Parabon NanoLabs
Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is a company based in Reston, Virginia, that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations.
History
Parabon NanoLabs, a subsidiary of Parabon Computation, a computing software provider, was founded in 2008 by Steven Armentrout, Michael Norton and Christopher Dwyer. In 2018 Armentrout was the Chief Executive Officer and President of Parabon Computation. Parabon NanoLabs has developed oncology therapeutics and synthetic vaccines using nanotechnology and DNA phenotyping.Products
inSēquio™ Design Studio
Together with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, the United States Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation as part of a project in the Federal Small Business Innovation Research program, Parabon developed a computer aided design software called inSēquio™ Design Studio for nanoengineering DNA constructs. This software was used to design and develop synthetic vaccines.Snapshot
Snapshot DNA Phenotyping Service is the name of a DNA phenotyping tool developed by Parabon NanoLabs which creates composite face imaging sketches based on DNA samples. The algorithms used to make the composites are not open source, however, which has attracted criticism from members of the scientific community. Moses Schanfield, professor of forensic sciences at George Washington University, criticized the lack of any peer review, noting that there is no publicly available performance record for the product. In a 2016 article the American Civil Liberties Union recommended only using genetic phenotyping "...where the link between genes and external characteristics is based on well-proven, peer-reviewed, widely accepted science, such as is apparently now the case with hair and eye color." Skin color predictions have been reported to be somewhat reliable but not predictions of the shape of the face. North Carolina detectives felt Parabon's Snapshot DNA Phenotyping Service had been helpful in identifying Jose Alvarez, Jr. in 2015 as the killer of Troy and LaDonna French in 2012. Privacy restrictions in 2019 on the use of GEDmatch for genetic genealogy may make DNA phenotyping more common. Illumina, Inc. and Identitas AG are reported to offer similar DNA phenotyping services. The United States Department of Defense provided approximately $2,000,000 in development financing for Snapshot.Keystone
Parabon NanoLabs was awarded a two-year contract by the United States Department of Defense to develop a software platform dubbed 'Keystone' for the forensic analysis of DNA evidence.Genetic genealogy
Parabon's Genetic Genealogy Unit
In May 2018 Parabon NanoLabs appointed genealogist CeCe Moore as head of their genetic genealogy unit with three genealogists working for her.In cooperation with American law enforcement, Parabon uploaded DNA evidence from crime scenes to GEDmatch in an attempt to identify perpetrators.
In November 2018 Parabon said they were working on 200 cases, 55% had produced leads and in May 2019 they said were solving cold cases at the rate of one a week.
In May 2019, GEDmatch required people who had uploaded their DNA to its site to specifically opt in to allow law enforcement agencies to access their information. This change in privacy policy was forecast to make it much more difficult in the future for Law enforcement agencies and Parabon to identify suspects and solve cold cases using genetic genealogy.
According to an article published by Los Angeles Times in November 2019, " Moore said Parabon has opened about 300 DNA searches and that the lab has solved almost 100 cases — though arrests have not yet been made in several dozen of those cases." In May 2020 it was reported that Parabon had participated in nearly 500 cases with 109 suspect positive identifications.
In December 2019, it was announced that GEDmatch was sold to forensic, for-profit, DNA analysis company , whose CEO Brett Williams vowed to make the database safer for its customers, including fighting search warrants.
In a May 2020 interview with Scott Fisher of the podcast Extreme Genes, CeCe Moore revealed that in her capacity as the genetic genealogy lead, she no longer uses GEDmatch exclusively because of the decline of profiles available to law enforcement. Moore stated, "So, it would be better obviously, if we still had access to the full database, that million plus profiles, but it hasn’t stopped us. Also, we are using Family Tree DNA more and more all the time. Parabon is not able to upload directly but the agencies we work with can get the raw data from us and upload it to Family Tree DNA and then come back with that login information for us. So, we’re also helping to solve some cases with Family Tree DNA matches now. And as you know, theirs is the opt-out situation where you’re automatically opted in if you’re a US customer, unless you choose to opt out." This restricted direct-access limitation may be due to the fact that FamilyTreeDNA has their own genetic genealogy consultant, Barbara Rae-Venter, who solved the Golden State Killer cold case in May 2018.
On 26 May 2020, the ABC television network premiered , featuring Parabon's CeCe Moore, Steven Armentrout, Ph.D., and Ellen McRae Greytak, Ph.D. The hour-long episodes feature cases that Moore's genetic genealogy team has worked on since she started with Parabon.
