A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or retained material evidence, or fresh activities of a suspect. New technological methods developed after the crime was committed can be used on the surviving evidence to analyse causes, often with conclusive results.
Joseph Augustus Zarelli, previously known as the "Boy in the Box", "Boy in a Box" or "America's Unknown Child", was an American 4-year-old male whose nude, malnourished, beaten body was found on the side of Susquehanna Road, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957. Joseph appeared to have been cleaned and freshly groomed, with a recent haircut and trimmed fingernails, although he had suffered extensive physical attacks prior to his death, with multiple bruises on his body. He was also severely malnourished. His body was covered with scars, some of which were surgical. Authorities believe that the cause of death was homicide by blunt force trauma.
Robert Tyrone Hayes is an American serial killer who has been convicted of three murders in the Daytona Beach, Florida, area between December 2005 and February 2006. DNA tests have also linked him to a fourth murder committed in March 2016. In addition, he remains the prime suspect in the murder of another woman in December 2007.
Tammy Corrine Terrell was an American murder victim from Roswell, New Mexico. Her body was discovered on October 5, 1980, in Henderson, Nevada, and remained unidentified until December 2021. Her case has been the subject of extensive efforts by investigators and has been highlighted as inspiring other work to solve cold cases of unidentified murder victims.
DNA phenotyping is the process of predicting an organism's phenotype using only genetic information collected from genotyping or DNA sequencing. This term, also known as molecular photofitting, is primarily used to refer to the prediction of a person's physical appearance and/or biogeographic ancestry for forensic purposes.
CeCe Moore is an American genetic genealogist who has been described as the country's foremost such entrepreneur. She has appeared on many TV shows and worked as a genetic genealogy researcher for others such as Finding Your Roots. She has reportedly helped law enforcement agencies in identifying suspects in over 300 cold cases using DNA and genetic genealogy. In May 2020, she began appearing in a prime time ABC television series called The Genetic Detective in which each episode recounts a cold case she helped solve. In addition to her television work, she is known for pioneering the genetic genealogy methodologies used by adoptees and others of unknown origin for identifying biological family.
Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is a company based in Reston, Virginia, that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations.
Jay Roland Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg were a Canadian couple from Saanich, British Columbia who were murdered while on a trip to Seattle, Washington in November 1987.
The Potomac River Rapist refers to a serial rapist and murderer who was active in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area from 1991 to 1998. Ten sexual assaults and one murder were linked to the suspect by DNA. In November 2019, a suspect identified as Giles Daniel Warrick was arrested and charged in connection with the rapes and murder.
GEDmatch is an online service to compare autosomal DNA data files from different testing companies. It is owned by Qiagen.
April Marie Tinsley was an eight-year-old girl from Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in 1988. Her killer left several anonymous messages and notes in the Fort Wayne area between 1990 and 2004, openly boasting about April's murder and threatening to kill again.
Steven Alexander "Stevie" Crawford was a formerly unidentified toddler whose body was found in a reservoir in Ashland, Oregon, on July 11, 1963. He was identified in 2021 using GEDmatch.
Joseph Stephen Holt was an American murderer and suspected serial killer who was posthumously linked via DNA to two murders committed in South Lake Tahoe, California, from 1977 to 1979. Holt, a real estate agent, was never convicted in his lifetime and died without being considered a suspect in 2014. Since his identification in 2019, authorities have been investigating whether he could be responsible for more violent crimes committed in the state.
Jacqueline Susan Ansell-Lamb and Barbara Janet Mayo were two young women who were murdered in separate incidents in 1970. Both women were last seen hitch-hiking along motorways in England, and both were sexually assaulted before being strangled to death.
On June 25, 1982, Lee Gunsalus Rotatori, a 32-year old American woman, was sexually assaulted and murdered in her hotel room by Thomas Oscar Freeman in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The murder went unsolved for nearly 40 years, until it was announced by authorities in 2022 that the perpetrator had been identified as Freeman using investigative genetic genealogy.
Richard William Davis was an American child murderer, rapist and possible serial killer who was posthumously linked via DNA to the abduction and murder of 5-year-old Siobhan McGuinness, who was found raped and stabbed near Turah, Montana on February 7, 1974. Davis had never been convicted or considered a suspect in any violent crime during his lifetime. He died of natural causes in 2012.
Linwood Earl Forte, known as The Nightstalker, is an American serial killer and rapist who was linked via DNA to a series of rapes and murders committed in Goldsboro, North Carolina in 1990, and is the prime suspect in an unrelated murder in 1994. He was convicted of his confirmed crimes and subsequently sentenced to death, and is currently awaiting execution.
Karen Stitt, a 15-year-old student at Palo Alto High School, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in Sunnyvale, California, on September 3, 1982. Stitt's murder went unsolved for nearly 40 years until forensic genealogy, the same technology used to catch the Golden State Killer, helped authorities to identify her alleged killer, Gary Gene Ramirez. Ramirez was arrested for Stitt's killing at his home in Makawao on the Island of Maui, Hawaii, on August 2, 2022.
On the afternoon of 29 March 1975, 16-year-old Canadian schoolgirl Sharron Kim Prior was abducted after she left her home in the Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec to meet friends and her boyfriend at a nearby pizzeria. On 1 April 1975, her body was found in a vacant lot in the nearby city of Longueuil, Quebec. She had been raped, beaten and suffocated. Her murder remained unsolved for 48 years and was considered a high-profile case in Quebec.
