Author Profile

Rescue Operative Hiring Wounded Vets to Assist in Child Sexual Exploitation Cases
March 17, 2021
Wounded, ill or injured veterans are being trained and hired as computer forensic analysts to assist HSI in those investigations through the HERO Corps Program. read more
Dual-method Prototype Shows Promise for Court-admissible Drug Testing
March 15, 2021
Researchers have integrated two independent, validated drug-testing techniques—mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy—onto a single platform prototype for fast and accurate analysis of seized substances. read more
University, Highway Patrol, Othram Team to ID Homicide Victim 21 Years Later
March 15, 2021
Louisiana State University’s FACES Lab produced a forensic approximation of what Vernon County John Doe may have looked like and a DNA profile was developed and uploaded to CODIS. Despite these efforts, his identity remains a mystery over 20 years later. read more
Genealogy Links Oregon Man To Killings 20 Years Apart
March 15, 2021
Police arrested Lovrien, 53, in May after forensic genealogy linked him to the 1999 disappearance — and presumed death — of Mark Dribin, an airline cargo worker. read more
Colorado Police Arrest Man for Two Murders in 1982
March 15, 2021
Both Oberholtzer and Schnee were last seen hitchhiking outside of the town of Breckenridge on January 6, 1982. The women were not together. read more
Women in Forensics: Prioritizing Self-care to Minimize Burnout
March 15, 2021
We don't intentionally neglect our self-care, but multitasking becomes a routine that can lead to burnout among forensic scientists. Stress has become normalized for the forensic science community, and it's compromising the mental and physical health of women who have a difficult time saying no. read more
Keeping DNA the Gold Standard in the Search for Truth
March 10, 2021
Forensic scientists play a critical role in our criminal justice system. The stakes aren’t just missing a deadline, rather, it comes down to life and death. The takeaways from these described cases highlight critical lessons on the accuracy of forensic DNA analysis. read more
High-tech DNA Extraction Method Helps Identify Pregnant Jane Doe Found in 1988
March 10, 2021
Nearly 35 years ago, the remains of a young woman were found on the Publicker Distiller property in an underground pump house. Thanks to the use of forensic genealogy and investigative work, Lisa Todd, who was 17-years old and six months pregnant, has been identified. read more
DDP Identifies Woman After 33 Years
March 10, 2021
When she was found, it was determined that Denton had been shot at least once in the head. This case is still considered to be open and further investigations are underway into this murder. read more
California Bill Requiring Online Portal for Rape Survivors Clears Committee
March 10, 2021
The Senate Public Safety Committee approved legislation that will require the addition of a new online portal to California’s existing rape kit tracking system to allow survivors of sexual assault to anonymously and electronically track and receive updates regarding the status, location and information regarding their rape kit. read more
Retested DNA From 2003 Sexual Assault Leads to Arrest
March 10, 2021
The department obtained a DNA sample from the initial crime scene. This sample was submitted for analysis, however, no match was obtained due to limitations in technology at the time. read more
Species Traded Legally Through Hong Kong with Inadequate Traceability
March 10, 2021
Researchers analyzed trends in global legal wildlife trade from 1997 to 2016, and revealed that legal wildlife trade averaged $220 billion per year over this period. read more
SNP Typing in Universal Analysis Software and Kinship Estimation with GEDmatch PRO
March 08, 2021
Forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) has proven instrumental in solving cold cases. Current methods of generating genomic data for FGG, such as whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and microarray-based genotyping, are constrained by DNA input and low quality samples. The ForenSeq® Kintelligence Kit overcomes this barrier, offering a targeted sequencing solution for low DNA inputs and highly degraded DNA samples. This white paper from Verogen provides a workflow that generates new investigative leads to help solve violent crimes and missing persons cases when other options have failed. read more
In Search of a Silver Bullet for a Unified Forensic Science System
March 08, 2021
As a forensic scientist, how many times have you been frustrated by evidence collected from a crime scene? Be it why or how a sample was collected, decisions made at the crime scene—without a forensic scientist present—are irreversible and end up altering the course of the case. read more
Defense Lawyer Alleges Systemic Failure at Maine Crime Lab
March 08, 2021
A criminal defense lawyer claims that officials have withheld information that could reveal “systemic failures” at the state police forensic lab and has filed a lawsuit against Maine for the release of those documents. read more
DNA, Public Tips Help Solve 1974 Murder
March 08, 2021
Lori Nesson, an honors student at Columbus’ Eastmoor High School, was found deceased on Sept. 28, 1974, on the west side of Reynoldsburg. She had last been seen after a school football game the night before. Constrained by the technology available at the time, the case grew cold. read more
Australian Scientists Call for Release of Child Murderer Kathleen Folbigg
March 08, 2021
They say genetic evidence published in November 2020 shows some of the children had genetic mutations that predisposed them to heart complications. They argue these mutations are what likely led to their deaths. read more
Idaho Passed a Law to Compensate the Innocent
March 08, 2021
Governor Brad Little signed the “Wrongful Conviction Act” into law, providing state compensation for the wrongfully convicted in Idaho. This makes Idaho the 36th state to adopt a wrongful conviction compensation law. read more
With Unfair Police Treatment, Tragedy is not Limited to the Incident Itself
March 08, 2021
Research by a sociologist suggests that self-reported experiences of unfair police treatment are associated with a range of social-psychological and behavioral consequences. read more
How to Lawfully Collect, Examine and Analyze Data from Computers
March 03, 2021
In spite of modern difficulties, there are successful best practices and technologies for law enforcement agencies to deploy in terms of lawfully collecting digital intelligence (DI) from desktop and laptop computers. read more