“Star Trek” actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">LeVar Burton</a> was shocked to discover that one of his ancestors was a white <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/confederacy">Confederate</a> soldier.
The 66-year-old TV star was told the surprising fact about his lineage during an episode of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pbs">PBS</a> series “Finding Your Roots.” The former &#8220;Reading Rainbow&#8221; star told show host Henry Louis Gates Jr. that he didn’t know much about his family tree as he was estranged from his father, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, since he was 11. Burton also mentioned that his mother, Erma Gene Christian, wasn’t forthcoming about the family’s background, <a href="https://people.com/finding-your-roots-recap-levar-burton-journey-made-him-feel-closer-to-father-he-hadnt-seen-8430586">according</a> to People.
“You grow up with just blanks, right? No information, no clue and no real way to overcome that blind spot,&#8221; Burton said of his family history, per the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-01-17/levar-burton-descendant-confederate-soldier-white-america-finding-your-roots">Los Angeles Times</a>. &#8220;This information is stuff that we need in order to feel whole.&#8221;
Gates told Burton that the team used a combination of a genealogist and DNA experts to come up with their findings about the actor’s past.
The “Star Trek: The Next Generation” alum had no idea one of his ancestors was a white man. Gates <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/levar-burton-discovers-hes-descended-024715272.html">told</a> Burton that his great-grandmother on his mother&#8217;s side, Mary Sills, was not related to the man she listed as her father on a Social Security application in 1940.
Her biological father was, in fact, a man named James Henry Dixon, a white farmer who was married with several children. &#8220;So Granny was half-white,&#8221; Burton said in surprise, per <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/levar-burton-white-confederate-ancestor-finding-your-roots-rcna133422">Today</a>.
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What’s more, Dixon, who was living in North Carolina, joined the Confederate Army after he turned 17, serving in the junior reserves.
“Are you kidding me? Oh my God, oh my God. I did not see this coming,” Burton said upon hearing the news. While Gates said it was likely that Sills never went into battle, the fact remained that he was aligned with the pro-slavery side of the Civil War. He later had a child with a woman born into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/slavery">slavery</a>.
“I often wonder about white men of the period and how they justify to themselves their relations with black women, especially those in an unbalanced power dynamic. There has to be a powerful disconnect created emotionally and mentally,” Burton replied.
&#8220;The two major commercial DNA tests almost never have tested an African American who was 100% sub-Saharan African,&#8221; Gates told Burton. &#8220;We all have white ancestors.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s some conflict roiling inside of me right now,&#8221; Burton continued, per Today. &#8220;But oddly enough, I feel a pathway opening up. &#8230;Knowing what I know about the history of this nation, I&#8217;ve wanted, especially in this current time frame, I believe that as Americans we need to have this conversation about who we are and how we got here.&#8221;

LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton Reacts To Discovery That His Ancestor Was A Confederate Soldier

Celebrities

Civil War

Confederacy

Entertainment

U.S.

Authorities in Indiana have identified the remains of a man who disappeared in 1993 on property belonging to a suspected serial killer.
Allen Livingston was 27 years old when his family reported him missing in August 1993, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remains-1996-allen-livingston-victim-suspected-serial-killer-herbert-baumeister-indiana/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. His family long suspected that he had been killed by Herbert Baumeister, a business and family man who frequented gay bars.
Eight bodies were found on Baumeister’s 18-acre estate, with many more remains that had not been identified. Now, a leg bone was matched to Livingston using his mother’s DNA for comparison, making him the suspected ninth victim.
Baumeister is believed to have lured gay men to his home in the 1980s and 90s before killing them and dumping their bodies around his estate, called Fox Hollow Farm. He killed himself while visiting Canada in July 1996 before investigators could question him about the remains that had been found on his property.
Remains were recovered in 1996, but DNA technology was not advanced enough to identify them all, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/30-year-mystery-solved-missing-mans-remains-found-suspected-serial-kil-rcna121259?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&amp;_branch_match_id=1133745504221936325&amp;utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_campaign=NBC%20News&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXz0tKzkstL9ZLLCjQy8nMy9avKHBJyyrMjTBySQIAkmM%2FhiQAAAA%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Large amounts of skeletal material were needed back then, but today, only a very small sample is needed to develop a DNA profile.
Eric Pranger, Livingston’s cousin, told NBC that “Hearing about Allen was a little roller coaster of feelings.”
&#8220;We&#8217;re happy because we got closure and we were able to identify him but sad because we had to relive it a bit,&#8221; he added.
Pranger has requested Livingston’s disappearance be reopened last year. Livingston’s mother, Sharon, provided a DNA sample and <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/i-need-closure-before-i-go-woman-hopes-renewed-look-at-baumester-case-brings-clues-in-sons-1993-disappearance-phone-mystery-hamilton/531-be2f2772-8000-4524-b736-a775e063993b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> WTHR that she really hoped the case would be solved, as she had just been diagnosed with cancer.
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“I do not have my son’s remains, and until I have that, it will be unfinished for me, and I hope I get them before I pass away,” Sharon told the outlet last year.
Livingston’s remains were returned to Sharon by the Hamilton County Coroner&#8217;s Office.
Livingston’s leg bone was just one part of 44 sets of remains submitted in the first batch for DNA testing.
“What are the odds that of our first identification from 10,000 pieces of bone would be to that family that made the initial call?” coroner Jeff Jellison asked, as reported by NBC.
It is unclear at this time how many sets of remains will be identified.
Four other DNA profiles were identified in the batch of remains that included Livingston’s, but so far they can’t be connected to a missing person without a reference sample from family members.

