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!
Forensic Scientist Reflects on Work to Identify 9/11 Victims, 25 Years Later (KXAN – 9/10/2026)
Like most Americans, Michael Coble remembers where he was when two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center.
He even remembers the sound of what he believes was the third plane hitting the Pentagon, from his home in Arlington, Virginia. However, some of his most vivid memories from the tragedy come from the days that followed, when the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, where he worked, was tasked with identifying victims.
In 2001, Coble was a Ph.D. student at the lab, but he assisted in the early work of identifying some of the nearly 3,000 total victims immediately after the attacks. He said the lab largely worked cases involving victims from the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, when passengers on a fourth plane fought back against hijackers, taking the plane down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Coble described the situation as “all hands on deck.”
Inside the New York Lab Using Genetic Genealogy to Identify 9/11 Victims’ Remains (CBC – 9/11/2026)
Inside a lab in Manhattan, forensic scientists in white lab coats are still diligently working to keep a promise made 25 years ago.
They’re extracting DNA from thousands of pieces of human remains recovered following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, trying to match them to samples from toothbrushes, razors and other sources provided by family members of victims.
What has changed is the science they’re using to draw out the DNA from the remains, and the evolving forensic investigative techniques that didn’t exist in 2001.
Popular University Forensic Lecture Series Returns (Forensic – 9/14/2026)
The University of Rhode Island’s Forensic Science Partnership lecture series is once again back on the crime beat, with several legal and forensic experts slated to visit the Kingston Campus every Friday afternoon this fall.
In recent years, one of Rhode Island’s more unique seminar series has brought international and local authorities to talk about everything from cold cases to terrorist bombing incidents to the infamous 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. Visiting speakers have come from the Rhode Island State Fire Marshal Office, the Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence Police Department, Boston Fire Department, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies and institutions.
All lectures are free and open to the public, and held on Fridays at 3:30 p.m. in Room 100 in the Richard E. Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences, 140 Flagg Road, Kingston.
Othram Identifies 2020 Doe Found on Porch of Vacant House (Forensic – 9/14/2026)
On July 5, 2020, an unidentified man was found deceased on the front porch of a vacant residence in Birmingham, Alabama. The Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Office responded and began collecting evidence and investigating. The man was found unclothed and seated in a chair on the front porch of the residence in Birmingham’s East Lake neighborhood. His body was in a state of decomposition, and investigators found no identification, or personal property nearby.
Investigators estimated the man was between 60 and 70 years old. An examination later determined that his death was the result of natural causes due to hypertensive heart disease. Although investigators were able to determine how he died, they were unable to establish his identity.
Despite continued investigative efforts, the man could not be identified and he became known as Birmingham John Doe (2020). Details of the case were entered into NamUs as UP72429.
In 2025, the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. At Othram, scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile from the provided evidence. The DNA profile was used by Othram’s forensic genetic genealogy team to develop new investigative leads that were returned to investigators.
From 1907 to 2026: Genealogy Solves Century-old Identity Mystery (Forensic – 9/14/26)
In June 2011, when human remains were discovered in Wilmington, Delaware, those involved with the case considered the worst—and most common—scenario: a woman was murdered and her body was dumped in the woods.
Imagine investigators’ shock when, 15 years later, DNA finally identified the woman as Hannah Graham Kleitz, a 29-year-old woman who died in 1907 from a medical illness. Her body was not left in the woods to cover up a murder in the 2000s. Rather, she was interred in a mausoleum nearly 120 years earlier, before her remains were unlawfully accessed and desecrated in 2002.
Woman Whose Remains Were Found Beneath Calaveras Bridge Identified After More than a Decade (ABC10 – 9/14/26)
A woman whose remains were discovered beneath the Parrotts Ferry Bridge in Calaveras County in 2015 has been identified after more than a decade, authorities announced.
The Calaveras Cold Case Task Force said the woman previously known as “Parrotts Ferry Jane Doe” has been identified as Anita Kathleen Ranker, who was born Feb. 18, 1969, in Santa Clara County.
73-Year-Old Man Sentenced to Life for Raping Baltimore County Women in 1980s (CBS News – 9/14/26)
A man who was arrested in 2023 after DNA evidence linked him to two rapes in Baltimore County in the 1980s was found guilty Monday.
James Shipe Sr., 73, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of rape, sex offense and burglary charges stemming from two rapes in 1982 and 1986.
Overall, police said Shipe raped five women between 1978 and 1986 in Cockeysville, Maryland.
Charging documents show the first rape happened in September 1978, when Shipe broke into a woman’s apartment. He was later convicted of raping four other women in separate apartment units in December 1978, September 1982, May 1986 and September 1986.