Case Results: To Trial
The following cases include suspects who were identified and then arrested for the indicated offenses. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.| Suspect | Offense and Victim | Location of Offense | Offense Date | Arrested | Outcome |
| William Earl Talbott II | Murder of Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook | Snohomish County, Washington, USA | 1987-11-18 | 2018-05-17 | Was found guilty of two counts of aggregated first-degree murder on June 28, 2019. On July 24, 2019, Talbott was sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. This case was the first in which CeCe Moore provided a suspect's name based on extensive genetic genealogical research. It is also the first conviction in which genetic genealogy played an integral part. CeCe Moore was interviewed about this case and the future of genetic genealogy considering the new restrictions that have come as a result of privacy concerns. |
| Gary Charles Hartman | Rape and murder of 12-year-old Michella Welch | Tacoma, Washington, USA | 1986-03-26 | 2018-06-20 | Hartman and a brother were first identified as persons of interest, but Hartman was ultimately identified using DNA from a discarded napkin. In 2019 Washington state passed "Jennifer and Michella's law" named after Michella Welch and Jennifer Bastian. This law allowed police more latitude in taking DNA samples from convicted sex offenders. |
| Matthew Norman Dusseault and Tyler Grenon | Stabbing death of 81-year-old Constance Gauthier | Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA | 2016-03-23 | 2018-07-18 | Dusseault's DNA matched the crime scene DNA and when interviewed by police, he implicated Grenon. Both men have been charged with murder and conspiracy and are being held without bail. |
| Darold Wayne Bowden | Serial rapes as the "Ramsey Street Rapist" | Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA | 2006-08-23 | 2018-08-18 | August 23, 2006, is the date of the first offense of record. Multiple rapes attributed to the "Ramsey Street Rapist" occurred into 2018. |
| Michael F. A. Henslick | Fatal stabbing and sexual assault of 22-year-old Holly Cassano | Champaign, Illinois, USA | 2009-11-02 | 2018-08-28 | Although a convicted felon, Henslick had managed to avoid DNA testing. A discarded cigarette butt was used to connect him with the Cassano murder after genetic genealogy identified him as a person of interest. At the time of the murder Henslick lived a few blocks away from Cassano in a mobile home park. Police said he admitted to Cassano's murder when arrested but Henslick plead not guilty at his trial. |
| Marlon Michael Alexander | Serial rapes | Montgomery County, Maryland, USA | 2007-08-11 | 2018-09-13 | August 11, 2007, is the date of the first offense of this serial rapist, who was active into 2011. |
| Luke Fleming | Rape and murder of 47-year-old Deborah Dalzell | Sarasota County, Florida, USA | 1999-03-29 | 2018-09-16 | Fleming lived about seven-tenths of a mile from Dalzell's home at the time of her murder. |
| Michael Wayne Devaughn | 'Labor Day Murder' of 65-year-old Betty Jones and the rape of 81-year-old Kathryn Crigler | Starkville, Mississippi, USA | 1990-09-03 | 2018-10-06 | Crigler died two months after the attack, but Devaughn has not been charged with her murder. He is being held in a Mississippi jail on a $11 million bond. |
| Jerry Lee | Fatal shooting of 28-year-old Lorrie Ann Smith | Fulton County, Georgia, USA | 1997-05-25 | 2018-10 | Lee, 61, was arrested in Alabama and brought back to Georgia. His DNA matched the DNA from blood left at the scene. |
| Benjamin Holmes | Armed robbery and murder of 25-year-old student Christine Franke | Orlando, Florida, USA | 2001-10-21 | 2018-11 | After building a family tree, genetic genealogists identified Holmes and his brother as the most likely suspects. Police obtained a warrant for Holmes's DNA and found it matched the DNA left at the crime scene, eliminating his brother as a suspect. |
| John Getreu | Murder by strangulation of 21-year-old Stanford University graduate Leslie Marie Perlov | Santa Clara, California, USA | 1973-02-13 | 2018-11-20 | Police said Getreu's DNA was a match with the DNA of Perlov's killer. He has a criminal record, including rape and murder done while he was a juvenile. Police are reaching out to other jurisdictions to determine if Getreu could be responsible for other unsolved rapes and murders during this time period. |
| Christopher Quinn Williams | Multiple burglaries and assaults of women | Montgomery County, Texas, USA | 2015 - 2018 | 2018-12-08 | Williams' DNA has been linked to at least 4 open cases, while there could be as many as 16. He was released on $160,000 bond on the same day as his arrest. |
| Jerry Lynn Burns | Murder of 18-year-old Michelle Martinko | Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA | 1979-12-19 | 2018-12-19 | Burns was "linked by DNA from blood found on Martinko's clothing and elsewhere in the car at the crime scene." Burns was convicted of first degree murder on February 24, 2020. |
