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!
A Geneticist Tells the Secrets of DNA Through Stories (The Scientist – 11/05/2026)
Since geneticists Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty demonstrated that DNA was the inheritable material between organisms in 1944, scientists have explored how this molecule encodes information.1 This in turn led to technological advances, from restriction digestion and PCR to CRISPR and gene editing, that have been applied well beyond the research lab. DNA is increasingly used in disease diagnostics, ancestry, and forensics.
As a result, DNA captures the interest of scientists and the general public alike. Turi King, an archaeologist and geneticist at the University of Bath, has seen this firsthand. In her PhD research at the University of Leicester, she explored the genetic similarities between men in Britain with variations of the surname Attenborough, finding that many had identical or highly similar Y chromosomes. This led to her receiving several emails with people asking about their own potential ancestry; these inquiries further increased when she turned to studying the genetics of the Vikings.
“One of the things that really comes across is just how interested people are in DNA and how many questions they’ve got about it, but also a number of misconceptions about DNA,” King said.
When she was approached by a book publisher, King decided to take many of the questions she already answered for individuals and turn them into a book. Through well-known and more obscure stories, King explores the advancements in genetics and the power and limitations of DNA in The Secrets of Our DNA: How Genetics Has Changed the World, which hit shelves on November 3, 2026.
Cybergenetics Helps Solve Two 1976 Cases Linked to Serial Killer (Forensic – 11/09/2026)
Cybergenetics Corp. assisted the Washington County (Pennsylvania) Police in their DNA identification of serial killer James Richard Clark Sr., who raped and murdered two young women 50 years ago.
Rush was 21 years old when she disappeared on Nov. 24, 1976, after leaving a local shopping mall. She had planned to meet her family at church but never arrived. The following morning, Thanksgiving Day, her brother located her vehicle along North Avenue in the City of Washington. Rush was found deceased in the trunk. Investigators determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Six months later, Brenda Ritter’s nude body was discovered in a field two miles away—she too had been raped and strangled.
In May 2025, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) sent Cybergenetics DNA data, asking if the two cases shared DNA from an unknown person.
The Susan Rush swab included a sperm fraction from green pants. The Brenda Ritter swab showed spermatozoa from pubic hair. Different DNA labs had developed conventional autosomal DNA data from these evidence items using different STR kits.
From the case data, TrueAllele software isolated the unknown male genotypes. TrueAllele then compared the two evidence genotypes, finding a match strength of a million. This new cold case DNA lead linked the two cases to the same unknown man—the serial killer.
Professor’s Math Model Cracks Cold Cases Faster (Forensic – 11/09/2026)
Barbara Rae-Venter had unmasked the Golden State Killer, but now she was stumped.
An investigative genetic genealogist, she helped pioneer a technique that combines DNA analysis with family-tree research to identify criminal suspects. In 2018, after she received the infamous serial killer’s genetic profile, it took her just 63 days to identify Joseph James DeAngelo, who later admitted to committing dozens of rapes and murdering 13 people.
Investigative genetic genealogy is a powerful tool for solving crimes, but it can be painstakingly complex. In December 2024, Rae-Venter and her team were stuck on a cold case involving a brutal sexual assault in Cleveland nearly three decades earlier.
The suspect’s DNA did not correspond to any profiles in a national law enforcement database. Using genetic genealogy websites, Rae-Venter and her team built a family tree of the suspect’s potential distant relatives, but none were in Ohio, where she believed he lived. Not many people in the databases shared DNA with the suspect, and those who might were unwilling to provide genetic samples. After almost four years of research, she recalls, “We couldn’t figure out what to do next.”
Then Rae-Venter got an email from Lawrence Wein, professor emeritus of operations, information, and technology at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He told her he’d developed an interactive algorithm that could speed up her research. The first case she sent to Wein was the Cleveland assault. His algorithm told her to look further back in the family tree for a relative who might lead her to the suspect’s identity.
