No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door!
DNA Doe Project Identifies Man Killed in Youngstown-Area Accident in 1982 (DNA Doe Project – 1/06/2026)
More than four decades after he was killed in a traffic collision in Ohio, the DNA Doe Project has identified Western Reserve Road John Doe as 41-year-old Charles Joseph Nunnenman III. Nunnenman was originally from the Boston area but was last known to be living in Los Angeles, with his connection to Ohio still a mystery.
On August 12, 1982, a man was walking westbound on Western Reserve Road in the Youngstown suburb of Boardman, Ohio. Just before midnight, he was struck and killed by a car traveling in the same direction. The driver left the scene, but she later turned herself in. No identification was found on the man and the case soon went cold, despite local press coverage and the existence of a distinctive tattoo.
The Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office later brought this case to the DNA Doe Project, whose expert investigative genetic genealogists work pro bono to identify John and Jane Does. The Porchlight Project, a non-profit that works to resolve cold cases in Ohio, generously funded the lab work and database upload costs for this case.
The unidentified man’s DNA profile was uploaded to the GEDmatch database, but all of his DNA matches there turned out to be very distant relatives. It became clear that the man had recent European ancestry – specifically, deep roots in Ireland. However, after his DNA was uploaded to the FamilyTreeDNA database, a closer match emerged – a woman who shared nearly 2% of her DNA with Western Reserve Road John Doe.
This match allowed the team to identify a man born in Ireland in 1836 as a likely ancestor of the unidentified man. They built out all of his descendants and found that some of them had moved to Massachusetts, which is when they came across Charles Joseph Nunnenman III.
Nunnenman was born in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1941 and grew up in the Boston area, before later moving to Los Angeles. But while the team found plenty of evidence of his life in Los Angeles in the 1960s, he then seemed to drop off the radar.
With the team unable to find any proof that Nunnenman was either alive or certifiably deceased, they presented this lead to the agency. Investigators from the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office then contacted Nunnenman’s niece, who provided a DNA sample. The resulting DNA comparison confirmed that the man formerly known as Western Reserve Road John Doe was in fact Charles Joseph Nunnenman III.
Pineapple Leaves can be Upcycled into Fingerprint Powder (Forensic – 1/07/2026)
In South Africa, manufacturers of pineapple juice and other pineapple products discard thousands of tons of pineapple leaves every year, with most ending up in dumpsites.
The leaves are seen as agricultural waste and usually treated as useless. However, they can be converted into something that solves real-world problems – a powerful resource for both environmental protection and security.
This involves turning them into a special kind of nanoparticle.
Nearly 20 Years After Dog Finds Remains, Othram Identifies John Doe (Forensic – 1/07/2026)
In January 2006, a resident of Ruskin, Florida, which is just south of Tampa, found partial human skeletal remains belonging to an unidentified individual in their yard. The remains were brought into the person’s yard by their dog. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office responded and began collecting evidence and investigating. Nearly three years later, in November 2008, the dog led its owner to a dilapidated tent in the woods where more human remains were found. Forensic anthropologists determined the remains found in the tent belonged to the same person whose remains were found in the yard. The individual was determined to be White man, who was 30 to 50 years old, and likely about 6 feet tall.
Despite a years-long investigation, including the development and release of several forensic sketches depicting the man’s likeness, he could not be identified and he became known as Hillsborough County John Doe (2006). Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP0052.
In 2024, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas where scientists determined that despite the challenging nature of the evidence, advanced DNA testing could help identify the John Doe. At Othram, scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the provided evidence and used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the man. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team then worked to develop new investigative leads that were returned to law enforcement.
Using this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted leading investigators to potential relatives of the man. Reference DNA samples were collected from a relative and compared to the forensic DNA profile developed by Othram using KinSNP Rapid Relationship Testing. This investigation led to the positive identification of the man, who is now known to be Edward Russ Green, born Sept. 25, 1953.
“For nearly two decades, this man’s identity was unknown,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “I’m incredibly proud of our Cold Case Unit and our partners at Othram for proving that time does not erase our commitment to the truth. We were able to give Mr. Green his name back and provide long-awaited answers to his loved ones.”
University Launches Two Graduate Programs to Address Shortages (Forensic – 1/07/2026)
Wichita State University will launch two graduate programs in forensic firearms and forensic biology in fall 2026, expanding the pipeline of trained specialists prepared for careers in federal, state and local crime laboratories.
The programs were developed in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and regional partners at the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and they were created to meet a growing national need for examiners who can step into a lab and get to work.
“We asked, ‘What would a well-qualified entry-level applicant look like?’ That helped us identify the applied learning and the acquired skills that these programs would need to deliver,” said Delores Craig-Moreland, associate professor and chair of Wichita State’s Criminal Justice Department.
The MS in forensic firearms addresses a shortage of examiners nationwide — a niche field focused on the scientific comparison of firearms, toolmarks and ballistic evidence. The program emphasizes the examination of shell casings, bullets and related evidence, rather than gunsmithing or firearm mechanics, said Kristin Brewer, executive director of the Midwest Criminal Justice Institute, director of the Gun Crimes Investigation and Intelligence Unit, and codirector for the Wichita Crime Gun Intelligence Center.