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!
Serial Killer Suspect Dies 1 Day after Third Victim Identification (Forensic – 7/21/2025)
One day after genetic genealogy finally identified I-90 Jane Doe (1992), her alleged murderer— suspected serial killer Clark Perry Baldwin—died in prison from a heart attack.
Baldwin was arrested on May 6, 2020, for the 1991 murder of Pamela McCall, who was about 5 months pregnant at the time. In May 2025, Baldwin was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Tennessee. He was then going to stand trial in Wyoming for the murders of two unknown women—Bitter Creek Betty and I-90 Jane Doe.
Bitter Creek Betty was identified as Irene Vasquez in May 2022, although the identification was not made public until May 2025. Then, on July 17, 2025, investigators with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation announced they identified I-90 Jane Doe as Cindi Arleen Estrada.
Baldwin died the next day after suffering a heart attack in prison two days prior.
Forensic Crime Labs are Buckling as New Technology Increases Demand (Source NM – 7/21/2025)
Across the country, state and local crime labs are drowning in evidence.
From rape kits to drug samples to vials of blood, delays in forensic testing are stalling prosecutions, stretching court calendars and forcing impossible choices about what gets tested — and what doesn’t.
Now, as the need for forensic testing grows, state and local crime labs may face steep federal funding cuts that could further delay justice for victims, derail criminal investigations and overwhelm already backlogged systems.
Two key federal grant programs that support state and local forensic labs are at risk: One faces a major cut, while the other is funded below its authorized cap despite growing demand.
The proposed cuts have alarmed forensic experts and crime lab directors who say some labs rely heavily on these federal grants to keep up with mounting caseloads.
New Genetic Forensics Method Helps Solve Complex Wildlife Crime Cases (Phys Org – 7/21/2025)
New research reveals an innovative wildlife forensics method that uses advanced genetic tools and local DNA databases to help authorities solve complex environmental crimes involving multiple species. By analyzing real cases of poisoned vultures and poached gazelles, the research proves that even mixed or degraded evidence can be used to identify species, trace their origins, and confirm criminal activity beyond reasonable doubt. This is critical because wildlife crime is a major driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and the ability to investigate and prosecute these cases effectively is essential for protecting endangered species and enforcing conservation laws.
The work is published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Knox County Regional Forensic Center, & Loudon County Sheriff’s Office Team with Othram to Identify a 2019 John Doe (DNASolves – 7/21/2025)
In August 2019, Tennessee Department of Transportation workers discovered partial human remains in a homeless encampment while mowing 100 yards from Interstate 75 in Philadelphia, Tennessee, a town in rural Loudon County, southwest of Knoxville. The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene near mile marker 68.6 and investigation was launched. The Loudon County Attorney requested that anthropologists from the Knox County Regional Forensic Center excavate and recover the skeletal remains.
Investigators determined that the remains likely belonged to an adult white man between 45 to 55 years old who stood about 5’11” tall. It is unknown when or how the man died, but there was no direct evidence of a traumatic injury, like a gunshot wound or blunt force trauma, and the man’s cause and manner of death were ruled as undetermined.
Near the man’s body were several items including a lighter labeled “Hot Spot” / “Rewards Spot”, which is from a chain convenience store in North and South Carolina, and a 2010 Pennsylvania Tourism and Transportation map. Despite an exhaustive investigation, including distributing a composite sketch of what the man may have looked like when he was alive, the man’s identity remained a mystery and he was classified as Loudon County John Doe. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP61281.
Recently, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Cold Case and Unidentified Human Remains Initiative along with the Knox County Regional Forensic Center and the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Othram in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the man. Forensic evidence was submitted to Othram where 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 unknown man. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team used that 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 unknown man. Reference DNA samples were collected from potential relatives and compared to the DNA profile of the unknown man using KinSNP® Rapid Relationship Testing. This investigation led to the positive identification of the man, who is now known to be John Arthur Troutman, born January 1, 1952. He was originally from Herndon, Pennsylvania.
