Scientists claim they have brought the dire wolf species back from extinction after 13,000 years, thanks to genetic engineering.
On Monday, the Texas-based biotechnology and genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences announced that three dire wolf pups were born last fall. The species became popular in modern culture thanks to their inclusion in the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones,” which inspired the company to name the young wolves Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi, which references characters in the series.
“Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies,” Colossal CEO Ben Lamm said, per the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/07/us-news/dire-wolf-from-game-of-thrones-revived-in-de-extinction-project/">New York Post</a>. “It was once said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.”
The team used &#8221; somatic cell nuclear transfer&#8221; to clone high-quality cell lines, which were transferred into donor egg cells and then implanted into a surrogate, the Post reported. 
Two pups were born in October 2024, while a third was born in January 2025.
Colossal made headlines last month for engineering a “woolly mouse,” which they made by injecting mammoth DNA into mice to make them grow thick coats. Per <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14580605/colossal-biosciences-extinction-revive-dire-wolf-remus.html">The Daily Mail</a>, the company has a stated goal of bringing the woolly mammoth back from extinction by 2028. 
Paleontologist Julie Meachen told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/science/colossal-dire-wolf-deextinction.html">The New York Times</a> that dire wolves lived in North America during the Ice Age and were contemporaries of mastodons and saber tooth tigers. Their closest living relatives are gray wolves, which are about 25% smaller. Dire wolves also have more muscular jaws and shoulders. 
The company’s announcement has inspired many reactions online, ranging from excitement to skepticism. The official “Jurassic World” account posted its response to X, saying, “We see no possible way this could go wrong.”
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We see no possible way this could go wrong <a href="https://t.co/EQaOH4fJYk">https://t.co/EQaOH4fJYk</a>
&mdash; Jurassic World (@JurassicWorld) <a href="https://twitter.com/JurassicWorld/status/1909386233744330991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Many commenters said it was a stretch to call these genetically modified wolf cubs actual dire wolves.
“While these genetically engineered wolves exhibit physical and behavioral traits reminiscent of dire wolves, they are not true dire wolves,” one person <a href="https://x.com/CryptoNDN/status/1909287183309037846">wrote</a>. “The genetic modifications introduced specific dire wolf characteristics into the gray wolf genome, resulting in animals that are essentially gray wolves with selected phenotypic traits of dire wolves, rather than exact replicas of the extinct species.”
&#8220;This isn’t life finding a way, this is human interference,&#8221; another person <a href="https://x.com/thehamburglar33/status/1909575090544820231">observed</a>. &#8220;Someone forgot the lesson of just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. Or in other terms did they step back and ask the question &#8216;why are we doing this?'&#8221;