Pennsylvania State Police Leverage Othram’s Identity Inference Pipeline to Identify a Pennsylvania Serial Killer (DNASolves – 11/09/2026)
On November 24, 1976, 21-year-old Susan Rush left her job at the G.C. Murphy store near the Washington Mall in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Rush planned to meet her family at their church for a Thanksgiving Eve dinner and service, but she never arrived.
When Rush did not return home, her family reported her missing. The following morning, Rush’s brother found her locked car parked along North Avenue in the city of Washington, approximately one-quarter mile from the store where she worked. Rush was found deceased inside the trunk of the vehicle. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Investigators pursued numerous leads and examined multiple persons of interest, but the person responsible for Rush’s murder could not be identified. The case remained unresolved for nearly 50 years.
In August 2026, Othram received original crime scene evidence from Rush’s case. At Othram’s laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas, scientists worked to develop a DNA extract from the evidence. Othram scientists then used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to develop a comprehensive single nucleotide polymorphism profile for the unknown man whose DNA was found on the evidence. The resulting SNP profile was returned to law enforcement.
Law enforcement leveraged Othram’s identity inference tools to investigate the identity of the unknown man. This investigation led to the identification of James Richard Clark, Sr. as the person responsible for Rush’s murder. Clark lived in the Washington County area when Rush was killed and was 19 years old at the time. He later worked as a long-haul truck driver. Clark died of natural causes in 2023 at the age of 66.
Investigators also determined that DNA evidence connected Clark to the 1977 murder of 18-year-old Brenda Lee Ritter. Ritter disappeared after leaving her boyfriend’s home in Chartiers Township on May 18, 1977. Her abandoned vehicle was discovered the following day, and her body was found on a nearby hillside in South Strabane Township. Investigators determined that Ritter had also been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Peek Behind the Paper | Performance of Microarray Genotyping and Massively Parallel Sequencing for Dense SNP Profiling of Challenged Skeletal Remains (Biotechniques – 11/10/26)
In this interview, we speak to David Mittelman, CEO of Othram (TX, USA), a company specializing in forensic genetic genealogy for solving cold cases, about his recent BioTechniques paper ‘Performance of microarray genotyping and massively parallel sequencing for dense SNP profiling of challenged skeletal remains‘.
“Millions of people worldwide remain unidentified after death, and genomics gives us the tools to help restore their identities and bring dignity and respect to these people and their families,” Mittelman told us. “Building reliable DNA profiles is a prerequisite to that mission. Our research aims to guide laboratories on how to process these remains and choose the most effective methods. Behind every case is a real person, so each case deserves careful handling and the best available tools.”
Mittelman earned his PhD in molecular biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine (TX, USA) and completed postdoctoral training at its Human Genome Sequencing Center. His research has focused on human genetic variation and developing tools to extract useful information from genomic data.
BYU Students Help Families Find Answers About Missing Service Members this Veterans Day (BYU – 11/10/26)
Lt. Blaine Wilcox and Lt. Edgar W. Nevois were killed on the same mission during World War II in 1944. Nearly 80 years later, their remains were finally returned home – but the process of identifying their families involved an unexpected resource: genealogical research. BYU students are helping the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identify living relatives of service members missing from past wars, bringing answers to families decades later.
Since 2017, DPAA has sent individual deceased personnel files of lost service members to the BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy. Student teams research the service members’ families to identify living next of kin, along with relatives who may be eligible to provide DNA samples. Most cases BYU receives involve service members who went missing during World War II or the Korean War. In some cases, siblings or other living relatives remember the missing soldiers.
“The process feels like detective work – it’s a big puzzle, and every family’s different,” Claudia Sudweeks, DPAA Research Partner Fellow and BYU adjunct history researcher said.
“What makes this project so meaningful is that it extends beyond our doors, out to people in the world, where it’s making a real difference in people’s lives. Family members frequently express gratitude that their loved ones are remembered and that the repatriation project continues the important work of bringing them home. This project offers hope and the possibility of finally receiving answers decades after their soldier has been lost.”
