DNA testing

A photo and name have been officially added to the grave of the Lady of the Dunes in Provincetown Monday, after almost five decades of mystery. The body of Ruth Marie Terry was found in the Race Point Dunes in 1974. She remained unidentified until this October. Now, her family has had a grave marker made and sent it to…

A son finally found his biological mother only to learn she was murdered decades ago, her body identified only as the Lady of the Dunes for many years: “At first I thought she was alive.” Richard Hanchett has learned more in the past month about his biological mother, Ruth Marie Terry, than he had known his entire life.  “It...

Decades-old crimes are being solved using genetic genealogy. Here’s what you need to know.

Human remains that were found in a car in the Connecticut River last year are those of a New Hampshire woman who disappeared in 1978 in a motor vehicle accident, authorities said Friday. “The remains are those of Alberta Leeman, who was last seen in July, 1978,” New Hampshire State Police and other agencies said in a news release. “At…

A DNA test changed Michael Bennett’s life forever

Tina Ennis and Jill Lopez were 55 when they learned they were switched as babies at an Oklahoma hospital. Now they’re opening up about the aftermath

A man convicted of killing a 12-year-old girl more than three decades ago is asking a court to allow advanced DNA testing on the victim’s clothes. The Portland Press Herald reports that Dennis Dechaine attended a Superior Court hearing virtually on Friday at the Knox County Courthouse in Rockland. Dechaine is serving a life sentence for the murder and sexual assault...

David Reed, 53, formerly of Acushnet and New Bedford, was indicted last week by a grand jury in connection with the death of Rose Marie Moniz inside her New Bedford home, according to a statement Thursday from Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn III.

DNA recovered from the interior of a conch shell thought to have been used as a weapon in the 2001 killing of a Massachusetts woman has led to the indictment on a murder charge of the victim’s half-brother, prosecutors said.

DNA analysis has been around for decades, and it’s a crucial tool for solving violent crimes, but until recently, it was nearly impossible to collect DNA evidence left at shooting scenes. That changed with a process developed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The day after Christmas in 2019, two men walked into a Denny’s in...

For Korean-American adoptees, the search to find relatives can be complicated by the sheer number of Korean children adopted to foreign countries without records or any link to their past. “Nov. 13, 1971, I was found at a railroad station in Daegu, Korea,” said Christine Pennell of Berlin, Connecticut. Abandoned at age 2, then adopted at age 3 to a…

The grandson of President Warren Harding and a lover has asked a court for permission to dig up the Republican’s remains

A Northern California judge on Thursday approved prosecutors’ request to take more DNA samples from a man charged with being the infamous “Golden State Killer” who eluded arrest for decades. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Steve White also told prosecutors to informally decide who is empowered to consider defense attorneys’ offer have Joseph James DeAngelo plead guilty in exchange for…

When a body was found at a mobile home park during the Sandalwood Fire in Calimesa last October, family members of 89-year-old Lois Arvickson feared it was her. They were on the phone with the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother when the line went dead. They searched nearby shelters to see if Arvickson had survived, but couldn’t find her. It...

Two families with lifelong secrets unearthed because of home DNA test kits are now dealing with the truth. Here’s what their stories tell us about the shock that can come from new ancestry technology, and how to deal with it.