Howling wolf

Scientists Claim They Brought Back Extinct Dire Wolves With Birth Of 3 New Pups

Animals

Science

Technology

United States

Genetic testing company 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Missouri federal court, leaving one question on everyone&#8217;s minds: what happens to all the DNA it collected?
The company was once valued at more than $6 billion thanks to its at-home DNA testing kits allowing customers to gain insight into their ancestry and genetic profiles, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/24/23andme-files-for-bankruptcy-anne-wojcicki-steps-down-as-ceo.html">reported</a>. In 2021, the company went public and was valued at $3.5 billion. But soon after, its stock began to fall as it failed to continue to find viable recurring revenue. It currently has a market capitalization of just $25 million, CNBC reported.
The company made clear that the bankruptcy filing would not change how it stores or manages the data it has received from customers, but there are concerns that the bankruptcy filing could mean that customer DNA profiles are sold to the highest bidder. The Harvard Gazette published a <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/03/what-happens-to-your-genetic-data-if-23andme-collapses/">report</a> recently discussing these exact concerns and noted that certain laws protecting health information would not be covered since 23andMe is not a hospital or physician. The company has already shared customer data with service providers and contractors.
They did note, however, that in “some instances, bankruptcy law had required a consumer privacy ombudsperson to investigate a sale and determine whether it’s keeping with the bankrupt company’s privacy statements, as well as the law,” meaning customer data could be protected.
In September 2024, 23andMe <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/23andme-settles-data-breach-lawsuit-30-million-2024-09-13/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">settled a lawsuit</a> accusing it of failing to protect customer data after 6.9 million users&#8217; personal information was exposed during a data breach.
The once billion-dollar company has struggled in recent years to generate recurring revenue and build lasting research and therapeutics businesses, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/24/23andme-files-for-bankruptcy-anne-wojcicki-steps-down-as-ceo.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Early Monday morning, company CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki announced she was resigning from her executive role but would remain on the company’s board.
“The 23andMe Special Committee released news today indicating their plan to take the company through the Chapter 11 process,” Wojcicki wrote on X. “While I am disappointed that we have come to this conclusion and my bid was rejected, I am supportive of the company and I intend to be a bidder. I have resigned as CEO of the company so I can be in the best position to pursue the company as an independent bidder.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The 23andMe Special Committee released news today indicating their plan to take the company through the Chapter 11 process. While I am disappointed that we have come to this conclusion and my bid was rejected, I am supportive of the company and I intend to be a bidder. I have…
— Anne Wojcicki (@annewoj23) <a href="https://twitter.com/annewoj23/status/1904036140077969563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Last March, the company formed a committee to come up with solutions. Wojcicki devised several proposals to take the company private but was rejected.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn’t require the liquidation of assets, but 23andMe’s bankruptcy proposal <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moeb.462638/gov.uscourts.moeb.462638.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> with the court includes a plan to sell off company assets. The plan calls for the company to “actively solicit qualified” bids over a 45-day process, CNBC reported. In her note on X, however, Wojcicki said she was looking to secure the assets herself.
“If I am fortunate enough to secure the company’s assets through the restructuring process, I remain committed to our long-term vision of being a global leader in genetics and establishing genetics as a fundamental part of healthcare ecosystems worldwide,” she wrote.
The company has between $100 million and $500 million in estimated assets, but between the same amount in estimated liabilities, per the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moeb.462638/gov.uscourts.moeb.462638.1.0.pdf">bankruptcy filing</a>.

23andMe

23andMe Is Going Bankrupt. What Happens To All The DNA Samples?

23andMe Is Going Bankrupt – What Happens To All The DNA Samples?

bankruptcy

Genes

U.S.

Two young women camping in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park were murdered in 1996. Now, the FBI knows who killed them.
DNA has linked serial rapist Walter Leo Jackson Sr. to the murders of 26-year-old Laura “Lollie” Winans and 24-year-old Julianne “Julie” Williams, who went missing while camping in May 1996, the FBI <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/richmond/news/fbi-richmond-identifies-suspect-in-1996-shenandoah-national-park-double-murder">announced</a>. The two left on May 19 and were supposed to return on May 28, People Magazine <a href="https://people.com/shenandoah-national-park-campers-murdered-fbi-solves-cold-case-8667254" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Family members called the National Park Service when the two didn’t return home on the expected date.
Their bodies were found bound and gagged, with their throats slit, on June 1, but it was determined they had been murdered at their campsite near the Skyland Resort on May 24. The case went cold, and no one knew who killed the women for more than two decades.
In 2021, investigators at FBI Richmond were assigned to investigate the case. They reassessed hundreds of leads and interviews conducted over the previous two and a half decades. They also submitted evidence from the crime scene to be retested by a private lab.
That lab was able to pull DNA from the evidence and develop a suspect profile, which was put into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The DNA matched that of convicted serial rapist Walter Leo Jackson, who was originally from the Cleveland, Ohio, area.
“Even though we had this DNA match, we took additional steps and compared evidence from Lollie and Julie’s murders directly to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA,” Stanley M. Meador, the FBI Richmond special agent in charge, said in the press release. “Those results confirmed we had the right man and finally could tell the victim’s families we know who is responsible for this heinous crime.”
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Jackson died in prison in March 2018 and had a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for kidnapping, multiple rapes, and multiple assaults. Jackson was a residential painter and avid hiker known to visit Shenandoah National Park. The FBI said he would use temporary tags, frequently change vehicles, and alter his license plates.
“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said. “I want to again extend my condolences to the Winans and Williams families and hope today’s announcement provides some small measure of solace.”
Authorities are seeking any information that could connect Jackson to other crimes.

