Latest Forensics News
Orange County clears decades-old sexual assault kit backlog
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Orange County authorities have cleared a backlog of untested sexual assault kits going back decades and the results led to the filing of charges in six cold cases, the district attorney's office announced Tuesday. After a survey of backlogged kits, some...
They danced and died: Tragic teen party mystery in S. Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African authorities were seeking answers Monday, a day after 21 underage teenagers partying after the end of school exams died in a mysterious incident at a nightclub. The bodies of many of the victims, the youngest a 13-year-old girl, were discovered by...
Judge rejects new evidence testing in 'West Memphis 3' case
WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge on Thursday rejected a request to allow new genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the killing of three boys nearly 30 years ago. Crittenden County Circuit Judge Tonya Alexander denied the motion seeking access to evidence from the...
Man convicted last year of killing 2 in 1976 dies in prison
OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) — A man serving two life terms for killing a Wisconsin couple in a slaying that went unsolved for decades has died in prison, state corrections officials confirmed. Raymand Vannieuwenhoven, 85, was convicted last year of fatally shooting 25-year-old David...
Decades later, ‘Torso Killer’ charged in killing at NY mall
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — More than five decades after Diane Cusick’s lifeless body was discovered in the parking lot of a mall on New York’s Long Island, authorities have linked her death to the so-called “Torso Killer,” a serial killer already convicted in 11 other killings. ...
Investigator: DNA could identify 2 Tulsa massacre victims
Investigators seeking to identify victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre have found enough usable DNA for testing on two of the 14 sets of remains removed from a local cemetery a year ago, a forensic scientist said Wednesday. Danny Hellwig with Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City,...
Brazil police: Remains found those of British journalist
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Federal police said Friday that human remains found in Brazil’s remote Amazon have been identified as belonging to British journalist Dom Phillips, who went missing almost two weeks ago along with a Brazilian Indigenous expert in a case that drew world attention. ...
Remains found at Louisiana demolition site in March ID'd
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — The forensic lab at Louisiana State University has identified decomposed remains found in the wreckage of a house that was being demolished in late March, the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office said. DNA analysis identified Juanita Brewer, 57, of Shreveport’s...
DNA retest concludes acquitted man likely committed murder
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A man acquitted at retrial after his conviction and death sentence for raping and murdering a woman was overturned was almost certainly the actual killer according to new DNA tests, a Florida prosecutor announced Wednesday. Retesting shows DNA found in...
Arrest in decades-old cold case involving Maine baby death
FRENCHVILLE, Maine (AP) — DNA evidence played a role in charges brought 36 years after a baby died in the far northern part of the state, police announced Tuesday. The newborn's body was discovered in Frenchville in December 1985 after a dog carried the baby's body several hundred...
