In 2022, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office (BXDA) received a grant through the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for the prosecution of cold cases (BJA-COLD). The purpose of the grant is twofold: to increase the number of prosecutions of cold cases, specifically homicides and sexual assaults; and to decrease the number of cases awaiting prosecution. The funding has allowed the BXDA to leverage the use of current DNA technology in developing and identifying new suspects and ultimately developing new leads in decades-old cases.
In addition to cold case homicides from 1978-2000, the Forensic Science Unit of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office is focused on what have been called “John Doe Indictments” from the early 2000s. A John Doe Indictment is a legal instrument used to stop the statute of limitations (SOL) on a criminal offense so that prosecution can still occur sometime in the future. The alleles representing the DNA profile of an un-named “John Doe” are read into the record during Grand Jury proceedings. After the grand jurors have voted a true bill to indict, the clock on the SOL tolls or stops, and the profile remains in the Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS) until a match is found. Once there is a match or hit to a known person, a name will attach to the DNA profile, and criminal prosecution can continue. Up until 2006, the statute of limitations on sexual assaults, a Class B Felony in New York, was 10 years after the crime occurred; after which time, a case would not be eligible for prosecution. In comparison, homicides have no statute of limitations and can be prosecuted many years after the commission of the crime.
The John Doe Indictments were possible because of the joint effort between the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), the five District Attorney’s Offices in New York City and the private laboratories that were subcontracted to do the lab work – The Bode Technology Group, Cellmark Diagnostics, and Genescreen. In total, 17,000 sexual assault kits were processed, generating over six thousand profiles for upload into CODIS. Two thousand profiles matched known people in CODIS and there were two hundred prosecutions citywide. This undertaking and collaboration ultimately led to the elimination of the statute of limitations on Class B Felony sexual assault crimes in New York State, removing a significant barrier to prosecuting sexual assaults.
After culling the backlog sexual assault cases in the early 2000s to determine which were viable for John Doe Indictments, the BXDA indicted eighteen John Does between 2003-2007. These indictments captured sexual assaults that occurred between 1993-1996, including five patterns. In 2022, these cases were revisited for additional work using the BJA COLD grant. Since the unknown male donors from these cases had already been in CODIS for twenty years with no match, Familial Search and Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) were the next steps available to move these cases forward. Guidelines laid out in the DOJ Interim Policy on Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Searching provided the framework for this undertaking. In this presentation I will discuss how BXDA triaged the cases starting with investigatory steps, locating evidentiary materials, and sample selection for additional testing. I will discuss our approach to choosing vendors in the ever-changing FIGG landscape. Lastly, I will share (anonymized) results of SNP testing in our cases to highlight the successes and challenges we have encountered with our FIGG results including the first IGG indictment in New York State in a sexual assault case.
In 2022, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office (BXDA) received a grant through the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for the prosecution of cold cases (BJA-COLD). The purpose of the grant is twofold: to increase the number of prosecutions of cold cases, specifically homicides and sexual assaults; and to decrease the number of cases awaiting prosecution. The funding has allowed the BXDA to leverage the use of current DNA technology in developing and identifying new suspects and ultimately developing new leads in decades-old cases.
In addition to cold case homicides from 1978-2000, the Forensic Science Unit of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office is focused on what have been called “John Doe Indictments” from the early 2000s. A John Doe Indictment is a legal instrument used to stop the statute of limitations (SOL) on a criminal offense so that prosecution can still occur sometime in the future. The alleles representing the DNA profile of an un-named “John Doe” are read into the record during Grand Jury proceedings. After the grand jurors have voted a true bill to indict, the clock on the SOL tolls or stops, and the profile remains in the Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS) until a match is found. Once there is a match or hit to a known person, a name will attach to the DNA profile, and criminal prosecution can continue. Up until 2006, the statute of limitations on sexual assaults, a Class B Felony in New York, was 10 years after the crime occurred; after which time, a case would not be eligible for prosecution. In comparison, homicides have no statute of limitations and can be prosecuted many years after the commission of the crime.
The John Doe Indictments were possible because of the joint effort between the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), the five District Attorney’s Offices in New York City and the private laboratories that were subcontracted to do the lab work – The Bode Technology Group, Cellmark Diagnostics, and Genescreen. In total, 17,000 sexual assault kits were processed, generating over six thousand profiles for upload into CODIS. Two thousand profiles matched known people in CODIS and there were two hundred prosecutions citywide. This undertaking and collaboration ultimately led to the elimination of the statute of limitations on Class B Felony sexual assault crimes in New York State, removing a significant barrier to prosecuting sexual assaults.
After culling the backlog sexual assault cases in the early 2000s to determine which were viable for John Doe Indictments, the BXDA indicted eighteen John Does between 2003-2007. These indictments captured sexual assaults that occurred between 1993-1996, including five patterns. In 2022, these cases were revisited for additional work using the BJA COLD grant. Since the unknown male donors from these cases had already been in CODIS for twenty years with no match, Familial Search and Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) were the next steps available to move these cases forward. Guidelines laid out in the DOJ Interim Policy on Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Searching provided the framework for this undertaking. In this presentation I will discuss how BXDA triaged the cases starting with investigatory steps, locating evidentiary materials, and sample selection for additional testing. I will discuss our approach to choosing vendors in the ever-changing FIGG landscape. Lastly, I will share (anonymized) results of SNP testing in our cases to highlight the successes and challenges we have encountered with our FIGG results including the first IGG indictment in New York State in a sexual assault case.
Workshop currently at capacity. A waitlist is available to join on our registration page.
DNA Specialist, Office of the Bronx District Attorney
Nana Lamousé-Welch, M.S. is the DNA Specialist for the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office in New York City. In her current role Nana acts as a liaison to the OCME and assists the district attorney’s office with all DNA related matters ranging from education to trial preparation and hearings to cold case investigations and genetic genealogy investigations.