| Zachary Bunney | Murder of 47-year-old Scott Martinez | La Mesa, California, USA | 2006-06-17 | 2019-01-10 | Martinez was stabbed several times with a sword in his home. The suspect left two blood stains, most likely the result of cutting himself while killing Martinez. Police traveled to Oregon to obtain an oral swab of Bunney's DNA, which proved to be a match to the crime-scene DNA. |
| Russell Guerrero | Murder of 30-year-old Jack Upton | Fremont, California, USA | 1990-12-17 | 2019-01-22 | The warrant for Guerrero's arrest was made January 17, 2019, but he was living in Arizona at the time. He was arrested a few days later and is now awaiting extradition to California. |
| Steven Downs | Rape and murder of 20-year-old University of Alaska student Sophie Sergie | Fairbanks, Alaska, USA | 1993-04-26 | 2019-02-15 | Downs was working as a nurse in Maine and was extradited to Alaska upon his arrest. Downs pleaded not guilty on August 14, 2019, and bail was set at $1 million. |
| James Alan Neal | Sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old schoolgirl Linda O'Keefe | Newport Beach, California, USA | 1973-07-06 | 2019-02-22 | Neal was identified as a result of genetic genealogical research using FamilyTreeDNA. Detectives who worked the homicide originally carefully preserved DNA evidence that made Neal's identification possible over 45 years later. |
| Thomas Lewis Garner | Murder of 25-year-old US Naval basic training graduate Pamela Cahanes | Sanford, Florida, USA | 1984-08-04 | 2019-03-13 | Garner was Cahanes' classmate at the Navy's training center and the two knew each other, according to the Seminole County sheriff's office. Garner is being held without bond. |
| Theresa Bentaas | Death of her abandoned baby | Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA | 1981-02-28 | 2019-03-08 | The full-term baby boy died due to exposure. Bentaas told authorities that she had hidden her pregnancy and gave birth while alone in her apartment, according to a court affidavit. Bentaas is charged with first- and second-degree murder and manslaughter in the first degree, and is being held on a $250,000 bond. |
| Raymond L. Vannieuwenhoven | Murder of 25-year-old David Schuldes and the sexual aggression and murder of Schuldes' fiancée, 24-year-old Ellen Matheys | Silver Cliff, Wisconsin, USA | 1976-07-09 | 2019-03-14 | Vannieuwenhoven was charged with two counts of first degree murder and pleaded not guilty. He was held on a $1 million bond. |
| Coley McCraney | Murder of Tracie Hawlett and sexual assault and murder of J.B. Beasley | Ozark, Alabama, USA | 1999-08-01 | 2019-03-16 | McCraney is a truck driver and preacher with no criminal record. He voluntarily gave his DNA, which was found to match the DNA from the crime scene. He is being charged with multiple counts of capital murder, including one accusing him of killing Beasley during a sexual assault. |
| Terrence Miller | Rape and murder of 20-year-old Jody Loomis | Snohomish County, Washington, USA | 1972-08-23 | 2019-04-10 | This is the second arrest that Snohomish County has made as a result of their working with Parabon. Police were given a list of six brothers as a result of investigative genetic genealogy, but focused on Miller because he had been accused of several sex crimes as early as the 1960s and because he lived near Loomis at the time of her murder. Miller's DNA was obtained from a discarded coffee cup and matched with the DNA from semen found on Loomis hiking boot. Described as a "real predator," Miller, 77 at the time of his arrest, has plead "not guilty." |
| Johnnie B. Green, Jr. | Multiple rapes, kidnappings, robberies | Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA | 2009 - 2010 | 2019-05-07 | Green is linked to multiple cold-case rapes and is currently charged with seven counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of felonious breaking and entering, 14 counts of second-degree rape, 21 counts of second-degree sex offense, five counts of first-degree kidnapping, and seven counts of common law robbery. |
| Brian Leigh Dripps, Sr. | Rape and murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge | Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA | 1996-06-13 | 2019-05-15 | Christopher Tapp, who was coerced into a false confession, was convicted of Dodge's rape and murder, but was exonerated on July 17, 2019. This was the first genetic genealogy case that resulted in an exoneration. In May 2019, Dripps was identified as the prime suspect. When faced with the DNA evidence, Dripps admitted to her rape and murder, stating that he had intended to rape her, but her killing was "an accident." In 1996, Dripps lived across the street from Dodge and was even interviewed by the police shortly after her death. On August 23, 2019, Dripps was formally charged with rape and first-degree murder and on September 9, 2019, he pleaded not guilty to both charges. |
