Thousands of murder cases in the United States stay unsolved every year. The current number of unsolved cases stands at over 300,000 cold cases that remain on record. The introduction of forensic genetic genealogy presents the potential to transform this dire situation.

Investigators used genetic genealogy to catch Joseph DeAngelo (the Golden State Killer) in 2018, marking when many people learned about this investigative technique. The investigator obtained a confession from him about his crimes of murdering 13 people and assaulting approximately 50 women throughout California during the 1970s and 1980s.

The application of genetic genealogy in criminal investigations has experienced continuous expansion since its introduction. Police arrested the man accused of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five whose body was discovered near a Maryland running trail in 2023 because of findings from this past year's investigation.

The killer’s DNA from Morin’s case matched another unsolved crime in Los Angeles but investigators were unable to identify who the suspect was.

The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) has served law enforcement needs for many years. The FBI initiated CODIS during the 1990s to enable law enforcement to match DNA samples from crime scenes against profiles already stored in their database.

DNA features distinctive markers that function as a genetic fingerprint. The CODIS database reviews only 20 genetic markers and cases without database matches tend to remain unresolved.

Violent offenses in which suspects remain unidentified fail to reach resolution.

The solution: forensic genetic genealogy. 

While forensic genetic genealogy depends on detective work and DNA samples like CODIS it examines hundreds of thousands of genetic markers instead of 20. This procedure produces results that show genetic connections between the suspect and other people. Police can track back to the origin of crime scene DNA through sufficient genetic matches.

The majority of police departments lack the necessary resources to carry out forensic genetic genealogy independently. For Morin's case investigators handed the DNA evidence to Othram which specializes in solving both modern and historical unsolved cases. Investigators working with genetic genealogy developed new clues which led to the arrest and subsequent conviction of Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez on murder and rape charges.

The investigative technique of genetic genealogy has resolved thousands of unsolved cases from the past.

The existence of this technology today provides us with reason for optimism.Solving historical crimes provides families with closure while proactive identification of serial offenders prevents future offenses.

Expanded application of forensic genetic genealogy infrastructure would achieve more than just convicting criminals. Solving cases quickly reduces both time and financial resources that would otherwise be spent following dead-end leads or conducting lengthy investigations.

The lack of sufficient funding at present stops numerous investigators from fully utilizing genetic genealogy tools.

A solution requires increased federal support. The Department of Justice provides grant funding to address DNA backlog issues. But more help is required. The upcoming federal budget must prioritize the transformative potential of genetic genealogy applications. Lawmakers must also undertake a reassessment of how current resources are allocated. Many cutting-edge technologies produce equal or better outcomes while costing much less.

Our current technology enables us to solve crimes and safeguard innocent people. The political commitment to justice remains essential for effective implementation.

In 2024 the St. Petersburg Police Department together with District 6 Medical Examiner’s Office engaged services from Othram, a forensic lab located in The Woodlands, Texas to identify skeletal remains consisting of a skull that became separated from other bones sometime after 1980. Due to the unclear origin and context of the skull forensic experts sent the evidence to Othram for advanced DNA testing evaluation and forensic genetic genealogy analysis to help identify it.

Scientists at Othram extracted DNA from the skull and utilized Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to establish an extensive DNA profile. The in-house forensic genetic genealogy team at Othram conducted genealogical research using the DNA profile to establish new investigative leads.

Based on this information investigators launched further investigations to find potential relatives of the unidentified man. The comprehensive DNA profile was compared with that of a potential relative using KinSNP® Rapid Relationship Testing. The KinSNP® analysis verified the genetic connection which enabled investigators to identify the man as Joseph Richard Murrell born in 1956.

Joseph Richard Murrell lost his life on August 3, 1980, when his vehicle plunged from the Howard Frankland Bridge. News stories reported that he suffered decapitation at that time. Authorities recovered all of his remains but still do not know how the skull separated from them.

Joseph Murrell is identified as the 42nd person Othram’s technology helped locate in Florida through public cases. Through DNASolves you can research other Florida cases and understand how your support brings families the answers they need.

The District of Columbia together with 27 states filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court on Monday against 23andMe which aims to stop the company from selling customer genetic data without obtaining consent.