During the investigation into possible relatives, John Troutman’s siblings were contacted and said they had not heard from him since the 1980’s. Investigators are hoping the public can help provide additional information about John Troutman and what he was doing in Loudon County leading up to his death. Anyone with information is asked to call the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office at 865-986-4823 or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
Othram Worked on DNA that Led to Kohberger in University of Idaho Murders (Forensic – 7/23/2025)
Today, Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders of four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13, 2022. The brutal crime shook not only the small college town, but the entire nation.
With sentencing now complete, more details about the forensics of the case have come to light. Specifically that Othram—a forensic genetic genealogy company very active in cold cases—were the ones to develop the SNP profile that pointed to Kohberger as the sole suspect in the horrendous crime.
Senator Secures $6.5 M for Forensics, Law Enforcement (Forensic – 7/23/2025)
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced the bipartisan Senate Appropriations Committee passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. With Committee approval of this bill, Heinrich secured support for over $6.5 million for nine local projects in New Mexico.
“While this Appropriations bill isn’t perfect, it includes resources and investments I negotiated for New Mexico that will help our law enforcement officers solve and reduce violent crime, keep our communities safe, and save lives,” said Heinrich, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “This legislation will allocate additional resources to investigate, respond to, and prevent crimes in Tribal communities, including funding to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. Additionally, the bill creates a fentanyl tracking system, builds on my work to prevent firearm straw purchases and illegal gun trafficking, and makes opioid use disorder medications more accessible to New Mexicans. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will always fight for investments that put New Mexico communities first.”
Shasta County Sheriff’s Office Teams with Othram to Identify the Suspect in a 1984 Murder and Sex Assault (DNASolves – 7/23/2025)
On December 14, 1984, two teenagers were parked near their high school where a crowd had gathered for an annual basketball tournament in the small northern California town of Burney, which is located in Shasta County. An unfamiliar car with an unknown driver parked directly behind the couple on Mountain View Road. An unknown man exited the car and approached the teenagers. The man shot and killed one of the teens, who was later identified as 18-year-old Terrance “Terry” Arndt. Terry’s teenage female friend was ordered to get out of the car. She was then sexually assaulted by the unknown man.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and launched an investigation. Crime scene evidence was collected, including forensic evidence from the assault victim’s clothes. Over the years, investigators have spent countless hours working to resolve the mystery around the homicide and sexual assault. At one point, a suspect was arrested and charged with Arndt’s murder and the woman’s assault. Traditional STR testing later revealed that the man was not responsible for the crimes and charges against him were dismissed. The STR profile of the unknown suspect was entered into CODIS, but there were no matches to a known individual. Despite a decades-long investigation, the suspect could not be identified and the case went cold.
In 2025, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the suspect. Using funding provided by Project 525, 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 unknown suspect. This DNA profile ushered in a new investigatory phase in the case. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team used the profile in genealogy research 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. This investigation led to the positive identification of the suspect, who is now known to be 64-year-old Roger Neil Schmidt of Tucson, Arizona.
Roger Schmidt was arrested on two charges–murder and sexual assault–in Tucson, Arizona on Monday, July 21, 2025. Schmidt, who was born in Shasta County in 1961, was a 23-year-old resident of Burney, California when the crimes were committed in 1984. Schmidt is being held without bail and is expected to be extradited to California.
DNA Reveals Identity of Man Whose Body was Found Over Three Decades Ago in Missouri (ABC News – 7/23/2025)
A man whose body was found in the Mississippi River south of St. Louis in 1994 has finally been identified after authorities exhumed his remains to collect new DNA samples.
In the latest cold case to be solved through advances in DNA technology, the sheriff’s office in Jefferson County, Missouri, announced Tuesday that the former John Doe was Benny Leo Olson from Edwardsville, a suburb on the Illinois side of the river about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis.