| Richard E. Knapp | Rape and murder of 26-year-old mother Audrey Hoellein Frasier | Vancouver, Washington, USA | 1994-07-17 | 2019-05-28 | Knapp, who had a criminal record, was living in Oregon at the time of his arrest. A discarded cigarette butt was used to identify him as the primary suspect. |
| Ivan Keith | Multiple rapes | Massachusetts, USA | 1990s | 2019-08-02 | Keith, who had a history of sexual offences, was living in Seal Cove, Maine at the time of his arrest. A discarded vaping pipe was used to identify him as the primary suspect. He was charged with five counts of aggravated rape, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of threats to commit bodily harm, breaking and entering into a building in the night with intent to commit a felony, perjury, making false statements, and failure to register as a sex offender. |
| Donald McQuade | Murder of 16-year-old Shelley Connolly | Anchorage, Alaska, USA | 1978 | 2019-09-04 | McQuade was arrested in Gresham, Oregon and charged with first and second-degree murder of Shelley Connolly. Connolly had been beaten, raped, dragged by a moving car and thrown over an embankment where she froze to death in the cold of the Alaskan winter. Parabon narrowed down suspects to three brothers using genetic genealogy and DNA taken from under Connolly's nails and on her body. Police found that one, Donald McQuade, had been living in Alaska at the time and obtained an exact DNA match with discarded cigarette butts. |
| Robert Hayes | First-Degree Murder of Rachel Bey, Laquetta Gunther, Julie Green, and Iwana Patton | Palm Beach, Florida, USA and Daytona Beach, Florida, USA | 2005-12 - 2006-02 | 2019-09-15 | DNA from Bey's murder scene matched DNA form a cigarette that Hayes had discarded. Initially charged for the first-degree murder of Bey, police have since tied Hayes to three additional murders through DNA and forensic evidence. Hayes faces the death penalty for the four first-degree murder charges. There is also the possibility of additional charges as an alleged survivor has come forward. |
| Jeffrey King | Rape of a 22-year-old female | Newark, Delaware, USA | 1993-08-04 | 2019-10-03 | Parabon produced both trait predictions and leads derived from genetic genealogy for the Newark Police Department to use to focus their investigation. King, a 54-year-old man from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, was 28 at the time of the crime. This case is the result of an initiative to test previously untested sexual assault kits in Delaware. |
| Giles Daniel Warrick | Rape and murder of 28-year-old Christine Mirzayan; several other rapes as the "Potomac River Rapist" | Washington, D.C. | 1998-08-01 | 2019-11-13 | Attacks of the "Potomac River Rapist" began May 6, 1991, and possibly ended when Mirzayan was murdered in 1998. The area covered included Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, with these crimes being connected by common DNA at all the scenes. Warrick was arrested in South Carolina and brought to Washington, D.C., where he has been formally charged with first-degree murder of Mirzayan in D.C. and with six rapes in Montgomery County. He was not granted bail. |
| James Curtis Clanton, formerly known as Curtis Allen White | Murder of 21-year-old Helene Pruszynski | Douglas County, Colorado, USA | 1980-01-16 | 2019-12 | At the time of Pruszynski's murder, Clanton was on parole for rape in Arkansas after serving about four years. His DNA was not in CODIS, however. Charges include felony murder predicated on an underlying crime of robbery and felony murder predicated on an underlying crime of sexual assault. Clanton was positively identified after genetic genealogy led police to him. They put him under surveillance and were successful in obtaining a beer mug that Clanton had used at a bar. Police are investigating if Clanton was responsible for other sexual assaults in the area at the time of Pruszynski's murder. In February 2020, Clanton pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. |
| Joseph Mills | Murder and sexual assault of 31-year-old mother Linda Patterson Slaten | Lakeland, Florida, USA | 1981-09-03 | 2019-12-12 | Slaten's young sons were asleep when their mother was assaulted and murdered. Genetic genealogy led to Mills as the most likely suspect. Police matched Mills's DNA from his trash to the DNA from the sexual assault. |
| William Blankenship | Rape of at least three victims | Cincinnati, Ohio, USA | 1999 and 2001 | 2020-02-11 | Blankenship was indicted on three counts of rape, two of which were against young girls aged 10 and 15. Police in Hamilton County are actively investigating the possibility that Blankenship has committed similar crimes in the area, including in Kansas. |