Crime Scene

Remains Of Man Missing For 30 Years Found On Suspected Serial Killer’s Estate

Remains Of Man Missing For 30 Years Found On Suspected Serial Killer's Estate

Crime

Indiana

Murder

Actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kerry-washington" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kerry Washington</a> recently discussed her reaction to finding out that the man who raised her was not her biological <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/father" target="_blank" rel="noopener">father</a>, but she was conceived via sperm donation instead.
The “Scandal” star revealed how she learned the truth while promoting her new memoir, “Thicker Than Water.” 
Washington told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/24/books/kerry-washington-memoir-thicker-than-water.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a> that she realized there could be an issue with her background when she asked her parents for DNA samples in 2018 when she was going to be featured on the PBS show, “Finding Your Roots.” She said that&#8217;s when her parents started acting strangely. 
“I said: ‘I just don’t think they’re going to agree to it. My dad’s really uncomfortable,&#8217;” she told the outlet. 
“I’ve always had this weird disconnect with my dad, but I thought that was my fault. I thought I wasn’t a kind enough person. But the idea that I was not his never occurred to me. It was just, why can’t I be better to him? Why can’t we be closer? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with us?” the 46-year-old said. 
Ultimately, her parents shared the secret they kept from her for more than forty years.
“I immediately felt guilty because I could see how much pain my parents were in, my dad in particular,” she added.
Washington revealed that her mother planned to tell her the truth about being conceived via sperm donation by leaving a note in a safe deposit. 
“I was birthed into a lie. I was playing a supporting character in my parents’ story,” she told NYT. “I know that their intention was to protect me, to love me, to take care of me, to keep my world simple. I get many years of not telling me, but I’ve been an adult for over two decades.”
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Washington further discussed her feelings during an interview with <a href="https://people.com/kerry-washington-on-discovering-dad-is-not-biological-father-memoir-7972576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">People</a>, saying, &#8220;It really turned my world upside down.”
&#8220;When I got this information, I was like, &#8216;Oh. I now know my story,'&#8221; the actress added, saying she felt relieved to finally know the truth. &#8220;This is really kind of me working to understand my life up until now, given this new information that I have that, in many ways, felt like sort of the missing puzzle piece,&#8221; she said.
While Washington said her parents were “not thrilled” about her sharing the information publicly, she said it ultimately made them closer.
&#8220;I really started to have so much more love and compassion and understanding for my parents,&#8221; Washington told People. &#8220;Taking this deep dive into our family history made me put myself in their shoes and think about the things that they&#8217;ve had to navigate and what they&#8217;ve been through and what they&#8217;ve sacrificed. And it really made me feel closer to them.&#8221;

Kerry Washington

Actress Kerry Washington Says Parents Didn’t Tell Her She Was Conceived Via Sperm Donation Until 2018

Actress Kerry Washington Says Parents Didn't Tell Her She Was Conceived Via Sperm Donation Until 2018

