Margaret Press (born 31 March 1947) [1] is a forensic genealogist [2] and an author of both true crime and mystery novels. [3] [4] She is also known for co-founding the DNA Doe Project with Colleen M. Fitzpatrick. [5]
Raised in Pasadena, California, Press earned a bachelor's degree in linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968, and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1974., [6] with thesis work based on extensive field work in Chemehuevi, a nearly extinct dialect of the Uto-Aztecan family. [7] [8]
After graduate school, Press worked as a speech and language specialist at a Boston-area school for multi-handicapped children. Later, she was a software engineer in financial services and also an author of mystery novels and true crime nonfiction. [9] [10] [11]
Press became interested in forensic DNA genealogy analysis after relocating from Salem, Massachusetts, to Sebastopol, California, to live near family. [6] She had begun working in genetic genealogy in 2007, helping friends and acquaintances find relatives, as well as helping adoptees find their biological parents. [6] Inspired by Sue Grafton's novel "Q" Is for Quarry, about a Jane Doe, Press became interested in using genetic genealogy to also identify unidentified homicide victims. [12] [13]
This interest soon led to her co-founding, with Colleen M. Fitzpatrick, the DNA Doe Project, incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation in 2017, of which she remains a board member. [7] [8]