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!
Cold Case Team Identifies Remains as Known Victim of Serial Killer Duo (Forensic – 4/14/2025)
On April 19, 1985, Lonnie Wayne Bond Sr., his girlfriend Brenda Sue O’Connor, their 1-year-old son, Lonnie Wayne Bond Jr., and a family friend, Robin Scott Stapley went missing from Wilseyville, Calif.
Two months later on June 2, when Charles Ng and Leonard Lake were arrested for shoplifting, police quickly realized Lake bore no resemblance to the photo on his driver’s license—which read Robin Scott Stapley. The license plate on Lake’s vehicle was also registered to Bond Sr., but the VIN on the car was registered to Paul Cosner, who had disappeared from San Francisco in November 1984. A utility bill found in the car led detectives to a remote property in Wilseyville.
The property soon revealed Lake and Ng as serial killers. As the investigation continued, the bodies of Bond Sr. and Stapley were found buried in a shallow grave about a mile from Lake’s property. Police also unearthed over 40 pounds of burned and crushed human bone fragments corresponding to a minimum of 11 bodies. In 1985, these remains were interred in a San Andreas Crypt along with over 1000 unidentified pieces of human remains.
Last week, the Calaveras Cold Case Task Force team confirmed the remains of Brenda Sue O’Connor from those remaining in the crypt. O’Connor’s remains were prepared for transport back to her family on Thursday, April 10. Lonnie Jr., has not been found, yet.
STRmix Launches New Version of Investigative App for Calculating Likelihood Ratios (STRmix – 4/14/2025)
The team that created ground-breaking forensic software STRmix™ has launched DBLR™ v1.5, the newest version of its investigative application for rapidly calculating millions of likelihood ratios (LRs) in DNA evidence.
DBLR™ enables forensic laboratories to achieve superfast database searches, visualize the value of DNA mixture evidence, carry out mixture-to-mixture matches, determine whether there is a common donor between samples, and calculate any conceivable kinship relationship when used in conjunction with STRmix™.
DBLR™ v1.5 improves upon previous versions of the software by enabling the use of variable number of contributor (varNOC) inputs (utilizing the stratified LR) in the Automated Searching, Kinship, and Simulation (Explore deconvolution) modules. Updates to reporting to align the formatting more with other STRmix™ software are also now included.
“In addition, the latest version of DBLR™ contains a new pre-check feature added to the Kinship module,” explains Dr. Maarten Kruijver, developer of DBLR™. “While configuring propositions in Kinship, DBLR™ will use a simplified model to continuously run checks on the setup as changes are made. A warning is shown if the proposition can no longer explain the evidence or if a mutation would be needed to explain genotypes in the pedigree. This helps to flag input errors, incorrect known biological relationships, and genuinely exclusionary results.”
DBLR™ enables forensic laboratories using STRmix™ to explore the interpretation results from a DNA profile given different hypotheses. Thousands of LRs can be calculated and plotted to determine the expected range for different hypotheses, quickly helping to inform whether a profile is suitable for comparison with a person of interest or suitable for entry onto a database for matching.
Since having gone live in casework, DBLR™ has proven to be extremely useful, with multiple potential applications including performing unidentified human remains identification, saving analysts hours of manual kinship calculations. It is also effective in generating intelligence for cold cases when looking at profiles that span multiple items and may contain related or common DNA donors.
DBLR™ enables the Amelogenin locus to be included in LR calculations in all modules if it is present in the Allele Frequency file(s), a feature initially added to v1.4.
DBLR™ v1.5 also allows STRmix™ users to:
• Apply population stratification and utilize sequence-based data from STRmix™ NGS in the Kinship, Search Database, and Explore Deconvolution modules;
• Leverage probabilistic links within the Kinship module to probabilistically condition on the presence of a sample donor;
• Undertake direct comparison of one or many components of a forensic DNA mixture to a database of known individuals;
• Determine the genotypes of the most likely contributors to a profile;
• Combine multiple evidence profiles under the assumption that there is a common contributor within different samples;
• Build any pedigree imaginable and calculate LRs given different propositions; and
• Model linkage, mutation, and FST in the Kinship module.STRmix™, DBLR™, and a third software package developed by the STRmix™ team, FaSTR™ DNA, complete the full workflow from analysis to interpretation and database matching. FaSTR™ DNA rapidly analyzes raw DNA data generated by genetic analyzers and standard profiling kits and assigns a number of contributors (NoC) estimate.
