Annual Report FY 2022-2023

OC SHERIFF COLD CASES

Now, our own in-house team – Investigators Felix and Taft — incorporates the technique on cases that are good candidates. It is their way, they say, to give a voice to the victims and remind their loved ones they are not forgotten. “When we solve these cases we don’t like to say that it gives the family closure because I don’t know that you can ever find closure in cases like these,” Investigator Taft said. “But it does gives us the opportunity to provide resolution for these families, and that is very important.”

What is Investigative Genetic Genealogy?

Investigative genetic genealogy uses DNA and traditional investigative techniques to identify victims or suspects in criminal cases. To use the technique, the case must have unknown DNA associated with the crime as a starting place. Investigators then use publicly available genealogy databases to build familial ‘trees.’ They use these trees to establish connections, similar to the way a historical researcher creates a tree to determine ancestry. The OC Sheriff cold case investigators have spent hundreds of hours of education and training to learn the technique and incorporate it into their investigations. So far, the team has solved two cases – one in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigations – and identified eight others as candidates for investigative genetic genealogy.

annual report fiscal year 2022-2023

Investigators Lauren Felix and Bob Taft

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