Walter Leo Jackson Mugshot

2 Female Campers Were Found Dead In 1996. We Finally Know Who Killed Them.

Crime

Murder

Virginia

Remains found in Florida in 1985 have been identified as a Maryland native who went missing in 1968.
Mary Alice Pultz was born in Rockville, Maryland, in 1943, but left with her boyfriend in 1968 and lost contact with her family, the St. John’s Sheriff’s Office (SJSO) said in <a href="https://www.sjso.org/detectives-announce-a-major-development-in-a-decades-old-homicide-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a press release</a>. Her boyfriend at the time, John Thomas Fugitt, would go on to murder his male roommate in 1981.
Fugitt, who also went by the alias Billy Joe Wallace, was sentenced to death for the murder but died in prison before he could be executed.
On April 10, 1985, some construction workers in St. Augustine, Florida, found the remains of a white woman in a shallow grave on Crescent Beach. An initial investigation put the woman’s age between 30 and 50 years old at the time of her death, and due to the circumstances of where her body was found, her death was ruled a homicide.
The case quickly went cold. In 2011, the woman’s skull and mandible were sent to the University of South Florida’s Institute for Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science. Experts were able to create a graphic using facial reconstruction to show how the victim may have looked. While the image generated some leads, nothing led to her identification, and the case went cold again.
In 2023, part of the remains were sent to <a href="https://othram.com/">Othram</a>, a Texas-based lab that specializes in forensic DNA evidence and forensic genetic genealogy. Othram has been responsible for <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">identifying</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/skeletal-remains-identified-as-boy-who-went-missing-in-2003-police-expect-charges-soon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">victims</a> in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-4-year-old-girl-was-found-dead-in-1960-authorities-just-identified-her" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numerous</a> cold <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/her-remains-were-found-in-1985-now-shes-finally-been-identified" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cases</a> over the past few years, including the identification of the Golden State Killer.
Othram was able to develop a DNA profile for the victim, which was then sent to consumer genealogy databases such as 23andMe to find potential relatives of the victim. A match was found, so Sgt. Gene Tolbert of the SJSO’s major crimes unit traveled to North Carolina to meet with the possible relatives. In January 2024, detectives confirmed that the relatives matched the deceased and identified the remains as belonging to Pultz.
An examination of the remains revealed three surgical burr holes in her skull, which would have been created to relieve pressure on the brain during a brain bleed or other fluid buildup. After interviewing her family, detectives learned that those holes must have been made after she left in 1968. Detectives believe she must have been involved in a traumatic event that required hospitalization, such as a car crash.
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Wendolyn Sneed, Chief Medical Examiner for the District 23 Medical Examiner’s Office in St. John’s County, examined the remains recently and found “multiple fractures of the nasal bones, healed fractures of multiple ribs, and healed fractures on the lower legs.” These injuries, Sneed advised, were in line with severe trauma, such as from a car crash or being struck by a vehicle. These injuries are not considered to be related to her cause of death.
“This investigation is a powerful example that we will never give up,” St. John’s County Sheriff Rob Hardwick said in the press release. “The combination of highly skilled detectives and advanced DNA technology has given Mary Alice’s family some answers about her disappearance close to 40 years ago. Our Major Crimes detectives are some of the best in the business and I am proud of their dedication to be a voice for homicide victims and their families as we seek closure for loved ones.”
Detectives are still investigating the murder of Pultz, and while Fugitt is considered a person of interest, police have not ruled out other possibilities.

Mary Pultz

Remains Identified As Maryland Woman Who Vanished In 1968

Florida

Maryland

“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

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

Indiana

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

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