The legal action came after 23andMe declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 23 alongside its deal to sell the firm to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

23andMe retains biological samples and sensitive genetic information from over 15 million users who participated in at-home DNA tests which creates significant concerns regarding potential data privacy violations and misuse.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield emphasized the deeply personal nature of genetic data which requires explicit consent before being used as a commercial asset.

Legal proceedings combined with customer alerts to delete their accounts show extensive worry about safeguarding genetic data while 23andMe faces financial challenges and potential sale.

Genealogy 101 Class. Mornings in person at the RVGS Library, taught again via ZOOM the same day from 6-7:30 pm.

The Genealogy 101 class series, taught by Barbara Northrop, C.G.R., will run for nine consecutive months, on the second Thursday of each month. There will be a different topic each month.

The morning class is in-person from 10:30 AM – Noon at the RVGS Library.

The evening class is via Zoom only from 6-7:30 pm.

For more information, see the RVGS website, Classes and Events.
$5 per class for RVGS members, $10 per class non-members

Read more at http://rvgslibrary.org/Calendar.asp?View=EVENT&EventID=382.

The following was written by MyHeritage:

Father’s Day is a great time to help Dad explore and share his family story. We have two incredible offers, available from now until June 15, 2025, to help your followers pick the perfect Father’s Day gift:   MyHeritage DNA is 60% off: a fantastic opportunity for Dad to discover his roots and connect with relatives around the world.   MyStories is 25% off: our easy-to-use platform for preserving life stories in a beautiful book makes a meaningful gift that helps keep Dad’s legacy alive for generations to come.  By the way, ever wondered how Father’s Day started? Read this beautiful story our Research team uncovered a while ago about the holiday inspired by a daughter’s love for her dad.

Wilson Library (North Carolina) staff are using AI tools to help transcribe historical documents that contain information about people enslaved in North Carolina. The result is better access for researchers and genealogists.

In the vast collections of the Wilson Special Collections Library are documents that tell stories of North Carolina. Among them are handwritten letters, ledgers and more that contain information about people enslaved in the state during the 18th and 19th centuries.

These records offer rare insight into the past for researchers and genealogists—if they can find and read them. Almost all these items are handwritten and can’t be easily searched or sometimes even deciphered. Transcribing the documents makes the content legible and accessible to a wider audience. Machine-readable transcriptions also power search engines and enable visually impaired people to use screen-readers.

When done by humans, transcription can be incredibly time-intensive. But help may exist in the space where the archivist meets artificial intelligence. 

In a 2024 pilot project, staff from Wilson Library turned to a transcription platform called From the Page (fromthepage.com) to test the effectiveness of AI in transcribing handwritten manuscript documents. Jackie Dean, head of archival processing at the Wilson Special Collections Library, says the team focused its pilot project on 1,500 pages from four high-use collections that researchers—including families working on their genealogies—have been interested in.

“We see so many people looking for information about their relatives in the plantation records held in Wilson Library,” says Dean. “So, for this project, we focused on sources about enslaved people with the thought that it would help genealogists and people researching their family history.”

From the Page began as a way for libraries and archives to crowdsource the painstaking work of transcription by uploading scanned documents for volunteers to work on. As a subscriber, the University Libraries had a chance to test out the platform’s experimental AI features.

From the Page uses an AI model to transcribe handwriting, overlaying original documents with transcribed words. It then runs the output through ChatGPT to see if the transcription makes sense and flows like language. Finally, a human checks the output for mistakes and accuracy. Transcriptions are preserved online, alongside the digitized images and metadata.

Because GenAI is based on existing models of language, the results can reflect human biases that have existed throughout society. 

“From the Page is very aware of the biases and issues with AI transcription. If they found something where they didn’t want ChatGPT to guess at words, they’d put an emoji placeholder for a human reader to check.” 

While the program has successfully decoded many documents, it struggles with certain cases. Pencil is hard for the software to read, as are faded and damaged texts. Slavery-era records contain a lot of tabular data, hand-drawn grids that are harder for AI to recognize and interpret. Dean says that working on this project has provided an understanding of how her team can use AI to save time on some tasks and allow them to focus on ones that need more attention and expertise from the archivists. 

“We want to have our collections extremely accessible, and in doing that, there are some needles and some haystacks. If we could have the AI help us find the needles, train it to look for things like bills of sale that are intermingled with correspondence, or to find the names of enslaved people in the correspondence of the white plantation owners, it might help surface some of these stories.”