Fathers

Prosecutors leading the case against the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students have contacted the FBI to investigate one of the defense’s expert witnesses.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson sought the FBI’s help investigating the expert witness, who allegedly gave contradictory testimony, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/fbi-investigates-key-witness-bryan-kohberger-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Prosecutors contacted the FBI instead of cross-examining the witness, Gabriella Vargas, an expert on genetic genealogy.
Vargas testified during an August 18 hearing about alleged issues with the DNA evidence in the case, and just days later, the FBI showed up at her door, the suspect’s attorneys said.
&#8220;Last night she was visited by two FBI agents and interrogated about her testimony and the findings of her declaration,&#8221; said the suspect’s attorney, Anne Taylor, during a hearing in August. &#8220;That, in our view, impacts [the suspect’s] due process rights.&#8221;
The Daily Wire is not naming the 28-year-old suspect due to a policy aimed at depriving mass killers of the notoriety they so often crave.
Thompson filed an explanation for the FBI’s involvement last week, saying that investigators allegedly heard through Vargas’ colleagues that &#8220;she was reneging on some of the things she was testifying to in court,&#8221; according to Fox.
&#8220;When we heard of that, I reached out to investigators and asked, ‘Can you find out what is going on?’&#8221; Thompson said. &#8220;The FBI indeed undertook an investigation, and other reports are that Ms. Vargas claimed that some of what was in her declaration she had inadvertently agreed [to] or signed without fully reading it.&#8221;
The suspect in the case has been charged with killing Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. DNA found on a knife sheath left behind at the crime scene has been matched to the suspect’s DNA.
In early August, his attorneys <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/accused-university-of-idaho-killer-offers-alibi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offered an alibi</a> for the suspect’s whereabouts on the night of the murder, saying he was out driving late at night.
“[The suspect] has long had a habit of going for drives alone. Often he would go for drives at night. He did so late on November 12 and into November 13, 2022,” Taylor wrote in the filing. “[The suspect] is not claiming to be at a specific location at a specific time; at this time there is not a specific witness to say precisely where [my client] was at each moment of the hours between late night November 12, 2022, and early morning November 13, 2022. He was out, driving during the late night and early morning hours of November 12-13, 2022.”
Part of the evidence that led to the suspect’s arrest, mentioned in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-how-police-captured-the-man-suspected-of-killing-four-university-of-idaho-students" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously unsealed</a> probable cause affidavit, showed that police were able to narrow the timeframe of the crime to between 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. and reviewed video footage taken in the area in the time before and after the murders are believed to have occurred. The footage showed a white Hyundai Elantra without a front license plate (front license plates are required in Washington and Idaho, but not in Pennsylvania, where the car was registered) in the area between 3:29 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. The vehicle can be seen passing the off-campus residence three times before returning a fourth time around 4:04 a.m. and attempting to turn around on the road. The vehicle was next seen around 4:20 a.m. traveling away from the direction of the off-campus residence at high speed heading in the direction of a road that eventually leads to Pullman, Washington, where the suspect attended Washington State University (WSU).
Video footage from the WSU campus showed a white Hyundai Elantra leaving the area and heading toward Moscow at around 2:53 a.m. This vehicle was again observed on five cameras in Pullman and the WSU campus at around 5:25 a.m.
Police pulled records for white Hyundai Elantras registered at WSU on November 29 – just over two weeks after the murders were committed – and found one belonging to the man who was eventually arrested. Police reviewed the owner’s Washington state driver’s license and determined he matched the physical description of the suspect provided by one of the surviving roommates.
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Police matched the suspect to the vehicle through two previous traffic stops in the months before the murders. They also learned that the suspect registered his vehicle in Washington and received Washington plates on November 18 – five days after the murders.
In a previous filing, the suspect’s attorneys claimed that DNA found at the crime scene may have been planted by police.
“The State’s argument asks this Court and [the suspect] to assume – is that the DNA on the sheath was placed there by [the suspect], and not someone else during an investigation that spans hundreds of members of law enforcement and apparently at least one lab the State refuses to name,” the suspect’s defense attorneys wrote.