| Jonathan Hurst | Murder of Patricia Wilson, 85, and her son Robert Wilson, 64 | Sycamore, Illinois, USA | 2016-08 | 2020-02-24 | Since there is no known link between Hurst and the Wilson family, police have theorized that Hurst acted in a "random act of violence." Hurst is awaiting extradition from Cincinnati, Ohio to Illinois to face two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, Hurst faces the mandatory sentence of life in prison. |
| Joseph Jones | Murder of 52-year-old Robert Romero | Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA | 2018-07-30 | 2020-05-14 | Jones had been released four days before Romero's murder after serving 18 months of supervised probation for a fourth-degree felony. Police can make no personal link between Jones and Romero, making this a crime of opportunity. This is the first case that Parabon solved in New Mexico. DNA at the crime scene came from a pair of glasses and a flashlight and was compared to three persons of interest identified by Parabon. It was Jones's DNA that matched the DNA found at the crime scene. The execution of a search warrant for Jones's apartment revealed a handgun that may have been used to commit the crime. |
| Leroy Jamal Smith | Serial rape | Muskogee County, Oklahoma, USA | 1993-1995 | 2020-06-09 | Five cases have been positively linked to Smith, and Muskogee Police are asking for any other assault victims to come forward to determine if Smith was their assailant. |
| Alan Edward Dean | Sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Melissa Lee | Snohomish County, Washington, USA | 1993-04-14 | 2020-07-29 | Dean's arrest is the third made by Snohomish County law enforcement as a result of working with Parabon. The arrest of Dean was "uneventful," his DNA from a discarded cigarette matching the crime scene's DNA recovered from Lee's clothing. Dean reportedly knew Lee through a telephone "date line" and had been interviewed by police soon after her death. When Moore included Dean on her list of persons of interest, police quickly began surveillance because his name was in the case files. Dean has a previous arrest record that includes "marijuana possession, domestic violence assault, resisting arrest, failing to obey an officer and contributing to the delinquency of a minor." His bail has been set at $2 million. |
| Michael Allan Carbo, Jr. | Sexual assault and murder of 52-year-old mother Nancy Daugherty | Chisholm, Minnesota, USA | 1986-07-16 | 2020-07-29 | In what Chisholm investigators believe is the first case in Minnesota in which a suspect has been identified through investigative genetic genealogy, Carbo was arrested the same day as a direct DNA sample tested positive as a match to the DNA left from the sexual assault kit and from Daughterty's fingernail clippings. Carbo went to school with Daugherty's children and was never on the suspect list during the 1986 investigation. Carbo, who still lived in Chisholm, has been charged with second-degree murder and his bail has been set at $1 million. |
Case Results: Confessions
In the following cases, the suspect arrested for the offense subsequently confessed and was sentenced without going to trial.| Confessor | Offense and Victim | Location of Offense | Offense Date | Arrested | Sentencing |
| Raymond Rowe | Sexual assault and murder of 25-year-old schoolteacher Christy Mirack | East Lampeter Township, Pennsylvania, USA | 1992-12-21 | 2018-06-26 | Admitted to murder and was sentenced to life without parole. |
| John Dale Miller | Rape and murder of 8-year-old April M. Tinsley | Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA | 1988-04-04 | 2018-07-15 | Miller confessed and was sentenced to 80 years. |
| Spencer Glen Monnett | Rape, burglary and assault of 79-year-old Carla Brooks | St. George, Utah, USA | 2018-04-17 | 2018-07-27 | Normally, the names of rape victims are not released, but Ms. Brooks gave permission because she wanted to raise awareness about sexual assault. Monnett wrote a full confession and an apology letter. Ms. Brooks forgave him. Monnett was charged with rape and burglary and sentenced to a five-year-to-life term. |
| Unidentified 17-year-old Juvenile Offender | Aggravated assault of 71-year-old organist Margaret Orlando | Salt Lake City, Utah, USA | 2018-11-17 | 2019-04-24 | This was the first use of GEDMatch for a crime other than rape or murder and was CeCe Moore's first active case. This case also brought on the change in GEDMatch's Terms of Service, expanding the crimes for which the database could be used by law enforcement. GEDMatch removed all profiles from law enforcement's access and introduced the requirement for members to "opt-in" to allow law enforcement's access. The juvenile offender confessed and was sent to youth lockup. Ms. Orlando forgave him at his sentencing for aggravated assault and aggravated burglary. |
| Marquise D. Dozier | Multiple rapes | Allen County, Indiana, USA | 2015 - 2017 | 2019-03 | Dozier pleaded guilty to three counts of rape as part of a plea agreement. Because of his guilty plea, he was sentenced to 55 years and three additional rape counts and charges of burglary and battery with a deadly weapon were dismissed. |