Defendant Pleads Guilty after Forensic Genealogy Exposes 1988 Murder of Newborn at Sheppard AFB (United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Texas – 9/14/26)
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould announced that on Sept. 9, Tammy Sue Kerns, 58, pleaded guilty to second degree murder for killing her newborn son on or about Aug. 4, 1988, at the U.S. Air Force Regional Hospital at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Kerns was charged via Information with unlawfully killing a newborn male infant with malice aforethought on Sept. 1.
Grant Awards Nearly $600 K to State Police to Expand DNA Testing (Forensic – 9/16/26)
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced $582,174 in federal grant funding for the West Virginia State Police to expand DNA testing capacity, reduce processing times, and help law enforcement solve crimes.
“Processing DNA evidence faster can make the difference in solving a case, including cold cases that have gone unsolved for years,” Morrisey said. “This funding will give our State Police more tools to solve crimes and help keep West Virginia a safe place to live, work, and raise a family.”
The funding comes through the DNA Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction Formula Grant Program and will help the West Virginia State Police increase the number of eligible DNA samples analyzed for entry into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.
The funding will also help reduce turnaround times for forensic cases involving DNA evidence and prevent backlogs of forensic and DNA database samples.
Police to Exhume ‘Baby Boy Doe’ in Effort to ID Newborn Found in 1977 (Forensic – 9/16/26)
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is taking a new step in a nearly 50-year-old cold case involving an unidentified newborn whose body was discovered in a wooded area of Benton County in 1977.
On April 16, 1977, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office responded to an area approximately one-quarter mile northeast of the junction of County Roads 201 and 70 after a group of teenagers playing in the wooded area discovered the body of a small child.
Investigators determined the remains appeared to be those of a newborn infant. A plastic bag and placenta were located near the body. Despite an appeal to the public and an investigation by the Sheriff’s Office, the identity of the infant and the child’s parents remained unknown.
The newborn was subsequently known as “Baby Boy Doe” and was buried at Bentonville Cemetery.
Nearly five decades later, advances in forensic DNA technology have created new opportunities to identify individuals in cases that were once considered unlikely to be solved.
Remains of Missing Tenn. Woman Found 2 Years after Hurricane Helene (Forensic – 9/16/26)
On Sept. 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before traveling North, causing catastrophic flooding and extreme winds. Over the next three days, Hurricane Helene would cause $78.7 billion in damages and at least 253 deaths, making it the second-deadliest hurricane to strike the continental U.S. in 50 years.
Eighteen of those deaths were in Tennessee. Seventeen of those victims were recovered in the aftermath of the storm—everyone except Nancy Tucker.
Now, almost two years to the day, the Washington County/Johnson City Emergency Management Agency (WCJCEMA) has confirmed the recovery and identification of Tucker, the last person missing in Washington County.
Toronto Police Service Leverages Othram’s Identity Inference Platform to Identify the Suspect in the 2003 Attack of a Toronto Woman (DNASolves – 9/17/26)
On April 18, 2003, a 78-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and robbed outside her apartment building near Jane Street and Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, Ontario. The retiree, who used a cane, was returning from Easter shopping at approximately 7 p.m. on Good Friday when a man grabbed her and dragged her to a secluded stairwell. Her attacker stole cash, a watch, and a birthstone ring that had been a gift from her late husband. After the attack, the woman returned to her apartment in the assisted living building and called 911.
The Toronto Police Service began investigating, collecting forensic evidence and canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses. Investigators distributed a composite sketch of the suspect, and Crime Stoppers released a video re-enacting the crime in an effort to generate leads.
At the Centre for Forensic Sciences, forensic scientists examined swabs collected from wet spots on concrete at the crime scene. They developed a male DNA profile suitable for comparison. A crime-scene profile was entered into the national DNA database. Despite extensive investigative efforts, the suspect remained unidentified and the case went unsolved for more than two decades.
The victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, died in 2017 at the age of 92. She did not live to see an arrest in her case.
In 2023, investigators with the Toronto Police Service submitted evidence to Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas. The evidence arrived in July 2023. At Othram, scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive SNP profile from the evidence. The profile was then provided to the Toronto Police Service.
The Toronto Police Service’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team used the profile to search for genetic relatives of the unknown suspect. Through that search and subsequent genealogical research, investigators identified Barry Cory Ernest as a potential contributor to the crime-scene DNA evidence.
Investigators then pursued additional evidence to confirm the identification. On April 27, 2024, Toronto Police Service investigators conducting surveillance in Niagara-on-the-Lake recovered a coffee cup Ernest had discarded in a park. The cup was submitted to the Centre for Forensic Sciences, where it was processed for DNA. DNA testing linked the profile recovered from the cup to the male DNA profile developed from the original crime-scene evidence.
On June 26, 2024, members of the Toronto Police Service arrested Ernest and took him into custody.
On September 16, 2026, more than 23 years after the attack, Ernest pleaded guilty to sexual assault causing bodily harm and robbery. Sentencing remained pending at the time of the plea.