Author Profile

Othram, Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office Seek to ID Young Boy Discovered in 2014
January 11, 2021
In January 2014, contractors working along a mid-central Mississippi creek discovered a skull in a drainage canal. Initial analysis suggested that the skull belonged to a young boy and that he had been deceased for several years. read more
Victims Help FBI Take Down Human Trafficking Network
January 11, 2021
After investigators built trust with her, she told them she had met Daniel Palacios Rodriguez while trying to survive on the streets. Rodriguez groomed her for prostitution. read more
After 3 Years and $1.5 Million Testing Rape Kits, Alaska Made One New Arrest
January 11, 2021
In the state with the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation, testing the backlog of rape kits may not be enough. Many were from cases where the identity of the suspect was already known, or were opened only to find no usable DNA. read more
Gaining Access 101: A Simple Guide to Data Extractions
January 08, 2021
For law enforcement, the days of simply asking suspects for their log-in credentials and collecting data from their phones are long gone, as are the days of easily bypassing a passcode. read more
Paper: Identical Twins Don't Always Have Identical DNA
January 08, 2021
The scientists found two groups of twin pairs, one where twins share mutations and another where the developmental mutations are only present in one of them at high frequency. read more
Alaskan Law Enforcement Ignore Law Requiring DNA Collection of Violent Arrestees
January 08, 2021
Law enforcement agencies across Alaska, including in the state capital, are failing to collect DNA from people arrested for violent crimes, violating a state law passed with great fanfare in 2007 that was going to put Alaska at the leading edge of solving rape cases. read more
Restorative Justice Preferred in Small-scale Societies
January 08, 2021
In large-scale societies, it’s anonymous—judges have no repercussions. In small-scale societies, the community knows the person, needs them and wants to keep them in the fold. read more
Ballistics Link Recovered Gun to Oregon Homicide
January 08, 2021
A gun found in the pants pocket of a man after he was killed by police in Washington fits the make of the gun likely used to kill a man after a pro-Trump rally in Portland, Oregon, new reports indicate. read more
New Law Provides Funds, Resources for Forensic ID of Migrants Along the Border
January 06, 2021
On January 1, 2021, President Donald Trump signed into law the bipartisan Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Act, which seeks to help local jurisdictions improve the recording and reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains found along the U.S.-Mexico border—a tragedy that is increasing by the day. read more
Kentucky State Police Crime Lab Recognized by OSAC for Commitment to Standards
January 06, 2021
Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratories were recently recognized by OSAC for voluntarily adopting rigorous standards in the analysis of seized drugs. read more
South Carolina: 2 Bodies Found in Separate Homes, One Burns Down 2 Days Later
January 06, 2021
Over the first weekend of the new year, the body of a baby was found inside the wall of a house being remodeling in South Carolina. That same day, a body was found in the freezer of an abandoned house. read more
Appeals Court Vacates Order Delaying Woman’s Execution
January 06, 2021
A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the only woman on federal death row to be executed before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. read more
ASPCA Opens Veterinary Forensic Science Center to Support Animal Cruelty Cases
January 06, 2021
The 3,000 square-foot facility, based in Gainesville, Fla., is staffed with five veterinary forensic experts equipped to assist law enforcement with animal cruelty investigations and prosecutions through services such as necropsies, live animal forensic exams, and forensic osteology. read more
Houston Forensic Science Center Adopts Rapid DNA as Crime Nearly Doubles
January 04, 2021
HFSC will be able to provide some DNA results to investigators in six hours or less, an important development that could help the Houston Police Department battle the rise in violent crime. read more
Ohio Police Solve 1992 Murder of ‘Baby April’
January 04, 2021
In November 2019, Moline Police Chief Darren Gault submitted a budget request for expanded funding for cold case investigations, which was unanimously approved. The extra funding allowed investigators to submit a genetic DNA profile for the Baby April case to Parabon Nanolabs. read more
Othram Working to ID Victim of Suspected Serial Killer Wayne Nance
January 04, 2021
The female victim is known in the area as “Jane Doe 3UFMT” and “Christy Crystal Creek” and is one of the three Jane Doe victims of suspected serial killer, Wayne Nance. read more
Chicago Ends 2020 With 769 Homicides as Gun Violence Surges
January 04, 2021
The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed. read more
Washoe County Crime Lab Eliminates DNA Backlog
January 04, 2021
Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam announced that the Sheriff’s Office Forensic Science Division (Crime Lab) has completely eliminated the backlog of DNA evidence kits needing testing. read more
Applied Biosystems GlobalFiler, GlobalFiler IQC, and GlobalFiler Express PCR Amplification Kits from Thermo Fisher Scientific
December 28, 2020
Around the world, Forensic DNA labs are being asked to do more with less. This is why the Applied Biosystems GlobalFiler IQC, GlobalFiler, and GlobalFiler Express PCR amplification kits combine reduced amplification time with exceptional discrimination power, even on the most challenging sample types for Human Identification. read more
Precision ID Ancestry Panel
December 28, 2020
The Applied Biosystems Precision ID Ancestry Panel can provide you with biogeographic ancestry information and guide your investigation process. read more