University of Idaho

FBI Investigating Key Witness For Accused University Of Idaho Killer

Idaho

In March 1985, a driver with vehicle trouble spotted the skeletal remains of a woman near a creek bank in Cheatham County, Tennessee. Now, nearly 40 years later, her remains have been identified.
The woman is Michelle Lavone Inman, who would have been just shy of her 24th birthday when her remains were found. At the time, investigators were able to determine that the skeletal remains belonged to a white female who had been dead for two to five months before her body was discovered, Fox 10 Phoenix <a href="https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/womans-remains-found-in-1985-finally-identified-as-search-for-killer-begins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Police also believed she was murdered.
For decades she remained a Jane Doe, but in April 2018, investigators developed a DNA profile that they entered into a database hoping someday to get a match. In December 2022, the DNA profile was sent to Othram, Inc., a lab that conducts forensic genetic genealogical DNA testing to find family members of unidentified samples, Law &amp; Crime <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/crime/authorities-uncover-identity-of-woman-found-murdered-near-tennessee-creek-bank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Investigators tracked down Inman’s brother in Virginia.
“Agents made contact with a family member and confirmed that he had a sister he had not heard from in more than four decades,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) wrote in <a href="https://tbinewsroom.com/2023/07/21/homicide-victim-identified-after-more-than-three-decades-as-part-of-tbi-dna-cold-case-initiative/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a press release</a>. “Agents obtained a DNA standard from the man to be compared against the victim’s DNA utilizing forensic genetic genealogy.”
TBI agents are now asking the public for any help that may solve her murder.
“If you have information about this homicide, specifically any knowledge about individuals Michelle Inman may have been with before her death, or recognize any of the clothing from the scene, please call 1-800-TBI-FIND. Or, send an email to TBI.ColdCase@tbi.tn.gov,” TBI wrote.
This is the latest cold-case victim to be identified using Othram’s technology.
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In June, Othram identified the remains of Florence Charleston, whose body had been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/her-remains-were-found-in-a-garment-bag-in-1978-she-was-just-identified" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found in a garment bag</a> in October 1978. Police say the investigation into Charleston’s death is ongoing, and it is still unknown at this time how she ended up in the garment bag in Nevada, 535 miles from where she lived in Oregon. She would have been 68 when she died.
In September 2022, Othram was able to not only identify a woman’s remains <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/she-disappeared-33-years-ago-now-dna-technology-has-identified-her-remains-and-her-killer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">but also identify</a> her killer with the help of police detectives. Thirty-three years after 19-year-old Stacey Lyn Chahorski began traveling the country, remains of an unidentified woman found in Dade County, Georgia, were positively identified as Chahorski’s. Othram also tested DNA collected from the crime scene and, along with Georgia Burea of Investigation agents tracking down leads, identified her killer as Henry Frederick “Hoss” Wise. Wise died in 1999, so while he was identified as Chahorski’s killer, officials do not know the circumstances that led to her death.

Michelle Lavone Inman

Her Remains Were Found In 1985. Now, She’s Finally Been Identified.

Her Remains Were Found In 1985. Now, She's Finally Been Identified.

Tennessee

Three men convicted of murdering a 70-year-old woman in 1997 are hoping DNA results will get them new trials after maintaining their innocence for more than 20 years.
Derrick Chappell, 41; Morton Johnson, 43; and Samuel Grasty, 46, were all found guilty of second-degree murder in separate trials, the Delaware County Daily Times <a href="https://www.delcotimes.com/2023/07/23/3-convicted-in-1997-delaware-county-murder-seeking-new-trials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Chappell and Grasty each received life sentences, while Johnson received 99 years in prison, which is essentially a life sentence.
At the time that 70-year-old Henrietta Nickens was murdered inside her one-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia, Chappell was 15, Grasty was 20, and Johnson was 18. A fourth teenager, 15-year-old Richard McElwee, turned the three in and took a plea deal for third-degree murder and conspiracy to robbery. He received a sentence of 6-12 years in prison.
But new DNA testing casts doubt that Chappell, Johnson, or Grasty were involved in the murder, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/07/23/dna-innocence-claim-pennsylvania-nickens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Attorneys for the three men have said that recent DNA testing found none of the convicted men’s DNA on the victim. In fact, the DNA results suggested that an unknown man was solely responsible for the crime.
Nickens was brutally beaten to death during a violent struggle, yet no DNA from Chappell, Grasty, Johnson, or McElwee was found in the victim’s apartment. Their DNA was also not found on a green jacket left at the scene, believed to be the only physical evidence to link them to the crime, the Post reported.
Attorneys for the men told the Post that the DNA evidence points to an alternate suspect, whose DNA was found in multiple places around the crime scene as well as on Nickens&#8217; bed, mixed with her own DNA. That DNA was also found on the green jacket and on a chewed straw in the jacket pocket. This genetic profile had been obtained in the late 1990s from a semen sample recovered from Nickens, which attorneys for the defendants argued must have come from a sexual assault since Nickens had no boyfriend and was not in good health.
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So far, no one has been identified as the source of this DNA.
“We now have the DNA evidence that really shows this was done by one unknown person,” Pennsylvania Innocence Project attorney Nilam Sanghvi told the Post. “The defendants have been excluded from everything. The notion that [the] four … could somehow commit this crime without leaving a trace of their DNA seems absurd.”
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer has opposed a motion to vacate the convictions, arguing in a brief that the DNA tests wouldn’t have changed the outcomes of the defendant’s trials.
“Absent compelling evidence of innocence, the trial court’s verdict should not be disturbed,&#8221; Stollsteimer wrote. &#8220;The postconviction DNA evidence is neither compelling nor is it evidence of innocence.”

