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Genetic Genealogy

Hitchhiker's 50-Year-Cold Case Cracked By Ramapo College's Genealogy Center Hitchhiker's 50-Year-Cold Case Cracked By Ramapo College's Genealogy Center
Hitchhiker's 50-Year-Cold Case Cracked By Ramapo College's Genealogy Center After nearly five decades without answers, the 1974 murder of Mary Schlais has been solved, thanks to groundbreaking work by the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center in Mahwah, NJ.  On Nov. 7, 2024, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest of Jon Miller, 84, of Owatonna, MN, in connection with Schlais’s death. Schlais, then 25, was hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Chicago when she was killed. Her body was found with multiple stab wounds along a road in Dunn County, WI, on Feb. 15, 1974.  At the scene, investigators collected a stocking cap t…
Ramapo College Cracks Hot Missing Persons Case Ramapo College Cracks Hot Missing Persons Case
Ramapo College Cracks Hot Missing Persons Case Students and staff from a New Jersey college center have cracked a hot missing persons case from across the country. The Ramapo College of New Jersey's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center (IGG) worked in collaboration with authorities in St. Louis County, MI, to successfully identify “St. Louis John Doe,” who had been missing since 2021. "This was a hot case, which generally refers to the presence of active, investigative leads," reads a release from Ramapo College's IGG. "The use of IGG in hot cases is a fairly new and growing concept." IGG's assistant director, Cairenn Binder, sa…
Virginia Lab Cracks Decades-Old Rape Case Leading To Arrest Of Maine Man Virginia Lab Cracks Decades-Old Rape Case Leading To Arrest Of Maine Man
Virginia Lab Cracks Decades-Old Rape Case Leading To Arrest Of Maine Man An arrest has been made in a decades-old rape case, thanks to a lab in Northern Virginia. Jamie Dodge, 48, of Brownville, Maine, is charged with aggravated rape and kidnapping in connection with an attack that happened in Holland, MA — which is just outside of Springfield, MA the Hampden County District Attorney's Office said. He was being held on a $250,000 bail.  A woman told police on July 23, 2000, that a man had grabbed her, dragged her into a nearby wooded area, and raped her. She described the man to police, but despite their best efforts, authorities were unable to find he…
Jawbone Of Marine Who Died In Training Exercise ID'd By Ramapo College Students Jawbone Of Marine Who Died In Training Exercise ID'd By Ramapo College Students
Jawbone Of Marine Who Died In Training Exercise ID'd By Ramapo College Students Students at Ramapo College helped identify the missing remains of a marine who had been dead for 73 years. In July of 1951, Leland Yager, a U.S. Marines Captain, died in a military training exercise. His remains were recovered in California and buried in Missouri. Years later, a child was doing a scavenging exploration in Arizona when they discovered an unidentified human jaw bone. Last year, enforcement in Arizona referred the case to the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center and students began working on the case, along with the North Texas Center for Human Identification …
Body Found By Delaware River Fishermen ID'd As NJ Man 20 Years Later: Bensalem Police Body Found By Delaware River Fishermen ID'd As NJ Man 20 Years Later: Bensalem Police
Body Found By Delaware River Fishermen ID'd As NJ Man 20 Years Later: Bensalem Police A body found by fisherman in the banks of the Delaware River in 2003 has finally been identified. The body of Edward Anthony Nece, whose father lives in Riverside, NJ was identified through DNA samples, Bensalem police announced Monday, Feb. 19. Nece's body was found by fisherman on Oct. 19, 2003, in a drainage area on the Yellow Freight property located at 2627 State Road. At the time, Nece had no identification, and his description did not match any reports of missing persons in the area.  An autopsy found the cause of death was drowning but the manner of death could not b…
COLD CASE: FBI Names Killer Of Pamela Conyers 52 Years After Her Murder COLD CASE: FBI Names Killer Of Pamela Conyers 52 Years After Her Murder
Cold CASE: FBI Names Killer Of Pamela Conyers 52 Years After Her Murder A break has been made in the murder of a Maryland teen that went cold over 50 years ago. Through investigative genetic genealogy, police have identified Forrest Clude Williams III as the suspect believed to be behind the murder of 16-year-old Pamela Conyers in 1970, authorities announced during a press conference held on Friday, March 10 . Williams died in Virginia in 2018 of natural causes, they said. Investigators do not believe that Williams and Conyers knew each other before the murder. For over fifty years, officials have sought justice for the teen victim, with all leads going …
DNA Evidence Leads To Killer In 34-Year-Old Cold Case In Berks County DNA Evidence Leads To Killer In 34-Year-Old Cold Case In Berks County
DNA Evidence Leads To Killer In 34-Year-Old Cold Case In Berks County A now-deceased man has been identified as the suspect who killed a 26-year-old woman 34 years ago in Berks County, authorities said. With new advances in genetic genealogy, investigators were able to identify Scott Grim, who died of natural causes at the age of 58 in 2018, as the man who beat and strangled Anna Jean Kane to death and dumped her body alongside Ontelaunee Trail Road in Perry Township, Pennsylvania State Police said. She was last seen on Franklin Street and South 6th Street in Reading at around 1 a.m. Oct. 23, 1988, police said. The DNA evidence found on the Birdsboro wo…
Detectives Say They've Solved Case Of 20-Year-Old Bay Shore Woman Killed Decades Ago Detectives Say They've Solved Case Of 20-Year-Old Bay Shore Woman Killed Decades Ago
Detectives Say They've Solved Case Of 20-Year-Old Bay Shore Woman Killed Decades Ago Police announced they have solved a decades-old murder mystery on Long Island using innovative DNA technology. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney and Suffolk County Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison announced on Wednesday, March 30, the solving of the murder of 20-year-old Eve Wilkowitz, whose body was found 42 years ago in Bay Shore this month. “We tackled this case as soon as I got into office and figured out a way to legally expedite the exhumation of Ms. Wilkowitz’s suspected killer in order to truly confirm what investigators knew all along,” said Tierney…
Arrest Made In 1999 Killing Of High School Student Nancy Noga Arrest Made In 1999 Killing Of High School Student Nancy Noga
Arrest Made In 1999 Killing Of High School Student Nancy Noga A 49-year-old Jersey Shore man was arrested 22 years after the slaying of a Central Jersey high school student Nancy Noga. Bruce A. Cymanski, 49, was arrested at his home in Barnegat Tuesday after the return of the Middlesex County Grand Jury indictment -- and a brief foot pursuit, authorities announced. Cymanski was indicted on first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, first-degree aggravated sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Sayreville Police Chief John Zebro…
ID Revealed, Photo Released Of 24-Year-Old Gilgo Beach Victim ID Revealed, Photo Released Of 24-Year-Old Gilgo Beach Victim
ID Revealed, Photo Released Of 24-Year-Old Gilgo Beach Victim The identification of “Manorville Jane Doe,” also referred to as “Jane Doe #6,” has been announced by authorities. Her body was found along with 10 other sets of remains in Gilgo Beach on Long Island. The Suffolk County Police Department, together with the FBI, made the announcement on Thursday, May 28 after utilizing genetic genealogy to determine the ID. Valerie Mack, who also used the name Melissa Taylor, went missing in 2000 at the age of 24.  She was working as an escort in Philadelphia at the time of her disappearance and family members last saw her in the spring or summer of 2…