Category
Interesting Cases
Clearing the Sexual Assault Backlog in Murdertown, USA
Clearing the sexual assault backlog in the US has become a top priority over the past couple of years, because each rape kit that sits on a shelf untested represents a victim ...
Exploring the Value of Biogeographic Ancestry in the Absence of a DNA Database
There are many scenarios encountered in forensic casework in which bone may be the only viable sample type for DNA testing, including fires, terrorist attacks, natural disaste...
Re-identification of the Titanic’s Unknown Child
On April 15, 1912, the Royal Mail Ship Titanic sank after striking an iceberg. Only 712 of the 2209 passengers survived. Within days of the disaster, the Mackay-Bennett wa...
Ancient DNA is a Powerful Tool for Studying the Past – When Archaeologists and Geneticists Work Together
Written by: Elizabeth Sawchuk, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York) and Mary Prendergast, Saint Louis University – Madrid DNA has moved beyon...
The Monster of Durrës
On October 11, 2012, an 18 year-old girl was found murdered and decapitated in the Durrës District of Albania. The victim, Ajshe Vata, was a good and honest girl who had a re...
Giving Names to the Victims of the Ardeatine Massacre
On the outskirts of Rome, Italy lies Fosse Ardeatine (the Ardeatine Caves). If you were to visit on March 24th, you’d hear a role call of 335 names being called out to remem...
Is it the Blood of Louis XVI?
The ill-fated Louis XVI was a French king who was famously beheaded along with his wife, Marie-Antoinette, during the French Revolution in 1793. Witnesses to the execution dip...
DNA Typing Confirms Bronze Age Mix-and-Match Burials
Archaeologists have made an interesting discovery while excavating the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age settlement named Cladh Hallan on the island of South Uist in the Oute...
The Killer of Little Shepherds
Douglas Starr, Professor of Science Journalism at Boston University, tells the story of the people who invented forensic science, the first criminal profile, and the first ser...