Currently, under the Department of Justice’s 2019 interim policy for “Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Searching,” DOJ funds are allowed to be used for forensic genetic genealogy testing of any unknown deceased persons who have been declared homicide victims.
However, that leaves out an important portion of John and Jane Does. In some cases, a case of death is not immediately discernable upon retrieval of the remains. This could be due to the condition of the remains, which is heavily impacted by the surrounding environment. In other cases, there just may not have been enough evidence at the crime scene to determine a cause of death. And then there’s the homicides that suspects go to great lengths to conceal manner of death. No matter the reasoning, there’s no doubt that some cold cases not currently considered homicides are indeed homicides.
That’s one reason why Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) recently introduced the “Cold Case Modernization Act,” which would expand the criteria for DOJ grant funds used to identify unidentified human remains through forensic genetic genealogy testing.
“Across the United States, investigators lack the critical resources to solve the cases of tens of thousands of unidentified human remains,” Reschenthaler said. “The Cold Case Modernization Act puts these deceased Americans and their grieving families first, using state-of-the-art DNA technology to uncover answers and find the truth.”
The new bill updates the DOJ interim policy as such: “Any Department of Justice grant awarded to States and units of local government for forensic genetic genealogy may be used to identify unidentified human remains without regard to whether the manner of death is determined to be a homicide.”
The new act also authorizes the program and use of funds under the Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Act of 2019. Whereas the current wording of the public law reads, “An applicant receiving a grant award under this title may use such funds to (1) pay for the costs incurred…for the transportation, processing, identification, and reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains, including migrants”; the Cold Case Modernization Act adds, “without regard to whether the manner of death is determined to be a homicide,” to the end of the sentence.
The bill will now be referred to a committee.
A bill with the same premise was also proposed in October by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). The Carla Walker Act would create federal funding for agencies to use forensic genetic genealogy. It is named after 17-year-old Carla Walker, who was abducted from a bowling alley parking lot in 1974. Her body was found in a culvert three days later; she had been raped, beaten, tortured and strangled. The identify of her hiller was unknown until 2020 when Othram used forensic genetic genealogy to assisted the Fort Worth Police Department with a lead that pointed to Glen Samuel McCurley, who ultimately confessed.