Welcome to Open Casebook. This week we have some cold case updates and a story about amateur genealogists helping move cases forward.
Case Movement
Tampa Bay, FL - Three cold cases have been resolved. In one case, genealogy generated family leads, and a sibling's DNA sample confirmed the name on July 15. - WFLA
Fond du Lac County, WI - Detectives reopened the 1983 disappearance of 5-year-old Bobby Jo Fritz, executing a July 21 warrant to excavate the basement of his former home. No remains, but fresh evidence is now under analysis after a year spent interviewing people never contacted in the original investigation. WFRV
The Breakdown: One Sample Tested Over the Years
On January 20, 2012, Irasema Chavez, 32, was found dead in her Arlington, Texas apartment. There was no forced entry. Surveillance showed a hooded figure being let in.
Investigators recovered blood at the scene that didn't belong to her. In 2024, they requested the FBI to use its Investigative Genetic Genealogy program to help look over the DNA evidence they had, and through two years of additional investigation, they were able to identify Velasquez as the alleged murderer, according to the chief.
First, the profile was entered into CODIS. No match.
Second: In 2016, Parabon NanoLabs ran DNA phenotyping and produced a composite and probable ancestry.
Third: In November 2024, Arlington police brought the case to the FBI's investigative genetic genealogy program. Genealogy doesn't search for the person; it finds them by building out a family tree.
Earlier this year it produced a break, and on July 16, police arrested Mayra Velasquez - a friend of the victim.
Evidence doesn't expire, and the technology to analyze it continues to improve. The FBI says the program has now helped solve more than 250 cases across 30 states. - ABC News / NBC
Volunteer Genealogists Continue to Move Cases Forward
In 1975, a young woman's body was found in the Mississippi River in Iowa. Last month, she was identified as Cheryl Lynn Edwards.
Sixteen volunteer genealogists from the DNA Doe Project worked the case over a single weekend and identified a Louisiana couple as her grandparents. CNN
Genealogy and the CODIS Database
Let’s say, for example, remains turn up with no ID. First, the lab may analyze a DNA sample and submit it to CODIS.
CODIS is the FBI's national DNA database. Most of what's in it came from people who've been arrested or convicted, so it really only answers one question: does this crime scene DNA sample match someone already in the system?
If the DNA profile doensn’t murder victim usually isn't. A case like this can sit there for decades with a perfect DNA profile and nowhere to compare it. That's the wall public genealogy databases get you over - instead of searching for the person, you search for their relatives.
This is why you’ll see more and more amateur (and professional) genetic genealogists making breakthroughs in cases.
Thanks for reading. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can help, have any questions or comments, please feel free to reply to this email.
David
Opencasebook.com