African American in Prison

DNA Suggests Three Men Were Wrongfully Convicted Of A 1997 Murder

Philadelphia

Wrongful Conviction

Defense attorneys for the 28-year-old man accused of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/homicide">killing</a> four University of Idaho <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/students">students</a> last November have begun laying the groundwork for their case.
The suspect, who is not being named per Daily Wire policy, and his defense attorney, Jay Weston Logsdon, filed a <a href="https://www.insideedition.com/sites/default/files/inline-files/061623%20States%20Motion%20for%20Protective%20Order.pdf">motion</a> objecting to the prosecutor’s attempts to avoid turning over a detailed breakdown of how authorities used genetic genealogy to link the accused to the murders. Logsdon wrote in the motion that investigators found DNA from three other men in the off-campus residence where Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21, were murdered in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. DNA from two men was found inside the house, while DNA from a third man was found outside the home on a glove, the filing says, according to <a href="https://www.insideedition.com/bryan-kohberger-defense-dna-suspects-glove-murder-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inside Edition</a>.
None of the three samples match the suspect’s DNA, though it is unknown when this particular DNA was left at the home, which was the location of frequent parties.
The suspect and his attorney say these DNA samples were never run through the national DNA database to find a match.
Prosecutors have argued that they didn’t need to turn over detailed information about how genetic genealogy was used to link the suspect to the crimes since a DNA sample provided by the suspect directly matched DNA found on a knife sheath found at the crime scene. The genetic genealogy wouldn’t be used at trial, prosecutors argued.
Once police had their suspect, they tracked him to his parents’ house in Pennsylvania and collected garbage from the outside trash cans. They obtained DNA that partially matched the DNA collected from the knife sheath, indicating they had the DNA of the suspect&#8217;s father. Collecting DNA from the suspect later directly linked him to the sheath. The sheath was found on a bed next to Goncalves and Mogen’s bodies, partially under one of them. The type of knife the sheath held would have been consistent with the knife used to murder the four victims.
The suspect and his attorneys also attempted to poke holes in the state’s case, including the DNA from the other men.
&#8220;While this was ongoing, police were investigating many various possible suspects. Many of them provided DNA,&#8221; Logsdon wrote in the filing, referring to law enforcement&#8217;s focus on his client. &#8220;At least one had his DNA surreptitiously taken from discarded cigarette. Many also had their phones taken and downloaded.&#8221;
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The filing also notes that no DNA from the victims was found in the suspect’s “apartment, office, home, or vehicle.&#8221;
As for the vehicle, the defense said the probable cause affidavit only referenced a “white sedan” without mentioning the make or model. Logsdon claimed there was only one sighting identified as a Hyundai Elantra.
&#8220;Precisely how the police came to believe the car was an Elantra is still unknown,&#8221; Logsdon wrote. &#8220;A report from an analyst for the FBI dated March 21, 2023 shows the analyst heavily relying on video of car heading in the wrong direction and at the wrong time on Ridge Rd.&#8221;
Police used surveillance footage to track a white sedan without a license plate on the front as it drove in front of the victim’s homes several times. They also tracked that vehicle’s movements back to Washington State University, where the suspect was pursuing a doctorate in criminology.

University of Idaho Off-Campus Residence

Accused Idaho Killer Lays Groundwork For Defense – Says Other DNA Found At Crime Scene

Accused Idaho Killer Lays Groundwork For Defense - Says Other DNA Found At Crime Scene