Officials do not suspect any foul play in the case, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
After learning Olson had been dead more than three decades, his half-sister Catherine Heston told the newspaper, “We knew something must have happened, but you never really know.” If alive today, he would be 76.
She said Olson was a “perpetual student,” attending St. Louis Community College-Meramec, Western Illinois University in Macomb and at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
But mental illness also lurked in the background. In 1980, he was charged with trying to pay someone to burn down his stepmother’s house. His fingerprints were taken as part of that criminal case, and those prints ultimately helped confirm his identity following a partial DNA match to a distant relative.
Olson, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was deemed not competent to stand trial. He spent 11 years at a mental health facility in Illinois before being released in the early 1990s, Heston said.
Heston said the last time she heard from Olson would’ve been about a month before his body was found in the river, when he called during what she described as a “paranoid delusion.”
The family often wondered what happened. Over the years, her mother kept a box full of mementos, including his high school class ring, family photos and other keepsakes.
Best-Ever Map of the Human Genome Sheds Light on ‘Jumping Genes,’ ‘Junk DNA’ and More (LiveScience – 7/24/2025)
Twenty-two years after the completion of the Human Genome Project, scientists have unveiled the most expansive catalog of human genetic variation ever compiled.
Across two new papers published Wednesday (July 23) in the journal Nature, scientists sequenced the DNA of 1,084 people around the world. They leveraged recent technological advancements to analyze long stretches of genetic material from each person, stitched those fragments together and compared the resulting genomes in fine detail.
The results deepen our understanding of “structural variants” within the human genome. Rather than affecting a single “letter” in DNA’s code, such variations affect large chunks of the code — they may be deleted from or added to the genome, or encompass places where the DNA has been flipped around or moved to a different location.
Essex County District Attorney’s Office Teams with Othram to Identify a 1992 John Doe (DNASolves – 7/24/2025)
In November 1992, the skeletal remains of a teen were found outdoors in Newburyport, a town in Essex County, Massachusetts. A father and son had stopped along Interstate 95 to pick flowers and found the badly decomposed corpse partially submerged in a swamp about 45 feet from the roadway. Authorities, including the Newburyport Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police, responded and documented the scene, noting that the remains were found with a dark, polo-style shirt, the elastic waist band from cotton underwear; and the remains of Levi jeans, size 32×30. Officials publicized the discovery and continued to investigate. For more than 30 years the State Police assigned to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office and the Newburyport Police attempted to identify the remains, but with no known leads the case went cold. The teen became known as Essex County John Doe (1992). Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP11797.
In May 2024, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas in hopes that advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy could help to identify the teen. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from skeletal remains and used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to develop a comprehensive DNA profile. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team then used the profile in a genealogical search to generate new investigative leads in the case, including the identification of potential relatives of the decedent.
Using this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted, leading investigators to potential relatives of the teen. A reference DNA sample was collected from a possible relative and compared to the DNA profile of the unknown teen using KinSNP® rapid relationship testing. This investigation led to the positive identification of the teen as Anthony Angelli Rea, also known as Anthony Angelli, who was born in 1973. Anthony lived part of his childhood in Malden, MA with his mother and was reported missing from the Harbor School in Newbury in August 1988.
Anyone with information about Anthony Angelli Rea is asked to call the Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Case Unit at 855-MA-SOLVE.
Use of DNA Spray to Identify Criminals Expanded (BBC News – 7/24/2025)
Police in West Yorkshire have said they will be rolling out the use of a DNA tagging spray across the whole county after what they described as “successful trials”.
A spokesperson for the force said the move, aimed at helping to identify shoplifters and those engaged in anti-social behaviour, came after a trial scheme in Wakefield and Leeds.
The handheld device can be sprayed from a distance at bikes, clothing and skin leaving an invisible trace which can be used as forensic evidence to link offenders to a specific crime.
The mist, which can only be seen under an ultraviolet light, clings to skin and clothing fibres for up to six months and cannot be washed off.