Students in the Family History major – a major unique to BYU – work at the Center for Family History and Genealogy, digging through old documents online. BYU is the only university in the country with an academic family history research center on campus, offering students job experience. Students on the repatriation project team locate records about fallen soldiers and their families.
Toronto Police Service Leverages Othram Technology to Identify a 1992 John Doe (DNASolves – 11/11/26)
On September 15, 1992, police officers, firefighters and paramedics responded to a report of an unresponsive man lying on the lawn of a church near Queen Street East and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario. Despite efforts to revive him, the man was pronounced deceased. His death was determined not to be suspicious.
The man carried no identification, and conventional investigative methods were unsuccessful in determining his identity. The case remained unresolved for more than three decades.
In 2025, the case was selected for investigation using investigative genetic genealogy as part of the Toronto Police Service’s Project 31 initiative, named for 31 open Toronto cases involving long-term unidentified deceased individuals who investigators hope to identify using advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy.
In October 2025, Othram received a DNA extract developed from forensic evidence in the case. Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to develop a comprehensive single nucleotide polymorphism profile for the unidentified man. The resulting SNP profile was returned to the Toronto Police Service for use in a forensic genetic genealogy search. Although the man’s closest genetic relatives were distant, the results suggested that he was from the United Kingdom.
After months of research, the Toronto Police Service’s genealogy team and investigators determined that the unidentified man was likely a man named Derek who had moved from the United Kingdom to Toronto during the 1970s. Using a fingerprint comparison, investigators successfully identified the man. Members of the Toronto Police Service contacted Derek’s family in the United Kingdom and notified them of his identification.
Derek was reported missing by his lawyer in December 1993, approximately 15 months after the unidentified man was found. Investigators did not connect the missing-person investigation to the unidentified man at the time.
Derek’s missing-person case was later closed after investigators were informed that he had died on a particular date. It was subsequently determined that this information resulted from a miscommunication. Derek had been legally declared dead after years of failing to respond to correspondence, but no official record established when or where he had died.
Washington State Patrol Teams with Othram to Identify a 1991 Cowlitz County Jane Doe (DNASolves – 11/12/26)
On May 14, 1991, a woman and the driver of the semi-truck in which she was riding were killed in a crash on Interstate 5 near Kalama in Cowlitz County, Washington. The truck struck a stationary commercial vehicle that had stopped for roadway construction, igniting a fire that destroyed the cab. Investigators identified the driver as Lester Harvel, a husband and father from Missouri, but were unable to identify his passenger.
Investigators traced Harvel’s route through fuel purchase receipts, determining that he had departed Villa Ridge, Missouri, on May 7, 1991, and traveled through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon before entering Washington. After delivering a load in Tacoma, he was traveling south toward Portland when the crash occurred. Harvel was known to pick up hitchhikers, but no one could confirm the identity of the woman traveling with him.
The woman’s remains were not recognizable due to traumatic injuries. Investigators estimated that she was between 20 and 29 years old, stood approximately 5 feet 1 inch to 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighed between 110 and 130 pounds. She had brown hair, a tattoo of the letter “S” below her left clavicle, severe scoliosis, and a small gap between her lower front teeth. She was wearing Levi’s jeans, a black cowboy vest, a gray top possibly containing pink, and feather earrings.
Despite investigative efforts, the woman remained unidentified and became known as “Helen Doe,” a name investigators chose because Mount St. Helens is visible from the crash site. Details of her case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP10449.
In 2022, investigators with the Washington State Patrol submitted evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas. Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive SNP profile for the woman. Othram’s forensic genetic genealogy team then used the profile to develop new investigative leads, which were returned to law enforcement.
Using these leads, investigators conducted a follow-up investigation and located potential relatives. The investigation ultimately led to the positive identification of Helen Doe as Mary Ellen McCullough, born March 26, 1957. She was 34 years old when she died.