In October 2019, the submitted DNA mixture profile produced no matches in the Virginia DNA Data Bank, prompting periodic searches against both the Virginia and National DNA Data Banks.
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DNA sequencing technologies have identified the historical remains of George Washington’s grandnephews, Samuel Walter Washington and George Steptoe Washington Jr., and their mother, Lucy Payne Washington, from unmarked, fragmentary bones left at the Harewood family cemetery in Charles Town, West Virginia, in the mid-1800s.
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A senseless argument that led to the murder of a 34-year-old man in a Pennsylvania diner parking lot has now been solved thanks to facial recognition technology and DNA left on a Styrofoam cup at the crime scene 12 years earlier.
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After being disbanded two years ago, the Portland Police Bureau has announced the reinstatement of the Cold Case Unit thanks to a grant awarded through the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI).
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This research has important implications for forensic investigations and being able to identify DNA from a primary contact—someone who may have committed the crime—as well as secondary DNA that was inadvertently and indirectly transferred through touch.
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The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced the findings of an internal affairs investigation into a former CBI DNA scientist accused of data manipulation of DNA test results.
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The researchers used two different techniques to extract DNA from the bones and teeth of 27 fire victims from incidents that included house fires, airplane crashes, truck fires and motor vehicle accidents.
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The sheriff’s office intends to pursue criminal charges for the alleged anomalies in her case work, however those charges have yet to be determined as the criminal investigation is still ongoing.
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DNA technology has identified the remains of two Indigenous women found deceased in the 1970s.
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In the U.S., different states legislate DNA collection in different ways. In July 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that changed the law in the Sunshine State.
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Upon being entered into CODIS, the suspect profile matched another suspect’s DNA profile from a 1975 unsolved homicide with the Westminster Police Department.
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Twenty years ago, defendants attacked DNA by saying a match was just similar to their own. Now, DNA profiling is so sensitive that the challenge has shifted from who to when: "It’s my DNA, but I deposited it a year ago, not yesterday when the crime happened."
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Creech has been convicted of five murders, including three in Idaho, one in California, and one in Oregon. He is a serial killer who is established to have killed an additional six victims, and has admitted to killing upward of 40 people.
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Laboratories in the United States already use direct PCR for reference samples where the DNA donor is known, but current federal quality assurance standards keep them from using direct PCR for forensic evidence.
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Recently, a suspect in a nearly 29 year old attempted murder cold case was identified using advanced DNA technology, known as familial DNA.
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