STRmix™ can be used to carry out interpretations on the analyzed data and DBLR™ can be used for further investigations. DBLR™ can also take inputs from STRmix™ NGS, an additional software package in the STRmix suite.
The effectiveness of these solutions, coupled with the highly successful track record STRmix™ has established in producing usable, interpretable, and legally admissible DNA evidence in more than 690,000 criminal cases, has led to their widespread adoption in forensic labs worldwide.
Currently, 91 federal, state, local, and private organizations in the U.S. regularly use STRmix™ for DNA analyses. Internationally, STRmix™ is now being used by 29 forensic laboratories, including labs in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, as well as all state and territory forensic labs in New Zealand and Australia.
Genealogy Helps Victims who Appeared on America’s Most Wanted ID Assailant 32 Years Later (Forensic – 4/14/2025)
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced that the Taney County Prosecutor’s Office secured a conviction against Tony Wagner for one count of Forcible Rape: Aggravated and two counts of Assault in the First Degree for crimes committed more than 32 years ago.
“This conviction is a testament to the dedication of law enforcement and prosecutors who never gave up on seeking justice for these victims,” said Bailey. “The Taney County Prosecutor’s Office led the way, and my office was proud to assist in ensuring this violent offender was brought to justice. No matter how much time has passed, we will continue to stand with victims and pursue justice in cold cases across Missouri.”
On August 15, 1992, two young women from Texas were hiking in the Henning State Conservation Area in Taney County, Missouri, when they were brutally attacked. An unknown man struck both victims on the head with a rock. One woman pretended to be dead before escaping to seek help, while the other was forcibly raped. Law enforcement later located her using a helicopter. Both women suffered severe injuries that had lasting effects on their lives.
The Taney County Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol conducted an extensive investigation. The victims even appeared on America’s Most Wanted in hopes of identifying the assailant. Despite numerous leads, the case remained unsolved until forensic testing of evidence collected in 1992 provided a breakthrough.
In August 2022, genetic genealogy testing led investigators to new suspects, including Tony Wagner. The Missouri State Highway Patrol, in collaboration with the Fort Scott, Kansas, Police Department, conducted surveillance on Wagner and obtained discarded DNA. A lab analysis confirmed that Wagner’s DNA matched the sexual assault kit from 1992, conclusively identifying him as the perpetrator.
Tulsa to Hold Second Round of Genealogy Workshops (Forensic – 4/14/2025)
The City of Tulsa, in collaboration with Intermountain Forensics and the Greenwood Cultural Center, will host the second round of Community Engagement Genealogy Workshops from April 25 to April 27, 2025, at the Greenwood Cultural Center.
Residents who are interested in participating in one of the workshops are asked to fill out pre-registration information at www.greenwoodculturalcenter.org/genealogy-workshop Friday and Saturday’s workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday’s optional workday will go from 1 – 7 p.m. Space in each workshop is limited, so residents are asked to register early. Due to the private nature of genetic genealogy, each workshop is limited to registered participants only.
Workshops are part of the City’s goal to increase public awareness and empower community members, especially those in Greenwood and North Tulsa – and 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre descendants – to explore their own genealogies, connecting them with resources and experts to uncover family histories.
Sexual Transfer of Bacteria for Forensic Use (Nature – 4/14/2025)
Transfer of bacterial species during sexual intercourse occurs despite condom use and could be used in a forensic setting, according to a study published in iScience.
Transfer of physical and biological material is a core tenet of forensic science. However, in crimes involving sexual assault that do not find human DNA transfer between victim and perpetrator, a criminal case can be hard to establish. Usually, this involves isolation of a perpetrator’s sperm from the victim (who is most commonly a woman). However, such samples need to be collected quickly, and the techniques used to identify DNA and differentiate it from that of the victim are limited. Differences in the microbiomes of the penile skin and vagina are due to the largely aerobic environment of the penis (apart from potentially under the prepuce of uncircumcised men), compared with the anaerobic vagina. These differences enable transfer of taxa not normally found in each area.
Researchers Introduce a Brand-New Method to Detect Gunshot Residue at the Crime Scene (EurekAlert! – 4/16/2025)
Crime scene investigation may soon become significantly more accurate and efficient thanks to a new method for detecting gunshot residues. Researchers from the groups of Wim Noorduin (AMOLF / University of Amsterdam) and Arian van Asten (University of Amsterdam) developed the technique that converts lead particles found in gunshot residue into a light-emitting semiconductor. The method, published last month in ‘Forensic Science International’, is faster, more sensitive, and easier to use than current alternatives. Forensic experts at the Amsterdam police force are already testing it in actual crime scene investigations.
