Park County John Doe 1974 Identified with Genetic Genealogy

In 1974, Park County found John Doe’s remains in a mountainous region outside of Grant, Colorado.

Read the recent press release from the DNA Doe Project describing the many efforts taken to identify Anthony John Armbrust, Jr.

At Astrea, we used 150 mg of bone powder for the DNA extraction. We generated SRSLY NGS libraries and sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq for QC. We determined the human DNA content was approximately 50% - a GREAT candidate for generating a whole-genome SNP profile and for genetic genealogy.

Precious Jane Doe identified after 43 years

The genome data generated from rootless hair samples allowed Dr. Ed Green and the Astrea pipeline to produce a genotype file for forensic genetic genealogy. This led Barbara Rae-Venter to identify Sonohomish County’s “Precious Jane Doe” as Lisa Roberts, 43 years after her murder. Congratulations to Sonohomish County and so many others involved in the case over the decades.

Bear Brook murders and our breakthrough tech on 20/20

ABC’s 20/20 REPORTS ON DECADE’S LONG NEW HAMPSHIRE MURDER MYSTERY eventually solved with crucial clues provided by cutting-edge DNA technology and a five-year-old girl

‘20/20’ Aired on Friday, March 20 (9:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET) on ABC

Forensic genealogy, an emerging field

Read how Barbara Rae Venter teamed up with Ed Green to merge UCSC paleogenomics technology with genealogy tools to start solving cold cases.