Bloodline Detectives

The 1980 Daytona Beach case known as "Jane Doe 1980" remains a haunting mystery - until 2024 when advanced forensic genetic genealogy identifies the victim.

Found shot near Highway 67 in August 1986, Maria Del Pilar Delgadillo Carillo remains unidentified until February 2024. Using genetic genealogy, authorities name her and reopen her homicide investigation.

On February 9, 1979, Esther Gonzalez disappears in Riverside County; her body is found raped and bludgeoned the next day. In 2023, forensic genealogy and DNA finally confirm the killer.

In 1991, 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough is murdered outside her school. Eyewitnesses spot a man, but the case remains cold for nearly 30 years - until forensic genealogy unmasks the killer.

Anna Hlavka, 20, is raped and murdered in Portland in 1979. Her case goes cold - until DNA and forensic genealogy link it to a serial killer.

In July 1967, 20-year-old Susan Galvin is found dead in a parking garage elevator at Seattle Center. After over 50 years, detectives reopen the investigation with the help of forensic genetic genealogy in 2018.

In October 2003, the San Diego County community is shaken by a gruesome discovery: the dismembered legs of a woman are found in a dumpster at the Rancho San Diego apartment complex. The case goes cold until DNA technology finds the killer.

UTA student Terri McAdams is murdered on Valentine's Day 1985 in Arlington, Texas in her fiance's apartment. In 2023, DNA and genealogy identify the killer.

In 1974, 25-year-old Mary K. Schlais is murdered while hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin. Found stabbed 15 times and left in the snow, her case goes cold for nearly five decades despite early witness accounts and recovered evidence.

In 1976, 16-year-old Pamela Maurer leaves a friend's house to walk to a nearby location for a soft drink. She never makes it home. The next morning, road workers discover her body along College Road. New DNA technology solves the case in 2019.

Skeletal remains found in a Mequon culvert in 1959 baffle investigators. Sixty-five years later, genetic genealogy identifies the victim as Chester Alfred Breiney.

In 1982, 5-year-old Anne Pham vanishes on her way to kindergarten. Despite the FBI, the military police and the Seaside Police Department working together, the investigation goes cold until genealogy identifies her killer.

A single strand of hair, a DNA match and decades of detective work finally solve the murder of schoolgirl Rashell Ward after over 40 years.

Mark Dribin vanishes from Portland in 1999. After over 20 years, cutting-edge DNA technology finally unmasks his killer - and unearths even darker secrets.

In 2013, a newborn baby known only as "Baby Precious" is found dead on at a recycling facility. DNA technology tracks down the child's parents.

Two 21-year-old women are murdered 13 months apart in the same area in North Carolina in the early 1970s. Both cases go cold until DNA technology links one man to both murders.

Between 1982 and 1997, a series of violent home-invasion sexual assaults occur in California, Michigan and Ohio. DNA and genealogy link one man to all the attacks across those 15 years.

In 1996, 15-year-old Danielle Houchins is found murdered near the Gallatin River. Her death is ruled a drowning, despite evidence of sexual assault in the autopsy. After the case is reopened in the 2010s, DNA technology finally unmasks the killer.

Teresa Solecki is tragically murdered in early 1984 in San Diego County, California. The case remains unsolved for more than three decades until DNA technology finally reveals her killer's identity.

In 1990, 28-year-old Genevieve Zitricki is brutally murdered in her Greenville, South Carolina apartment. The case goes cold until DNA technology links her murder to a serial offender.