Crime Scene Detective Examining Evidence

9 Well-Known Forensic Techniques That Are Actually Junk Science

Readers Pass

True Crime

The Biden administration plans to end a family DNA testing system at the U.S.-Mexico border that authorities use to prevent smugglers from trafficking migrant children across the southern border, according to a leaked memo obtained by <a href="https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2023-05/LEAKED%20MEMO_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Just the News</a>.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials were notified that familial DNA contract with BODE Technologies, a DNA testing service contracted with law enforcement and identification markets for over 25 years, will end on May 31, 2023, and all familial DNA testing will conclude on that date.
CBP authorities began implementing the DNA testing program under the Trump administration &#8220;following a court order related to the separation of migrant children from their families and evidence drug cartels were using children to create fake family units to sneak illegal immigrants across the border,&#8221; according to the outlet.
The memo also noted that familial DNA collection and testing is separate from FBI booking DNA collection, and the end of the BODE contract does not impact or interrupt collections as part of the Combined DNA Index System computer software program that operates national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons.
A spokesperson for CPB did not return requests for comment by The Daily Wire.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded BODE Technology a potential five-year contract at $17.3 million in 2020 after the agency identified 11 locations on the southwest border where the influx of immigrants became prevalent.
Derek Benner, ICE HIS executive associate director, said the goal of Rapid DNA testing remained twofold.
&#8220;First, to protect children from being smuggled across the border by ensuring they are with their parents and not being used as pawns by individuals attempting to exploit immigration loopholes,&#8221; Benner said, according to <a href="https://www.defensedaily.com/bode-nabs-17m-ice-contract-rapid-dna-testing/homeland-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense Daily</a>. &#8220;Second, to identify and stop the criminal organizations that are generating false documents and supporting child smuggling.&#8221;
&#8220;It is clear on-site DNA testing has a strong deterrent effect, as HIS agents witnessed multiple instances of individuals confessing to faux families prior to being tested as well,&#8221; Benner added.
CPB officials have identified smugglers trafficking children across the U.S.-Mexico border over the years, Just the News reported.
&#8220;In 2022, a government accountability office report found that as many as 1 in 10 of children tested turned out not to be related to the illegal aliens who were crossing with them.&#8221;
The Washington Examiner <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/dna-tests-reveal-30-of-suspected-fraudulent-migrant-families-were-unrelated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that rapid DNA testing found approximately 30% of immigrant adults with children suspected of crossing the southern border were unrelated.
&#8220;There&#8217;s been some concern about, &#8216;Are they stepfathers or adopted fathers?'&#8221; an anonymous official told the outlet. &#8220;Those were not the case. In these cases, they are misrepresented as family members.&#8221;
The leaked memo surfaces amid President Joe Biden&#8217;s decision to end Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that allowed for the immediate expulsion of illegal immigrants, which some have predicted would bring a fresh cascade of illegal migration upward of 13,000 crossings a day.

Border Crossings By Migrants Surge To Highest Levels Since 2006

Biden Administration To End Familial DNA Testing Used To Detect Child Trafficking At Southern Border: Report

Biden Administration

Child Migrant Crisis

Human Trafficking

Southern Border

Researchers from the University of Florida said a new accidental discovery could help solve criminal activity or find missing persons after learning investigators could collect human DNA samples from the air.
According to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02056-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution,</a> researchers learned the potential source for fighting crime while studying endangered sea turtles and analyzing sand samples at a beach where the reptiles lay eggs.
&#8220;We cough, spit, shed and flush our DNA into all of these places and countless more,&#8221; the university&#8217;s team said in a <a href="https://news.ufl.edu/2023/05/human-dna-everywhere-ethics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>.
David Duffy, the UF professor of wildlife disease genomics who led the project, said the discovery of gathering genetic information from a scoop of sand, a vial of water, or a person&#8217;s breath presents ethical dilemmas that scientists and regulators could face about privacy and surveillance to data ownership.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve been consistently surprised throughout this project at how much human DNA we find and the quality of that DNA,&#8221; Duffy said. &#8220;In most cases, the quality is almost equivalent to if you took a sample from a person.&#8221;
Researchers said they collected human DNA everywhere they looked, except isolated islands and remote national parks. The team found samples near ocean and river waters surrounding the university&#8217;s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and Sea Turtle Hospital. Duffy said even as far as his native land of Ireland.
&#8220;It&#8217;s standard in science to make these sequences publicly available,&#8221; Duffy said. &#8220;But that also means if you don&#8217;t screen out human information, anyone can come along and harvest this information. That raises issues around consent.&#8221;
Now that human DNA could be found and readily sampled, Duffy urged lawmakers and the scientific communities to push for consent and privacy measures.
&#8220;Any time we make a technological advance, there are beneficial things that the technology can be used for and concerning things that the technology can be used for. It&#8217;s no different here,&#8221; Duffy said. &#8220;These are issues we are trying to raise early so policy makers and society have time to develop regulations.&#8221;

Green sea turtle

Florida Researchers Collect Human DNA In Air While Studying Sea Turtles, Suggests New Discovery Could Help Solve Criminal Activity

Researchers Collect Human DNA In Air While Studying Sea Turtles, Suggests New Discovery Could Help Solve Criminal Activity

