Feb. 1 after spending the earlier evening with household, police stated.
DNA from gloves discovered a couple of miles from Guthrie’s Tucson-area residence didn’t match any entries in a nationwide legislation enforcement database, the Pima County Sheriff’s Division stated. Subsequent, the division stated it’s trying to feed DNA proof into different “genetic family tree” databases.
Whereas the division didn’t elaborate on the databases that investigators deliberate to make use of, the toolset also called forensic genetic family tree, has been essential in making latest progress in quite a few instances, together with a number of that have been chilly instances for many years.
How does forensic genetic family tree work?
Conventional DNA testing could hit a restrict if there was not a identified particular person in a DNA database in opposition to which to match the pattern.
However forensic genetic family tree can match a DNA pattern to individuals within the suspect’s household tree, as long as a relative is in one of many DNA databases being checked. It will possibly even be a distant relative.
“We construct DNA profiles which have tons of and tons of of hundreds of markers. And so once we add these profiles to those databases, you get any matches as much as sixth cousin, fifth cousin, fourth cousin,” Kristen Mittelman, of Texas-based Othram, instructed sister station WCVB throughout an unique 2023 interview. “After which we take all of these matches and the gap of every match from the DNA that we received from the crime scene. And we’re in a position to reconstruct the household tree and provides again to legislation enforcement a potential id for the sufferer or perpetrator of that crime scene.”
“When that is carried out at scale, it advantages society at giant. That is when it turns into a deterrent for crime. That is if you begin to see actual enchancment in society as an entire,” Othram founder David Mittelman stated.
What instances have been solved via genetic family tree?
In recent times, investigators have used forensic genetic family tree to resolve quite a few chilly instances.
The case of Stephen Paul Gale, for instance, is scheduled to go to trial subsequent month. He is charged with raping two girls in 1989 in a Massachusetts retailer.
Whereas legislation enforcement developed a DNA profile from proof in 2001, they did not have a DNA match till the survivors pushed for the case to be reopened and despatched to outdoors laboratories to carry out forensic genetic family tree. That work helped to establish members of the family of Gale, a few of whom agreed to supply DNA for the investigation.
Gale was arrested in Los Angeles in August 2024 after a dramatic police chase, which was the ending to a monthslong nationwide manhunt.
Final 12 months, with Gale again in custody in Massachusetts, a courtroom compelled him to supply a DNA pattern. Prosecutors stated it was a match for the proof from the 1989 crime scene.
The expertise was essential to find the id of the Girl of the Dunes, a girl whose physique was present in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1974. A DNA profile helped investigators discover a shut relative of the girl, which in flip led them to establish her in 2023 as Ruth Marie Terry of Tennessee.
Skeletal stays present in Granby in 1978 have been recognized via using this expertise as Patrician Ann Tucker, who was 28 on the time of her loss of life.
Much more lately, in 2025, genetic family tree helped police to establish the ultimate sufferer of a infamous murder case, often known as the Bear Brook murders in New Hampshire. In that case, investigators assembled a household tree containing about 25,000 people and recognized doubtless ancestors relationship again to a few born within the 1780s. The household lineage was traced ahead, and Randolph stated the workforce discovered a 2005 obituary for a relative who was survived by a daughter named Pepper Reed, who disappeared from the data through the Nineteen Seventies.
From there, extra DNA connections to relations have been found and investigators confirmed Pepper Reed was the mom of the little Jane Doe, whose true identify was Rea Rasmussen.
The kid’s father, investigators stated, was Terry Rasmussen, who additionally glided by Bob Evans. He died in jail about 15 years in the past and is believed to be the killer within the Bear Brook murders.