| Fred Frampton Jr. | Armed robbery and subsequent death of 24-year-old Michael Anthony Temple Jr. | Odenton, Maryland, USA | 2010-02-02 | 2018-11-01 | Temple was left a quadriplegic after the robbery and shooting, and subsequently died June 18, 2015, as a result of the 2010 attack. The robbery and murder were committed by two men, but the second suspect, Jonathan Ludwig, had died in March 2018. Charges against Frampton included first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and armed robbery. In September 2019, Frampton pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, with the judge suspending all but 55 years. |
| Jesse Bjerke | Rape of a 24-year-old female lifeguard at gunpoint | Alexandria, Virginia, USA | 2016-09 | 2019-02 | On 17 October 2019, Bjerke pleaded guilty to all six charges against him. In return for his guilty plea, he will not be sentenced to a life term. He was identified through genetic genealogy and then confirmed as a match after his DNA was obtained from a discarded drinking straw. Bjerke will be sentenced in March 2020. Police are investigating if he is the perpetrator of another rape that also happened at a pool in 2015. |
Case Results: Identification of Deceased Primary Suspects
In these cases, the offender was identified, but died without ever being brought to justice. Although the percentage accuracy in the identification of these primary suspects is extremely high, the cases remain open because there can be no convictions.| Suspect | Victim | Location of Offense | Offense Date | Offender Death | Details |
| James Otto Earhart | Murder of 40-year-old realtor Virginia Freeman | Brazos County, Texas, USA. | 1981-12-1 | 1999-08-11 | Earhart was identified on June 26, 2018, but had already been executed by lethal injection in 1999 for another murder. |
| Robert Eugene Brashers | Murder of computer analyst Genevieve Zitricki | Greenville, South Carolina, USA | 1990-04 | 1999-01-19 | "Zitricki's death is believed to be one of the first attacks in a series of murders and assaults Brashers committed on women and children across four states, according to Greenville police." |
| Edward Keith Renegar | Kidnap, rape and murder of 32-year-old Pamela Faye Felkins | Greenbrier, Arkansas, USA | 1990-02-02 | 2002-09-05 | Renegar was identified "with 99.99% accuracy" on October 29, 2018, as the primary suspect. His biological daughter's DNA was used to confirm the results. |
| David Marbrito | The killing of 39-year-old Jodine Serrin | Carlsbad, California, USA | 2007-02-14 | 2011 | Parabon's Snapshot technology helped police narrow down their list of suspects, but it was forensic genealogy pioneer Barbara Rae-Venter who performed the genealogical investigation. |
| William Louis Nichols | Violent rape of a 12-year-old girl | Hernando County, Florida, USA | 1983 | 1998-10 | Nichols had previous rape charges from 1958 to 1972. Police made the announcement of his identification in January 2019. |
| Jerry Walter McFadden | Rape and murder of 20-year-old Anna Marie Hlavka | Portland, Oregon, USA | 1979-07-24 | 1999-10-14 | McFadden had already been executed in 1999 in Texas for another murder. DNA from McFadden's family confirmed the identification. |
| Joseph Holt | Sexual aggression and murder of 27-year-old Brynn Rainey and 16-year-old Carol Andersen | El Dorado County, California, USA | 1977 and 1979, respectively | 2014 | The El Dorado County District Attorney's Office has released several photos from various time frames of Holt, hoping that someone will recognize him and come forward with information possibly connecting him with other crimes. |
| Kenneth Earl Day | Rape and murder of 44-year-old Le Bich-Thuy | Rockville, West Virginia, USA | 1994-10-03 | 2017-03 | Day was also identified as the person who raped a 53-year-old woman on June 25, 1989. DNA taken at Day's autopsy confirmed the match. The Cold Case Section have released former addresses and multiple photographs of Day to determine if he is responsible for other crimes. |
| Cecil Stan Caldwell | Murder of 24-year-old Clifford Bernhardt and the sexual assault and murder of his wife 24-year-old Linda Bernhardt | Billings, Montana, USA | 1973-11-06 | 2003-12-13 | Caldwell was a former co-worker of Linda Bernhardt and had no criminal record. Initially, genetic genealogy pointed to Caldwell and his brother as persons of interest. His brother voluntarily provided his DNA and was subsequently eliminated. In March 2019, Caldwell was identified as the primary suspect. |
| Jeffrey Lynn Hand | Murder of Pamela Milam | Terre Haute, Indiana, USA | 1972-09-16 | 1978 | The announcement of Hand's identification, confirmed through the DNA testing of his two sons, was made in May 2019. He had a long criminal history, including homicide, stalking, and kidnapping. He was killed by police during a botched kidnapping. |
