Forensic Science
Bodies Pulled From Parched Lake Mead Stir Wise-Guy Ghosts of Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — It’s the mob guy who went missing after skimming from the Stardust casino. No, it’s the lake resort manager hunted down by the Chicago Outfit. Could it be the work of a biker gang muscling in on Mafia turf? Or maybe someone just fell off a boat after one too many. Ever […]
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In Ukraine, A Body Bag and a Sister in Denial
ZMIIV, Ukraine — The wind carried the smell of death across the street. The body of the dead man, burned, mutilated and barely recognizable, was taken from the refrigerator and laid on a metal gurney. The coroner smoked a cigarette and unzipped the black bag. It was a beautiful spring day. There had been no […]
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‘Mummified’ Body Is Identified as Man Missing Since 2020
A construction worker was tearing out a wall inside a century-old Beaux-Arts convention center in Oakland, Calif., on March 9 when he made a gruesome discovery: a mummified body, believed to be that of a man in the “late stages of decay,” a police spokeswoman said. Who he was and how he got there were […]
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Body Found in Indiana Is Identified After 30 Years
Her remains were first exhumed in 2015, the authorities said. In February 2021 they sent the remains to Othram, a forensic laboratory that specializes in using forensic genetic genealogy to help solve older crimes. By September, they had successfully obtained enough DNA to begin building a profile and search for her living relatives. A half […]
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Philanthropists Push Police Searches of DNA Databases
Mr. Mittelman, Othram’s C.E.O., said his company had received more than $400,000 from philanthropic donors. According to Crunchbase, the start-up has also raised $28.5 million from institutional investors to corner the market around this new investigative technique. Founded in The Woodlands, Texas, in 2018, the company now has 30 employees, said Mr. Mittelman, including five […]
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‘Little Miss Nobody’: Child’s Remains Have Been Identified, Sheriff Says
In July 1960, a little girl’s body, decomposed and burned, was found by a hiker in a remote part of Arizona. The child wore a checkered blouse and white shorts. Adult-size flip-flops had been cut to fit her small feet. Her nails were painted red. She became known as “Little Miss Nobody,” because no one […]
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Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints
“Open your eyes,” the online post began, claiming, “Many in our govt worship Satan.” That warning, published on a freewheeling online message board in October 2017, was the beginning of the movement now known as QAnon. Paul Furber was its first apostle. The outlandish claim made perfect sense to Mr. Furber, a South African software […]
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Victim’s Rape Kit Was Used to Identify Her as a Suspect in Another Case
The San Francisco police are using DNA samples collected from sexual assault victims to identify them as possible suspects in other crimes, the city’s district attorney said this week, adding that he would encourage legislation to ban the practice. The victims of sexual assault whose DNA samples are used in this way “are being treated […]
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Divorcing Couples Fight Over the Kids, the House and Now the Crypto
“Francis has been less than forthright with his ever-changing stories,” Ms. deSouza’s lawyers claimed in one filing. No secret stash ever materialized. A spokeswoman for Mr. deSouza said he had disclosed the entirety of his cryptocurrency holdings at the beginning of the divorce. “As soon as Francis knew that the Bitcoin was caught up in […]
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