Placer County Sheriff’s Office Teams with Othram to Identify a 2001 Jane Doe (DNASolves – 4/16/2025)
In March 2001, the skeletal remains of an unknown individual were discovered in the woods on Driver’s Flat Road in between the small northern California towns of Auburn and Foresthill in Placer County. Placer County is a mountainous area northeast of Sacramento that extends to Lake Tahoe.
The initial discovery was made by a group of mushroom hunters in a wooded area around 1:30 p.m. on March 20, 2001. A partial skull was found in a ditch near a creek. The Placer County Sheriff’s Office responded and used cadaver dogs to search the area for several days looking for more clues and any additional human remains. The remains were determined to belong to a Black woman likely 40 to 55 years old, who stood between 5’4″ and 5’7″ and had died a year earlier. The woman had healed fractures to the left eye and nasal area as well as the lower left arm. Her left humerus had an unhealed fracture that appeared to have occurred between 3 and 6 months prior to death. Dental records and other details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP17528. Despite extensive efforts, the case remained unsolved and she became known as Placer County Jane Doe or Foresthill Jane Doe.
The case was reopened in 2023 by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Investigations Team, consisting of investigators from both the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and the Placer County District Attorney’s Office. In 2024, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas in hopes that advanced DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy could help generate new leads and identify the woman. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the forensic evidence and used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown woman which was returned to law enforcement.
The DNA profile was provided to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office so that it could be used in a forensic genetic genealogy search to develop new leads in the case. Through this collaboration, detectives located a possible relative and obtained a DNA sample for comparison using STR testing at the California Department of Justice. In 2025, a match was confirmed, linking the decedent’s DNA to that of the relative. In March 2025, the remains were officially identified as Zania Williams, also known as Zenia Williams. She had never been listed as a missing person.
Zania Williams, who was 34 years old at the time of her disappearance, was last seen at her residence in Sacramento around Christmas 2000. That was about 15 months before her remains were found in Foresthill, 60 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento.
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation into the circumstances of her death and urges anyone with information to email them at PCSOTipLine@placer.ca.gov.
Forensic DNA Breaks New Ground for MMIP Cold Cases (ICT- 4/17/2025)
Born and raised in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation, Omeasoo has long wanted to apply the study of forensics to help solve cases of missing and murdered people and identify human remains so that ancestors can be brought home.
Using the science of genetic genealogical testing of DNA seemed to be a perfect fit, so at the age of 27, in 2024, she launched one of the first Indigenous-controlled DNA databases, Ohkomi Forensics. In the Blackfeet language, Ohkomi means “to use one’s voice.”
“There are so many cases like Ashley’s that have gone unsolved,” she said, “and so many families that have not received closure, answers or justice pertaining to their family members’ cases.”
Ramapo IGG Solves 70 Year Old Mystery (The Ramapo News – 4/17/2025)
Ramapo College’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center finally brought closure to a 70-year-old mystery. Human remains discovered in Arizona in 2002 have now been identified as belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps Captain Everett Leland Yager, thanks to DNA analysis and collaborative research conducted by students, faculty and partners at Ramapo.
The case dates back to May 2002, when a young boy collecting rocks in a remote area of Yavapai County, Ariz, discovered a human jawbone. Despite efforts by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the individual’s identity, early DNA testing showed no results. For over two decades, the remains, referred to as “Rock Collection John Doe,” remained unidentified.
In January 2023, the Yavapai County authorities turned to Ramapo College’s IGG Center for help. The Center, part of the School of Social Science and Human Services, was launched in December 2022 to provide students with hands-on experience solving real-world cases using investigative genetic genealogy.
The jawbone was sent to Intermountain Forensics, a non-profit forensic DNA lab in Salt Lake City, where experts conducted DNA extraction and whole genome sequencing. Once the DNA profile was developed, it was uploaded to GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA.
In a breakthrough, a match was found within just two days. The discovery came during Ramapo’s IGG Bootcamp, an intensive learning program where students and interns work on real cases and learn to adapt their skills. Among the participants was Ethan Schwartz, a high school student from Suffern High School who had joined the bootcamp as an intern. The team was able to narrow down to Capt. Yager as a candidate for identification.