| Frank Edward Wypych | Murder and sexual assault of Susan Galvin | Seattle, Washington, USA | 1967-07-10 | 1987-04-07 | Wypych's body was exhumed and his DNA extracted to verify the identification, which was announced on May 7, 2019. This was the oldest cold case to be solved using genetic genealogy to-date. |
| Jake Edward Brown | Rape and murder of 11-year-old Terri Lynn Hollis | Ventura County, California, USA | 1972-11-23 | 2003 | On Wednesday, September 11, 2019, Jake Edward Brown was identified as the primary suspect in the rape and murder of Terri Lynn Hollis on Thanksgiving Day in 1972. Brown's body was exhumed and DNA was extracted from his bones. It was "a 1 in 20 septillion match." Police are using the DNA profile to determine if Brown was involved in other unsolved crimes. |
| Curtis Edward Blair | Brutal stabbing murder of 15-year-old Reesa Trexler | Salisbury, North Carolina, USA | 1985-06-15 | 2004 | Salisbury Police held a press conference on Tuesday, December 3, 2019, to announce that they have reached a conclusion on the brutal stabbing murder of teen Reesa Trexler. DNA collected from semen left in Trexler's body was analyzed by Parabon to produce both an ethnicity profile as well as a family tree through genetic genealogy. After the suspect was identified, Curtis's body was exhumed to obtain his DNA in order to confirm the identification. Curtis, who was in his 40s at the time of the crime has a criminal record. They declared the case "solved and now closed" and fully exonerated her sister, Jodi Trexler Laird, who had long been suspected of her sister's murder. |
| James Francis McNichols | Rape and murder of 11-year-old Julie Fuller | Fort Worth, Texas, USA | 1983-06-27 | 2004 | In early December 2019, Fort Worth police announced that they had positively identified McNichols as the man who raped and murdered Julie Fuller as she was taking out the trash at the Kensington Motor Lodge and Apartments. This was the first case in which Fort Worth police used genetic genealogy and they are reviewing other cases in which DNA evidence could be analyzed in the same manner to identify the offenders. |
| Clifton Hudspeth | Murder of 16-year-old cousins Jeffrey Flores Atup and Mary Jane Malatag | Milpitas, California, USA | 1982-12-20 | 1999 | Hudspeth had a history of criminal activity, including bank robberies, sexual assaults and at least one attempted homicide. He was identified by CeCe Moore and his body was exhumed to confirm the identification. Police are asking for help from the public to determine if Hudspeth is responsible for other offenses in Arkansas and San Diego, California, places where he had been known to live. |
| Bruce Lindahl | Sexual assault and murder of 16-year-old Pamela Maurer | DuPage County, Illinois, USA | 1976-01-12 | 1981-04 | It was announced during a press conference on January 13, 2020, that the late Bruce Lindahl was identified as the murderer of high school student Pamela Maurer. Lindahl died from "apparent accidental, self-inflicted injuries he sustained in the 1981 stabbing murder of Charles Huber, 18, of Naperville." His body was exhumed to make the positive identification. Investigators have "evidence possibly connecting Lindahl to crimes against other women between approximately 1974 and the time of his death in April of 1981." |
| Lorinzo Novoa Williams | Three counts of rape | Cobb County, Georgia, USA | 1999–06 to 1999-10 | 2019-12-11 | Williams was identified using genetic genealogy. He was first approached and interviewed by police who traveled to Arkansas where he lived. The suspect denied committing the sexual assaults, but just days after the interview, the suspect went missing and was then found dead. Subsequent DNA testing on the suspect's remains confirmed matches to the DNA evidence from the three rapes. Williams had a criminal record, including peeping tom, indecent exposure and burglary. |
| Robert Dale Edwards | Murder of Naomi Sanders | Vallejo, California, USA | 1973-02-27 | 1993 | Edwards' father was a co-worker of Sanders. At the time of the crime, Edwards as 22 years old. Parabon identified two possible suspects: one living and one deceased. The living lead was eliminated. Because the second lead, Edwards, had been deceased and cremated, investigators made a positive identification through his son's DNA. |
| Clayton Carl Giese | Rape and stabbing death of 12-year-old Marsi Belecz | Spokane, Washington, USA | 1985-08-04 | 1989-01-19 | Giese's family assisted the investigation by authorizing the exhumation of his body to positively identify him. He was 22 years old at the time of the murder of Belecz and died in a car accident about four years after. Belecz's sister "found comfort in knowing Giese can no longer hurt , but sent her regards to Giese’s family, because she said she knows what it is like to lose someone so young." |