Many people will say that their ancestors were just farmers; what else is there to know? A lot. We’ll plow into what they grew, their land holdings, the weather, and other influences that contributed to their hard times and the good times.

This program is free and open to the public. To register for this program, please visit the museum’s calendar, located at https://www.canoncity.org/Museum, to sign up for the event. Please register online or contact the museum for more information. This program will be held over Zoom from 9-10 a.m. Saturday, June 21.

The Museum and History Center is located in the City of Cañon City’s (Colorado) former Municipal Building at 612 Royal Gorge Blvd. The hours of the Museum and History Center are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call the museum at (719) 269-9036 or send an email to historycenter@canoncity.org.

Many people will say that their ancestors were just farmers; what else is there to know? A lot. We’ll plow into what they grew, their land holdings, the weather, and other influences that contributed to their hard times and the good times.

This program is free and open to the public. To register for this program, please visit the museum’s calendar, located at https://www.canoncity.org/Museum, to sign up for the event. Please register online or contact the museum for more information. This program will be held over Zoom from 9-10 a.m. Saturday, June 21.

The Museum and History Center is located in the City of Cañon City’s (Colorado) former Municipal Building at 612 Royal Gorge Blvd. The hours of the Museum and History Center are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call the museum at (719) 269-9036 or send an email to historycenter@canoncity.org.

The following is a press release issued by the (U.S.) National Archives and Records Administration:

On June 4, the National Archives gave members of the media a behind-the-scenes look at the new museum experience opening at the National Archives in Washington, DC, in October 2025! Visit our website to learn more about what to expect to see in this exciting new space, and check out USA Today’s written and video coverage of the preview. Mark your calendars --- The American Story opens on October 23, 2025. Members of the media photograph historical documents and artifacts that will be on display in the new National Archives Museum when it opens in October 2025, including gifts given to Presidents Nixon, Clinton, and Reagan. Protecting Family Heirlooms As part of the National Archives' 2025 Genealogy Series, conservators Sara Holmes and Sara Leonowitz will share their expert knowledge in caring for your family collections on June 11, 2025, at 1 p.m. ET. Watch the session on YouTube. Fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes are scary scenarios for those who treasure and maintain their family history. Learn what you can do ahead of time to plan for emergencies and minimize risk, as well as what to do after a disaster to salvage damaged items. Renovations at the Hoover Presidential Library For the first time in more than 30 years, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is undergoing a complete museum renovation, aimed at inspiring visitors of all ages to experience the stories of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover in new and engaging ways. For weekly updates on construction progress, as well as monthly timelapse videos, visit the Library’s renovation page.  Artists' rendering of "Life on the Jump,” a forthcoming exhibit space within the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.

Advanced DNA testing enabled central Florida police to identify the body of a man whose remains were discovered 31 years ago by connecting to his living relatives.

The Clearwater Police Department announced Monday that Edman Eric Gleed had been reported missing from Fairfax County, Virginia by his son prior to his death. He was 84. 

Law enforcement initially identified him as "Pinellas County John Doe 1993" because his body was discovered floating near a Clearwater bridge which is located in Pinellas County outside of Tampa Bay on Nov. 29, 1993.

Identification was not found on Gleed's body according to Clearwater police while investigators discovered no leads from the folded clothing pile near the lifeguard stand. The medical examiner concluded the autopsy showed no evidence of foul play even though it did not determine a definitive cause or manner of death.

The unidentified man's DNA samples were re-collected and sent to Moxxy Forensic Investigations for analysis using investigative genetic genealogy. The investigative technique works to resolve unsolved cases by comparing an unidentified person's DNA sample with family member DNA.

After months of genealogical research investigators discovered links to an 18th-century Bristol couple enabling them to establish an identity candidate who turned out to be Gleed.

Clearwater police said. The identification of Gleed was validated by DNA testing against a sample from his 94-year-old son residing in North Carolina.

Clearwater's deputy police chief Michael Walek expressed satisfaction about delivering both answers and closure to the family regarding their loved one's fate.

Ed Adams from Moxxy Forensic Investigations stated in his separate message that Gleed's case held deep personal significance for every member of their team.

Adams expressed gratitude for everyone's contribution to returning Edman Gleed to his family.