Monthly Archives: May 2013

Grim Task of Identifying Factories’ Dead Overwhelms Bangladeshi Lab

Posted on May 31, 2013 | Comments Off on Grim Task of Identifying Factories’ Dead Overwhelms Bangladeshi Lab

Rana Plaza VictimsDHAKA, Bangladesh — Inside a small government laboratory here, there are about 300 test tubes, each labeled with masking tape and containing an extracted tooth or a shard of bone. Day and night, dozens of these tubes rest on metal trays that vibrate with a motorized monotony. The shaking decalcifies the bone in a process that requires two weeks before material can be gleaned for a DNA profile.

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Minnesota BCA asks kin of missing loved ones for DNA samples to help ID remains

Posted on May 31, 2013 | Comments Off on Minnesota BCA asks kin of missing loved ones for DNA samples to help ID remains

TBlue and black helixhe Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Thursday it is asking family members of missing persons to provide DNA samples as part of an effort to identify at least 100 sets of human remains, with the goal of bringing missing loved ones back home.

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Posted in Backlogs, Cold Cases, Database, Forensic Industry News

‘In Cold Blood’ DNA testing results inconclusive

Posted on May 31, 2013 | Comments Off on ‘In Cold Blood’ DNA testing results inconclusive

Smith Hancock gravesA Kansas official said DNA testing is so far inconclusive about whether two men executed in Kansas for the 1959 killings that inspired the book “In Cold Blood” are linked to unsolved murders in Florida.

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Posted in Cold Cases, Forensic Industry News

DNA test in rape case can’t be used as main evidence

Posted on May 31, 2013 | Comments Off on DNA test in rape case can’t be used as main evidence

DNA and justiceISLAMABAD – The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has declared that DNA tests are not admissible as the main evidence in rape cases.

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Posted in DNA Legislation

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval signs felony arrestee DNA collection bill into law

Posted on May 30, 2013 | Comments Off on Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval signs felony arrestee DNA collection bill into law

CourtCARSON CITY, Nevada — After clearing the state Legislature on its second try, Brianna’s Law became Nevada law Wednesday with the stroke of a pen.

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Posted in DNA Education

DNA may help military end era of unknown soldiers

Posted on May 28, 2013 | Comments Off on DNA may help military end era of unknown soldiers

Arlington caissonCombat boots stand empty before the altar, a rifle behind each pair.
In the Fort Drum chapel, in upstate New York, families and comrades fill the pews.
The chaplain calls the roll. Memories of missing men respond with a grave, complicated silence.
Barbara Ann Broyles listens to the name of her father, Lt. Col. Don Carlos Faith Jr., echo in the chapel.
She was 41⁄2 years old when Faith died east of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea in 1950. The scattered, retreating remnants of his troops left behind his body.

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Posted in Forensic Industry News, Missing Persons

Law enforcement pushes for power to swab for DNA on arrest

Posted on May 28, 2013 | Comments Off on Law enforcement pushes for power to swab for DNA on arrest

DNA swab2“Book ’em” could carry a whole new meaning at police stations in Canada if lawmakers are swayed to make a controversial change to the Criminal Code.
A growing number of law enforcement representatives are calling for new powers to collect DNA from criminal suspects at the time of their arrest, not just upon their conviction.

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Posted in Database, DNA Legislation

Las Vegas police losing grant to review cold cases

Posted on May 28, 2013 | Comments Off on Las Vegas police losing grant to review cold cases

SteiberA federal grant that has helped Las Vegas police solve dozens of cold case homicides and sexual assaults since 2009 is drying up.

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Posted in Forensic Industry News, Funding

After decades of searching, could a handful of debris provide the answer?

Posted on May 28, 2013 | Comments Off on After decades of searching, could a handful of debris provide the answer?

Buried with full military honorsARLINGTON, Va. — Nearly half a century passed before the suspected remains of six airmen made the journey from a rice paddy in southeastern Laos to a forensics lab near Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

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Posted in Missing Persons

Found after 50 years: remains are of missing Judith

Posted on May 28, 2013 | Comments Off on Found after 50 years: remains are of missing Judith

Judith BartlettA homicide investigation has been launched after human remains found on a NSW property in 2009 were identified as those of Judith Bartlett, who went missing 50 years ago.
Police had been working to identify the remains since they were found on a property at Gooloogong, in central western NSW, in May 2009.

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Posted in Cold Cases, Missing Persons

DNA bill will help conviction rate

Posted on May 28, 2013 | Comments Off on DNA bill will help conviction rate

HancockDurban – South Africa has one of the highest crime rates internationally and an overburdened police and judicial system that results in few convictions.
The system is in dire need of a comprehensive national DNA database which will help convict offenders and exonerate people wrongly accused, improving the effectiveness and accuracy of the legal system.

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Posted in Database, DNA Legislation

Wis. budget committee approves DNA upon arrest

Posted on May 24, 2013 | Comments Off on Wis. budget committee approves DNA upon arrest

Database DNAMADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Legislature’s finance committee Thursday approved a plan in Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s executive budget that would dramatically expand the state’s powers to seize DNA from crime suspects.

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Posted in Database, DNA Legislation

Budget committee to take up DNA collection from felons Thursday

Posted on May 23, 2013 | Comments Off on Budget committee to take up DNA collection from felons Thursday

Madison – Proposals from Gov. Scott Walker to collect DNA from those arrested for felonies and allow GPS tracking for restraining orders will come before the Legislature’s budget committee Thursday.GATC
Walker’s 2013-’15 budget bill provides about $6 million to collect DNA samples at every felony arrest and some misdemeanor arrests, as well as upon the conviction for any crime. That would lead to collecting DNA from tens of thousands more accused criminals from across the state each year.

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Posted in DNA Legislation

Mirari Biosciences Granted U.S. Patent for Microwave DNA Technology

Posted on May 22, 2013 | Comments Off on Mirari Biosciences Granted U.S. Patent for Microwave DNA Technology

human idMirari Biosciences, a pioneer in the field of microwave biochemistry, announces the award of a U.S. Patent broadly covering the use Company’s microwave technology to shorten the time required for nucleic acid analysis, including DNA testing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification.

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Posted in Forensic Industry News, New ID Technologies

CMU Professor Takes DNA Testing To New Levels

Posted on May 22, 2013 | Comments Off on CMU Professor Takes DNA Testing To New Levels

DNA Helix1PITTSBURGH (AP) — He’s not your typical Sherlock Holmes, but this CMU professor is in demand by police around the world.
He’s putting bad guys in jail with a DNA analysis technology he invented called True Allele.

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Posted in Forensic Industry News