Forensic Genealogy News

For the first time in 25 years, New York City officials announced a 9/11 victim was identified using forensic investigative genetic genealogy (FIGG). [1]

• Major Forensic Genealogy Updates (August–September 2026)

  • First-Ever 9/11 Identification via Genetic Genealogy: On August 24, 2026, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), alongside the NYPD’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Squad, announced the positive identification of an adult female victim. This marks the 1,654th World Trade Center victim identified overall, but crucially represents the first time FIGG technology successfully yielded a match for 9/11 remains. Officials noted that roughly 40% (about 1,100) of those who perished remain unidentified, and this breakthrough provides a new blueprint to potentially resolve 47 other candidate profiles. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

  • 1981 Texas Cold Case Arrest: Advanced genetic genealogy and modern DNA profiling handled by private labs and Othram Laboratories led to the August 19, 2026 arrest of 68-year-old Kelly Lee Brower in Arizona for the 1981 capital murder and sexual assault of 23-year-old Yolanda Herrera in Bexar County, Texas. [1, 2]

  • 1980 Arizona Unidentified Remains Solved: On September 1, 2026, the Coconino County Unidentified Remains Task Force officially confirmed the identity of a person found deceased near Flagstaff, Arizona, in July 1980, utilizing a combination of advanced forensic analysis and genetic genealogy to finally return the remains to their family. [1]

  The landscape for major direct-to-consumer (DTC) DNA testing companies has shifted toward stricter enforcement of absolute bans against law enforcement usage. [1, 2, 3]

  Because mainstream commercial platforms explicitly lock out criminal investigators, the forensic genealogy field operates on a distinct tier of open-access and law-enforcement-friendly databases. [1, 2]

  1. The Commercial Giants: Absolute Lockouts

  The largest DNA data holders strictly prohibit Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG): [1, 2]

  • Ancestry & 23andMe: Both companies maintain strict policies banning law enforcement or anyone working on their behalf from utilizing their databases, family trees, or records for criminal investigations or identifying human remains. Ancestry strictly enforces updated terms that forbid investigative genetic genealogists from using even their public/historical hosted records (like yearbooks or Find a Grave photos) for judicial proceedings. Both require a valid, legally binding court order or warrant to surrender any customer data, which they actively fight in court. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

  • MyHeritage: Continues its restriction on law enforcement, including blocking third-party DNA transfers to keep its database closed to investigative queries. [1]

  2. The Forensic-Permissible Databases

  Because investigators cannot browse Ancestry or 23andMe, they rely on specialized platforms where users must actively opt-in to allow law enforcement matching: [1, 2]

  • GEDmatch (and GEDmatch PRO): This free, open-source comparison website remains a primary tool for investigators. Users who tested with Ancestry or 23andMe can download their raw DNA files and upload them here. Law enforcement can only view matches if the user has explicitly checked the "opt-in" box for law enforcement matching. [1, 2, 3, 4]

  • FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA): Owned by Gene by Gene, this is the only major direct-to-consumer testing company that permits law enforcement uploads for violent crime and missing persons cases by default, though it provides strict opt-out privacy controls for its users. [1, 2]

  • DNA Justice: A newer non-profit database explicitly designed to crowdsource DNA profiles from the public specifically to help law enforcement solve cold cases and identify John/Jane Does. [1, 2]

  3. The Forensic Labs Doing the Heavy Lifting

  Rather than commercial health kits, law enforcement agencies partner with specialized forensic genomics laboratories like Othram Laboratories, Bode Technology, and DNA Labs International. These labs specialize in extracting highly degraded, minute, or contaminated DNA from decades-old crime scenes, sequencing it into a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) profile, and then uploading that profile into the permissible databases (GEDmatch/FTDNA) to map out family trees. [1, 2]

  If you're interested, let me know if you would like to explore:

  • How the opt-in vs. opt-out rates on GEDmatch affect the speed of solving cases

  • The specific privacy laws states are passing to regulate direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies