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!
GenGenies Partners with Coroner’s Office to Help Identify Fox Hollow Farm Remains (The Hamilton County Reporter Newspaper – 8/22/2025)
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office has partnered with GenGenies, a nationally recognized forensic investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) firm, to assist in the identification of human remains discovered in 1996 at the Fox Hollow Farm property.
GenGenies will provide its services at no cost to Hamilton County.
GenGenies specializes in forensic IGG, a cutting-edge investigative tool that uses DNA analysis and genealogical research to map familial relationships surrounding unidentified DNA samples. By doing so, the firm works to generate candidate leads that point toward the identities of unknown individuals, providing valuable direction in both criminal cases and missing persons investigations.
Fishers resident JJ Beck has been an in-house IGG volunteer practitioner since 2024. Recently brought on as a volunteer at GenGenies, she will serve as the direct liaison between the organization and the Coroner’s Office.
“Investment in Forensic Sciences Crucial for Ghana’s Justice System” (BusinessGhana – 8/24/2025)
COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the Technical Advisor to the Minister for the Interior, has called for heavy investment in forensic sciences to establish a more robust and reliable criminal justice system in Ghana.
She said forensics such as DNA, fingerprinting, and ballistics provided more accurate and incontrovertible evidence to convict real culprits as opposed to the system of hearsay, eyewitness accounts and confessions which usually resulted in wrongful convictions.
COP Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, a former Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), was speaking at the second National Colloquium on Forensic Sciences organised by the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (CANS) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
Held on the theme: “Forensic sciences for sustainable development: Interrogating the Use of Sciences in the Justice System,” the event aimed to promote dialogue among academia, practitioners and policymakers on the role of forensic science in achieving sustainable development.
“See if You Enjoy Building Family Trees” – Naming the Dead Star Rhonda Shares How Someone Can Be a Part of Their Projects (SoapCentral – 8/24/2025)
Recently, Rhonda Kevorkian, star of Naming the Dead and Executive Director of Human resources and Education at the DNA Doe Project, offered advice on how someone can start a career in this exciting profession. In the field of investigative genealogy, a genuine contribution is frequently sparked by curiosity. She also emphasized that genealogy is about finding ties that can eventually help families find closure, not only about names and history.
Impact of Cancer on Forensic DNA Methylation Age Estimation (Forensic – 8/25/2025)
In a new study by Charlotte Sutter, Daniel Helbling, Cordula Haas and Jacqueline Neubauer from the Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich and Onkozentrum Zurich, the researchers investigated how cancer might affect the accuracy of forensic tools used to estimate a person’s age from blood samples.
DNA methylation is a natural chemical modification of DNA that changes with age. Forensic scientists can use these changes to predict someone’s age from biological traces, such as blood found at a crime scene. However, medical conditions like cancer can alter these patterns and potentially reduce the accuracy of such predictions. This study investigated whether various cancer types influence the DNA markers used in age estimation.
The researchers applied the VISAGE enhanced age estimation tool, a widely used DNA methylation-based method, to blood samples from 100 cancer patients and 102 healthy individuals. Age predictions in the control group were generally accurate, with small average errors. Patients with solid tumors, including breast and lung cancers, showed only slightly less accurate results. In contrast, individuals with blood cancers, particularly chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), sometimes had large errors, with ages overestimated by as much as 50 years.
Missouri Launches Statewide Telehealth Network for Sexual Assault Forensic Exams (Forensic – 8/25/2025)
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Office on Women’s Health launched the Sexual Assault Forensic Exams via Telehealth Network (SAFEvT) on July 1, 2025. The SAFEvT Network provides telehealth support to hospitals that do not have forensic nurses available 24/7. It is organized in a hub-and-spoke model with multiple contracted hub sites providing around-the-clock support to their assigned satellite hospitals.
Hospitals across the state have choices in how they will provide forensic care to survivors of sexual assault. Some will continue to provide forensic exams with trained forensic nurses on site, and others will use the SAFEvT Network to guide their existing staff through the exams. Hospitals will continue training and starting their forensic programs for the remainder of 2025. The law allows hospitals to have six months from the launch of the SAFEvT Network, or until January 1, 2026, to start offering forensic exams to survivors of sexual violence. Hospitals with additional questions can contact DHSS staff at SAFEvT@health.mo.gov.
DNA Identifies Victim after 16 Years, Case is Ongoing (Forensic – 8/25/2025)
Last week, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) Homicide Cold Case Detectives positively identified a man in connection with a death investigation that began 16 years ago. The individual has been identified as Robert Stinton, 67.
On Feb. 15, 2009, CMPD patrol officers responded to the 3300 block of Idaho Drive where officers located a deceased male inside of an abandoned building. Due to decomposition, the Medical Examiner’s Office listed the cause and manner of death as undetermined.
There were no signs of foul play observed on the scene and no additional information to suggest foul play. Detectives worked diligently to identify the male over the years but were unsuccessful.
CMPD Homicide Cold Case Detectives adopted the case and began working to identify the male. Cold Case detectives utilized their advanced training on new technology that uses DNA and were able to generate positive leads.
Detectives received assistance from the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory and the CMPD Crime Lab in this case.
On Thursday, Aug. 21, detectives were able to identify the male as Robert Stinton and notified his family.
SAKI Grant Funds Genetic Genealogy Tests that Lead to Suspect (Forensic – 8/25/2025)
The Texas Department of Public Safety, Ranger Division, working in conjunction with the Mineral Wells Police Department, has arrested William Henry Lowery for an aggravated sexual assault that occurred in 2016.
On Dec. 10, 2016, the Mineral Wells Police Department responded to a call for service in the 300 block of 27th Street. At the time, investigators learned that a female victim had been sexually assaulted by an unknown male in her home. The suspect fled the scene before police arrival. During the investigation, law enforcement collected DNA evidence from the crime scene.
In 2023, this case was adopted by the Texas Ranger Sexual Assault Kit Initiative program (SAKI) under a grant from the United States Department of Justice. This grant provides funds for advanced DNA testing, including genealogy. Evidence was sent to Bode technology for SNP testing and genealogy research. Through this testing, a possible suspect was identified.
Evidence collected from the crime scene was compared with a possible suspect, identified as William Lowery. An arrest warrant for aggravated sexual assault was issued, and Lowery was arrested on Aug. 7, 2025.
The Texas Department of Public Safety thanks the Mineral Wells Police Department for their continuous efforts to bring justice for the victim in this case. The Texas Rangers appreciate the grant funding from the United States Department of Justice.
After Reexamination Leads to DNA, Police Exhume Teen’s Body in 1993 Cold Case (Forensic – 8/25/2025)
After spending the last two years reviewing the cold case murder of a teen, detectives with the Mason County Sheriff’s Office (Michigan) gathered enough information to make it necessary to exhume the girl’s body in hopes of solving the case.
On June 23, 1993, 15-year-old Melissa “Missy” Simmons was last seen at a Westco gas station in Scottville, Michigan. Three days later, her body was found in the Pere Marquette River in Custer Township.
“As the lone remaining member of the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, from the day Melissa went missing, this case has haunted me since that time,” said Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole.
Thus, two years ago, Cole asked two detectives to take another look at the case. In the course of roughly 730 days, the detectives reexamined every piece of evidence from the original investigation. They created a timeline surrounding Simmons’ disappearance, reinterviewed witnesses, eliminated individuals, followed up on tips and conducted over 100 new interviews—including people who had never been interviewed before. Their efforts yielded success: the detectives developed new persons of interest and found additional evidence.
In fact, the evidence was so compelling that one of the detectives flew to West Virginia to hand deliver the evidence to a forensic lab there. Upon analysis, the crime lab was able to establish a DNA profile. Cold said additional testing continues.
Armed with a DNA profile not previously available, Cole and the Mason County Sheriff’s Office determined it necessary to exhume Simmons’ body on August 9.
The Future of Forensics: How AI can Transform Investigations (Johns Hopkins University – 8/26/2025)
While TV dramatizations of crime scene investigations and court trials are considered a major influence of the increased demand for forensic evidence in the courtroom, technology may also be at the core of these expectations. The more sophisticated the technology that jurors have in their lives, the higher their expectations and demands are for forensic evidence, former judge Donald E. Shelton said.
As artificial intelligence and machine learning weave their way into a range of industries, forensics experts feel an urgency to evolve with technology.
At the recent Harnessing AI for Forensic Science Symposium, hosted by RTI International with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Johns Hopkins University Data Science and AI Institute, at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, Shelton and other experts from across the sector explored the potential use cases of AI in forensics along with the oversight and best practices needed to ensure machine learning models are leveraged responsibly for investigations.
Knox County Regional Forensic Center Teams with Othram to Identify a 2020 John Doe (DNASolves – 8/26/2025)
In May 2020, the skeletal remains of an unknown individual were discovered in a wooded area in the 200 block of Overbrook Drive in South Knoxville, a section of Knoxville, Tennessee that lies south of the Tennessee River. Several law enforcement agencies responded, including the Knoxville Police Department, which contacted the Knox County Regional Forensic Center and they began investigating and collecting evidence to try to determine the person’s identity.
The remains were sent to the Knox County Regional Forensic Center, where forensic experts determined that the individual was a man who was likely between the ages of 55 and 70. He stood between 5’5″ and 5’8″ tall. He was found with several pieces of clothing including a pair of windbreaker pants, a pair of dark dress pants and a pair of Wrangler brand jeans. He had a navy zip-up hoodie, a remnant of a glove with a John Deere logo and a wallet with torn and degraded paper and a Big Lots logo. Multiple missing persons reports were compared for potential matches over the next five years. Despite extensive efforts by law enforcement investigators to identify the man, no matches were found, and the case went cold. The details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP71379.
The Knox County Regional Forensic Center submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the man. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the provided evidence and then used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the man. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team used the profile in a genetic genealogy search 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 in Michigan. Knox County Regional Forensic Center death investigators made contact with those relatives, who stated they had not seen the man in 22 years. Reference DNA samples were collected from a relative and compared to the DNA profile of the unidentified man using KinSNP® Rapid Relationship Testing. This investigation led to the positive identification of the man, who is now known to be Gerald John Forsman. Gerald Forsman was originally from Livonia, Michigan and apparently lived in Knoxville, according to public records. It is unclear when he disappeared.
Forensic genetic genealogical testing on this case was made possible as a result of U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett’s 2024 Community Project Funding request through the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Knox County Regional Forensic center is grateful to all the agencies listed that assisted in identifying Mr. Forsman. This is the eighth cold case identity solved from this initiative.
Detectives Reopen Investigation into 1988 Death of Teens (Forensic – 8/27/2025)
On March 11, 1989, deputies from the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office responded to State Road 8 approximately 1 mile west of State Road 39 for a body located in a water-filled ditch.
The body was identified as 16-year-old Tamara Gifford of Florida but had relatives who resided in Starke County. Two days later, agency detectives located 17-year-old Christina Hillis, also from Florida, in the general area where Gifford’s body had been located.
The deaths of Gifford and Hillis were estimated to have occurred in December1988.
Following the discoveries of the bodies many interviews were conducted with individuals from Starke and La Porte Counties, along with people in Florida. Detectives learned the girls had been reported as runaways on Dec. 7, 1988, and are believed to have been in Starke County just prior to their death.
As time passed, no additional information developed, and the case grew cold.Several weeks ago, detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division began reviewing the case file, specifically the cause and manner of both deaths. Recently, detectives, crime scene investigators, and a retired deputy visited the area where Gifford and Hillis were found. Detectives have also been in contact with family members of Gifford and Hillis.