Criminal Justice

University of Florida

Did the police violate the Fourth Amendment rights of the man accused of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/accused-idaho-killer-tells-prosecution-he-has-no-evidence-to-present-at-trial-yet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slaying four college students</a> in Idaho? 
Much has been made of the fact that authorities relied, in part, on <a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/the-fourth-amendment-does-not-require-law-enforcement-officials-get" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic genealogy</a> and DNA evidence to justify the arrest warrants in this case. But the use of such technology, and the way it was likely used in this case, was lawful, as was the use of cell site location information (CSLI) used to track the movement of the suspect’s phone. The Daily Wire will not name the suspect in keeping with a policy of depriving mass murderers of undeserved notoriety.
Police have released a partially redacted <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/05/us/bryan-kohberger-affidavit.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affidavit</a> that offers a clearer picture of the facts of the case and the evidence supporting the alleged killer’s arrest.
<h2>DNA At the Crime Scene</h2>
The four murder victims — all students at the University of Idaho — were found in a house near the Moscow campus. Each was stabbed to death between approximately 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. on November 13, 2022. A male and female victim were found stabbed to death in a second-floor bedroom.
Two female victims were found in a single bed on the third floor. Next to one of the deceased girls was a tan leather knife sheath. Forensic examination found DNA from an unknown male on the sheath’s button snap.
<h2>Cell Site Location Evidence</h2>
Several months before the murders, on August 21, a county sheriff in Moscow stopped the suspect for a traffic infraction. He was driving a white 2015 Hyundai Elantra with Pennsylvania plates. He provided his cell phone number to the officer.
Every cell phone receives and sends a signal to a local cell tower when the phone is turned on. As the cell phone moves, the signal transfers seamlessly from one tower to the next in the direction the phone is moving. Cell phone service providers keep records on every cell phone using its services, including all cell site location information (CSLI). This information provides a “map” of where and when the phone went while it was on.
Law enforcement applied for and was granted a search warrant for historical phone records for the alleged murderer’s phone number, The records showed the account had been opened on June 23, 2022, for a subscriber with the name of the suspect, who was listed at an address in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. A review of the historical CSLI data revealed that, prior to the date of the murders, the phone had pinged cell towers in the area of murder scene on 12 separate occasions — always in the evening or early morning hours.
In fact, three months before the murders, on August 21st, the suspect’s phone pinged a cell tower that provided coverage to the King Road residence for over an hour, from 10:34 p.m. to 11:35 p.m.
On the night of the murders, CSLI shows the phone at or near the suspects apartment in Pullman, Washington, at 2:42 a.m. For the next five minutes, it moves south through Pullman, then stops pinging altogether — indicating the phone was then either turned off or put in airplane mode.
Two hours later, at 4:48 a.m., the phone signal returned, pinging towers near state highway 95 south of Moscow and Blaine, Idaho. The phone then travelled south to Genesee, Idaho, west to Uniontown, Idaho, and then north, arriving back at the suspect’s apartment at 5:30 a.m.
The CSLI footprint of the suspected killer’s phone is consistent with the times, dates, and routes of the white Elantra seen in video surveillance footage recovered from his neighborhood, his university, and the roads and highways between his apartment and the King Road residence.
Did the police violate the murder suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights by obtaining his CSLI information? Not at all.
In <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carpenter v. United States</a> (2018), the United States Supreme Court raised the standard for allowing police access to SCLI. Previously, the government would apply for a court order to obtain cell phone records under the Stored Communications Act (SCA). Those requests did not have to meet the “probable cause” standard needed to obtain a search warrant, because the information was considered to be in the hands of a third party. The cell phone user therefore could have no reasonable expectation of privacy over his CSLI.
Carpenter upended that practice, requiring police to seek a search warrant for any CSLI if the scope of the request is for more than seven days of data. In Idaho, the police were fully compliant. They first sought a search warrant for two days of CSLI data, centered around the time of the slayings. After reviewing those records, they then, requested and received a warrant for all CSLI from June to December.
That data paints a damning map of the whereabouts of the suspect’s phone in the months leading up to the murders, and on the night of the crimes. Prosecutors will argue that the alleged killer scoped out the murder site a dozen times, in the dark of night, prior to the quadruple homicides. They will certainly argue that based on the map of the phone’s movement on the night of the murders, the suspect left his residence after 2 a.m., drove toward Idaho, turned off the phone while he committed the murders, and then turned on the phone after the murders were over.
When overlaid with the movement of the white Elantra, the cell phone’s movement would appear to be quite persuasive.
<h2>Genetic Genealogy</h2>
What about the admissibility of that DNA evidence? On December 27, Pennsylvania law enforcement officers retrieved trash from the suspect&#8217;s family residence in Albrightsville. Under the Supreme Court’s decision in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/486/35/">California v. Greenwood</a> (1988), the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage outside of a home.
Lab testing compared DNA found on some of the retrieved trash and the DNA obtained from the sheath found at the crime scene. The lab concluded that at least 99.9998% of the male population would be “expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father.” In plain English, that means that the trash DNA came from the father of the person who left the DNA on the sheath at the crime scene.
The affidavit is deliberately vague on how the authorities came to this conclusion, but it’s not hard to figure out what happened. No doubt, police subjected the sheath DNA to two separate tests: one to forensically identify the DNA profile for admission into court, and one to create a SNIP-based genetic profile that might enable them to connect that person’s DNA to a close relative. SNIP stands for single-nucleotide polymorphism and is, in layman’s terms, a sequence variation that allows geneticists to identify close relatives through genetic genealogy.
Police were able to tie the profiles of the suspect and his father together and, because the suspect is an only child, this was enough to establish probable cause and arrest him for the homicides.
If the case goes to a contested trial, the government’s case will hinge not only on the CSLI, DNA, and genetic genealogy evidence described above, but also witness testimony, audio evidence, video evidence of the travels of the defendant’s white Elantra, and other evidence of the defendant’s online activities.
Like all defendants, the Moscow murder suspect is presumed innocent unless/until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But there is no doubt that there are no Fourth Amendment issues with respect to the CSLI or DNA evidence in this case.
Cully Stimson is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation and deputy director of the think tank’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Pipetting sample into tray for DNA testing

