For the past 25 years, her remains had been known only as Ada Bones Jane Doe. This week, the DNA Doe Project (DDP) along with Kent County Sheriff’s Office announced the identification of skeletonized remains that were discovered in 1997 in Ada, Michigan, as Stephanie Renee Judson.
Multiple labs were involved in obtaining DNA with which to generate a SNP profile suitable for upload to genetic genealogy databases. Our lab at Astrea Forensics participated in the DNA extraction of the remains (tooth and femur) in 2020. HudsonAlpha Discovery Labs combined samples and enriched, successfully generating enough data for Kevin Lord of Saber Investigations to develop a DNA profile that could be uploaded to GedMatch. It took genealogists only one week to arrive at a candidate, later confirmed with a buccal swab from a family member.