Rootless Hair and Genealogy Help ID Suspect in 1983 Murder of 14-Year-Old

In this press conference by Tehama County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, a sheriff discusses the details of the solve of the murder of 14-year-old Rashell Ward.

Astrea had but only a few centimeters of hair to work with. It was enough.

It is a sad but poignant story that highlights the power of perseverance and innovative technology in solving cold cases, even from a single rootless hair.


Read more here in Forensic Magazine: https://www.forensicmag.com/608130-Rootless-Hair-Sample-Genealogy-Help-ID-Suspect-in-1983-Murder-of-14-Year-Old/


PERSEVERANCE AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES HELP IDENTIFY WOMAN

Press release announcement from Orange County Sheriff’s Office, NC

PERSEVERANCE AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES HELP IDENTIFY WOMAN

 

Hillsborough, NC (September 27, 2023) – Using new technologies and forensic genealogy, investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office have identified the remains of a woman found by road crews 33 years ago. Experts believe someone strangled her approximately one week earlier and dumped her body along the side of I-40 east near the New Hope Church Road exit. Today, Sheriff Charles Blackwood announced that the victim was 20-year-old Lisa Coburn Kesler who spent most of her life in Jackson County, Georgia.  

 

Although law enforcement officers first used the emerging science of DNA to obtain a conviction in a criminal case in 1986, the forensic applications of DNA were still in their infancy in 1990 when Ms. Kelser was murdered. Although able to confirm someone’s identity or prove someone’s involvement in a crime, DNA could not be used to identify an unknown person. 

Therefore, investigators used traditional methods such as interviewing potential witnesses, pursuing more hundreds of leads, searching missing persons reports, and creating a bust of the victim by applying forensic facial reconstruction techniques to a model of her skull. As the years went by, investigators and skilled volunteers tried new methods, such as generating a digital illustration approximating a photograph and circulating the image on social media. Despite these efforts, the identity of the victim remained a mystery. 

Sheriff Blackwood said, “Throughout the decades, some of our finest investigators kept plugging away. When you can’t close a case, it gets under your skin. You might set the file aside for a while, but you keep coming back to it, looking to see something you didn’t notice before, or hoping information gathered in ensuing cases has relevance to your cold case. Investigators also monitor new techniques and technologies in the field, which is what eventually led to the breakthrough in Ms. Kesler’s case.”

Investigator Dylan Hendricks, who took over the case in June 2020, received substantial assistance from agents with the State Bureau of Investigation. He eventually sent a degraded hair fragment to Astrea Forensics for DNA extraction. After they returned a DNA profile, Hendricks asked forensic genealogist Leslie Kaufman to assist with the case. Ms. Kaufman specializes in cases involving unidentified human remains and homicides. She began working to identify family members using genealogy databases and other tools. After she linked the victim’s DNA profile to people she believed to be paternal cousins, investigators began conducting interviews. They learned of a female relative named Lisa Coburn Kesler whom no one had heard from in at least three decades. Investigator Hendricks said, “Essentially, there was a Lisa-shaped hole on a branch of the family tree right where the DNA told us Lisa should be, and no one knew where she was.” They then requested DNA from a suspected maternal relative. Analysis of this genetic material provided additional confirmation. 

The results were enough to satisfy Clyde Gibbs, a Medical Examiner Specialist in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He updated NamUs, a national database designed to connect missing persons cases to unidentified remains, reflecting that the DNA method resolved her case. Additionally, the Chief Medical Examiner is now able to amend her death certificate, providing her correct name and including other demographic information.  

Sheriff Blackwood said, “I am very happy we solved the three-plus-decades-old mystery of this young woman’s identity, and I hope it provides solace to her family members. We are grateful to the many investigators, passionate volunteers, and talented professionals who assisted with this effort. I believe we collectively demonstrated the value of dogged determination, which we will now apply to the task of identifying her killer. There is no statute of limitations on murder, and no time clock on justice.”

The Young Woman Behind a Last Mystery of the Green River Killer

Recent New York Times coverage describes the identification of Wendy Stephens, the last victim of the Green River Killer identified and the youngest - at only 14 years old.

In 2020, the DNA Doe Project, on behalf of King County Sheriff’s Office, in Seattle, WA, enlisted Astrea Forensics to perform DNA extraction of the 37-year old remains.

In the labs, DNA was extracted from 100 milligrams of a tooth (upper premolar) and 100 milligrams of a femur shaft. The tooth and bone yielded 8.5 and 20.6 nanograms of DNA, respectively. As described in the NYT article, the samples went on to be sequenced, genotyped, eventually identified via investigative genetic genealogy by members of by the DNA Doe Project team.

“The way Wendy was identified”, said Detective Jensen, “I never would have believed it was possible 10 years ago. And now we’re doing it”.

Unfortunately, as we all know, answers are not the same as closure and we extend our condolences to the Gaspar family and all families of newly identified victims.

Somerton Man, Australia's Oldest Cold Case, Solved with DNA from a Single Hair

After 74 years of mystery, Australia’s oldest cold case has been solved. In July 2022, researchers Derek Abbott from the University of Adelaide, and Colleen Fitzpatrick of Identifinders International announced the identity of Somerton Man as Carl “Charles” Webb. The identification was made from the DNA extracted, sequenced and genotyped at Astrea Forensics from a single 5 cm rootless hair strand.