How DNA And Cell Phone Evidence In Idaho Murders Complied With 4th Amendment

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Violent Crime

At the end of last month, a woman got a call from law enforcement, telling her they matched a 23andMe test that she took to a murder case that had gone cold.
Jackie Vadurro thought the homicide detectives were kidding around, but it turned out that they weren’t. The homicide case wasn’t recent, either — it was thirty-six years old.
“I was so taken aback,” Vadurro <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/02/i-took-a-23andme-dna-test-and-cops-linked-me-to-a-murder/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the New York Post. 
“I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong,” she said, “But when the police call you about a murder, you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, what am I involved in?’”
Vadurro spoke about the situation on social media, as well. She said that no one ever said the woman who was killed was missing and authorities don’t know who she is. She also has noted that officials have found out that she was a third or second cousin of the woman who died.
Detectives have also discovered that she was on Vadurro’s maternal side and officials think that she was her mother’s great-grandfather’s illegitimate child.
“Me and this Jane Doe share DNA, she’s part of me,” she said. “I’m glad that I’m able to bring her story to light, and hopefully [help] catch the horrible person who killed her.”
The story, while an interesting one, raises some general <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/magazine/dna-test-crime-identification-genome.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concerns</a> about security and privacy of people’s personal information, especially when it comes to their biological information.
A 2018 <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/we-will-find-you-dna-search-used-nab-golden-state-killer-can-home-about-60-white" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> in Science noted that researchers were able to easily use DNA and other information to start with 1.3 million people and nail down who a person was to less than twenty individuals.  
And it’s not the first time DNA has been used to solve murder cases that were previously unsolvable. In 2020, authorities were able to catch an alleged murderer after his distant relative <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/the-reveal/all-in-the-family-dna-investigation/85-179895c9-1b7e-4e93-8ab4-beae25a44a79" target="_blank" rel="noopener">put her own DNA</a> on GedMatch. 
“I didn&#8217;t really think anything would come of it,” Jessi Still said. &#8220;I just uploaded it on there. Kind of forgot about it.”
An investigator with the sheriff’s department reached out to Still over email and said she was a relative match to the person suspected of murdering Helene Pruszynski in 1980. 
“They told me that they had gotten [my DNA profile] from GedMatch. That I had shown up as the closest DNA relative to this person that was the murderer,” Still said. “First, I thought maybe it was a joke or a prank. I really didn&#8217;t know what to make of it. Nobody ever wants to think about being related to the killer. Which, of course, I don&#8217;t want either.”
They used her DNA information, among other tactics, to find and arrest James Clanton, to whom she is related via her father’s great, great, great grandparents. 
“It&#8217;s really just made me realize, like, everything is connected and it&#8217;s a small world,” she said.

“23andMe logo of a biotechnology company”

DNA Test Links Woman To Cold Case Murder That Happened Before She Was Born

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