| Daniel Leonard Wells | Sexual battery and murder of 23-year-old Tonya Ethridge McKinley | Pensacola, Florida, USA | 1985-01-01 | 2020-04-01 | Daniel Leonard Wells, 57, was facing charges of first-degree murder and first-degree sexual battery. Several items of evidence led investigators to determine that they were looking for only one suspect, whom Parabon and investigators ultimately identified as Wells. Police obtained one of Wells's discarded cigarettes to test his DNA for a match. "According to the arrest report, there is a less than 1 in 700 billion chance that the DNA from the crime scene is a match to anyone other than Wells." He was arrested on March 18, 2020, and was awaiting his first hearing that was scheduled for April 8, 2020. While in his jail cell, Wells hung himself, not giving McKinley's family the answers they had hoped for. McKinley's son stated, "It’s frustrating for our family on a lot of levels because we waited so long to get justice. Now, it seems like we just have a lot more unanswered questions." |
| Daniel Alan Anderson | Murder and dismemberment of 15-year-old John A. Muncy | Columbus, Ohio, USA | 1983-10-15 | 2013 | Although Muncy's remains were found on the western edge of Delaware County, police believed the teenager had been slain in Columbus and then dumped. Anderson and two of his brothers were first identified as persons of interest. Working with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, detectives ultimately positively identified the deceased Anderson as the murderer. Anderson had a violent criminal past involving boys, according to Sheriff Russell Martin. |
Case Results: Identification of John and Jane Does
Unidentified remains of deceased individuals are given the names Jane Doe for females and John Doe for males. In cases where homicide is suspected, the identification of the remains is the first step in finding the deceased's killer. Not all Does are victims of homicide, however.| Identified | Location of Remains | Deceased | Discovered | Identified | Details |
| Roger Hearne Kelso | Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA | 1963 | 1985 | 2019-06 | It was determined that Kelso was a homicide victim after he was found inside a trash can during building excavation in 1985. The young man was last seen in 1962 and coins found near his remains date no later than 1963. The perpetrator or perpetrators have not yet been identified. Police have set up a tip line and a $10,000 reward is still being offered for more information about Kelso's murder. Long before Kelso's identification through genetic genealogy, Parabon featured Kelso on their website to demonstrate the combination of DNA phenotyping and facial reconstruction techniques to put a face on unidentified remains. |
| Hassan A. Alkebu-Lan | Chesterfield County, Virginia, USA | 2016 | 2016-03-13 | 2019-03 | The body of AlKebu-Lan, 39, of Richmond, Virginia, was found by a fisherman near the James River. Police do not suspect this was a crime scene as there were no signs of foul play. He was identified in March 2019. |
| Sandra Renee Morden | Vancouver, Washington, USA | Between spring 1977 and fall 1978 | 1980-02 | 2019-10-29 | Sandra's bones were discovered by a father and son who were panning for gold in the Fly Creek Area near Amboy, Washington. She was given the name "Fly Creek Jane Doe." Parabon created both a Snapshot Phenotype image and conducted genetic genealogy research to find her family. Sandra's identity was confirmed using a reference DNA sample for the family given by a cousin, who knew the family story about a cousin who had gone missing in the 1970s. Sandra was born in 1962 and would have been about 15 or 16 years old when she died. Because Sandra's skeletal remains show trauma indicative of "homicidal violence," her case file remains open to find her killer: contact Detective Schultz at 397-2036 if you have more information about Sandra's family. |
| William Arthur Fiegener | Parker County, Texas, USA | Fall of 1984 | 1985-10 | 2019-12-23 | William's remains were buried in a shallow grave discovered by a father and son who were searching for a building site for a new home. CeCe Moore stated that this case was one of the longest she had worked on to-date. Officials have not made public the cause of death, but it was determined to be a homicide. In February 2020, police identified Forrest Ethington, Feigener's partner in crime, as the most likely murderer. Ethington had confessed to killing "Billy" to another associate after Fiegener was arrested for committing a smash and grab robbery using Ethington's daughter's car. The suspected motive was that Ethington feared that Fiegener would implicate him. Ethington committed additional crimes after Feigener's death, one for which he was sentenced to prison in 2010. He died in prison in October 2019 at the age of 81. Police announced that they would clear the case "by exception and the reason for the exceptionally cleared status will be death of the offender." |