But more mysteries remain! Check out the Smithsonian Magazine write-up or the New York Times article on this fascinating case that has caught the attention of world for over 7 decades.

Dawn Olanick ID'd and Suspect Charged in 1982 Case (Warren Co, NJ)

The Warren County Prosecutor’s office and New Jersey State Police announced today at a press conference the identity of Dawn Olanick, known for 40 years at “Princess Jane Doe”.

Dawn was discovered in a cemetery July 15, 1982, in Blairstown, NJ, the victim of a grisly murder, her face beaten and unrecognizable. The Warren County Prospecutors’s Office, New Jersey State Police and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children - literally scores of investigators over the years - never stopped pursuing the identity of the body or her killer. By being open to new technology, their dedication paid off.

The new genetic testing and genealogy work took less than one year to complete, from start to finish.

From the press release at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC):

With the help of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Princess Doe’s molar and eyelash were submitted to Astrea Forensics in 2021, for possible DNA extraction. 

“What is so special about Astrea is that they are able to extract DNA from samples that are degraded or otherwise would provide no value,” said Carol Schweitzer, forensic supervisor at NCMEC. "We knew that if anyone could get the information that was needed, Astrea could.” 

And they did. 

Astrea Forensics’s genealogy file was delivered to NCMEC and genetic genealogy services were offered pro bono by Jennifer Moore of Investigative Forensic Technologies.

Within days, IFG discovered Dawn’s name. Within two months, her identity was confirmed.

We want to especially thank the NIJ grantee that subcontracted Astrea Forensics thereby allowing us to offer genetic services pro bono in aid of solving this case.

Not only did Dawn Olanick get her name back, the alleged murderer has been charged with the crime.

Peggy Dodd ID'd after 38 Years using Hair DNA (Fort Bend, TX)

In partnership with Intermountain Forensics, read more about the team, including Detective Scott Minyard and the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office investigators, whose efforts resulted in the successful identification of Peggy Anne Dodd, a woman whose body was found 38 years ago in Fort Bend, TX.

In 2021, Astrea extracted DNA from a single rootless hair ~4.5 centimeters in length. This hair contained hundreds of millions of unique human DNA molecules and allowed us to reconstruct 4.6x coverage of the human genome. We used these data to generate a SNP profile compatible with genetic genealogy databases, and returned the file to Intermountain Forensics to continue their work.

We want to thank Arc Bio, the entity that subcontracted Astrea Forensics to help their R&D efforts, resulting in our ability to offer our genetic services pro bono to IMF and Fort Bend County.

Bibb County teenager identified after 60 years

We are excited to learn about the identification of Daniel Paul Armentrout, an Alabama hitchhiker who was killed in a car crash in 1961, never identified until now. The story is described in detail in a New York Times article this month.

In February 2021, Astrea was sent bone powder from a tibia and a tooth root sampled from the Bibb County Doe. We extracted DNA using 100 mg of bone powder from each sample, yielding a total of >5 ng and >40 ng of DNA, respectively.

As announced by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: “Genealogy efforts led by Identifinders International LLC developed the resulting lead but a significant amount of work by others helped pave the way. #NCMEC worked alongside Bibb County in 2016 and exhumed the remains so that contemporary biometric and forensic testing could be applied. Astrea Forensics and Hudson Alpha Discovery developed the sufficient DNA file used for the genealogy research; and listeners to Gray Hughes Investigates YouTube channel raised the funds needed to cover the expenses. Every resolve is a team effort lead by talented professionals motivated to give these unidentified children their names back.

1994 Matilda Doe finally has a name (Ottawa Co, MI)

In January 2022, a Minnesota woman named Shelly Rae Kephart, also known as Shelly Rae Christian, was identified as the ID of Matilda Doe, a 1994 cold case from Ottawa County, MI. The ID was made using a DNA profile generated from her skeletal remains. Investigative genealogists from DNA Doe Project used this profile to identify close relatives, later confirmed by police.

As WoodTV states:

“Local police formed a task force in 1996 to investigate the deaths, which remain unsolved.

…

Then in February 2021, sheriff’s detectives, while working with the DNA Doe Project, sent some of the remains to Astrea Forensics to get a DNA sample, court records show.

DNA Doe Project conducts genealogical testing to identify cold case victims. The nonprofit says since starting its work in 2017, it has been able to identify victims in about 65% of the cases it has taken on.

Astrea Forensics, founded in 2019, uses proprietary methods to recover genetic profiles from rootless hair and other degraded samples.”

IGG used to ID 1997 remains of Stephanie Renee Judson

For the past 25 years, her remains had been known only as Ada Bones Jane Doe. This week, the DNA Doe Project (DDP) along with Kent County Sheriff’s Office announced the identification of skeletonized remains that were discovered in 1997 in Ada, Michigan, as Stephanie Renee Judson.

Multiple labs were involved in obtaining DNA with which to generate a SNP profile suitable for upload to genetic genealogy databases. Our lab at Astrea Forensics participated in the DNA extraction of the remains (tooth and femur) in 2020. HudsonAlpha Discovery Labs combined samples and enriched, successfully generating enough data for Kevin Lord of Saber Investigations to develop a DNA profile that could be uploaded to GedMatch. It took genealogists only one week to arrive at a candidate, later confirmed with a buccal swab from a family member.

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