Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD, is an internationally recognised forensic genealogist, the founder of Identifinders International. She has been involved in high profile forensic cases, including the identification of the Unknown Child on the Titanic and the Amelia Earhart project; she is now the Forensic Genealogist on the Abraham Lincoln DNA Project. Colleen has also been a key member of team that have exposed three international Holocaust literary frauds. Colleen’s collaborations include the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, the US Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Office, the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, the University of Arizona, Harvard Medical School and law enforcement agencies nationwide. She is a Fellow of the Society of Photoinstrumentation Engineers (SPIE), an Associate Member of the American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS).
Working with the Boston University Center for Professional Excellence, Colleen was most recently awarded a grant by the Elie Wiesel Jewish Studies Center to conduct a full day seminar ” Holocaust Survival and Reunion Stories: Separating fact from Fiction using Genealogical Research Techniques”.
As a world traveler and multi-lingual, Colleen specializes in international cases; she has researched in over 50 countries. Colleen assists nonprofits, military organizations, attorneys, and law enforcement with cold case work, forensic identification, and with locating hard-to-find individuals. She has developed innovative DNA identification techniques that have benefited Child Survivors of the Holocaust and adoptees who otherwise would have given up hope of finding their birth parents.
Colleen lectures widely in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. She has appeared in hundreds of domestic and international newspapers and magazines, and on international radio and television programs. These include the BBC World News Tonight, RTE Ireland Television’s Nationwide, Radio New Zealand, Japan’s Nippon TV, CNN, NPR’s Talk of the Nation, More Magazine, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, The Boston Globe, The Melbourne Sun, The Denver Post, The Seattle Times, and The Orange County Register. She is the author of three books: Forensic Genealogy, DNA & Genealogy, and The Dead Horse Investigation: Forensic Photo Analysis for Everyone.
ABBREVIATED CURRICULUM VITAE
HOLOCAUST PROJECTS
2012-Pres Identification of Missing Identity Children of the Holocaust
Leader of an international group researching the identity of Child Survivors of the Holocaust. See identifinders.wordpress.com for more information about this extensive effort.
2009-2014 The Mascot, Potential Holocaust Fraud
Team leader and strategist on potential Holocaust literary fraud The Mascot – Melbourne, Australia.
Sep 2008 Herman Rosenblat Holocaust Fraud Exposure
Strategist and researcher for team that exposed Herman Rosenblat’s soon-to-be-published and Oprah-touted fraudulent best-selling Angel at the Fence Holocaust memoire.
Feb 2008 Misha Defonseca Holocaust Fraud Exposure
Strategist and researcher for team that exposed Misha Defonseca’s fraudulent best-selling Holocaust memoir Surviving with Wolves.
HISTORICAL PROJECTS
Apr 11–Pr Abraham Lincoln DNA Project with Dr. Zach Spigelman, Tufts University, Boston, MA
Forensic genealogist investigating Abraham Lincoln’s extended family for DNA testing; advisor on DNA analysis and obtaining project funding.
2007-2008 Identification of the Unknown Child on the Titanic, US Armed Force DNA Identification Laboratory
Successful worldwide search for a Y-DNA reference to assist identification of Sydney Leslie Goodwin as the Unknown Child on the Titanic.
2008-Pres Amelia Earhart Identification Project
Location of a family reference for Fred Noonan, Amelia Earhart’s navigator, for future identification of their remains should their crash site be located.
GOVERNMENT/MILITARY
2011-2012 US Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, Fort Knox, KY
Identification of Primary Next-of-Kin, autosomal, DNA, mtDNA and Y-DNA references for soldiers missing in action from past conflicts.
2008 -2009 Hand in the Snow Project, Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, Rockville, MD
Location of the mtDNA reference required to identify the frozen hand and arm found in 1999 in a glacier in Alaska belonging to a victim of the crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 4422, March 1948.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Aug 11-Pr Independent Consultant to Multiple Law Enforcement Agencies
Developing new Y-DNA and autosomal SNP testing techniques for generating cold case leads. Clients include Social Security Fraud Div, Office of the Chief State’s Attorney for CT, NYPD, LAPD, King Co Seattle Sheriff’s Dept, Phoenix Police Dept., Seminole County Sheriff’s Dept & many others.
Cases include: Lori Ruff (Soc Sec Fraud Div), The Grim Sleeper (LAPD), the Original Night Stalker (multiple CA law enforcement agencies), 1991-1992 Canal Murders (Phoenix, AZ), 1991 Sarah Yarborough murder case (King Co Seattle), Pamela Kahanes murder case (Seminole Co, FL) and others.
July 2010 Consultant, Elmer Crawford Murder Case, Melbourne, Victoria Police Department
Assisted Melbourne law enforcement with case of fugitive killer Elmer Crawford who murdered his wife and three children in 1970 in Australia.
Feb 2010 Consultant, Grim Sleeper Serial Murder Case, Los Angeles Police Department
Assisted the LAPD with the identification of the Grim Sleeper Serial Killer through comparing his DNA profile with genetic genealogy database. Was able to confirm African American ethnicity along the male line of his family.
HEIR SEARCHES
2006-Pres Hebron Investments, Inc, Various Probate Law Offices
>100 heir searches in > 30 countries, 6 continents for probate and tax certificate cases; > 95% success rate.
****
The DNA Detective by Lynn Rosellini sums up very nicely what I would write here on my own. See her More Magazine article at http://www.more.com/2009/17738-the-dna-detective.
I am the author of three best-sellers in genealogy: Forensic Genealogy, DNA & Genealogy, and The Dead Horse Investigation: Forensic Photo Analysis for Everyone, in addition to numerous articles in all the genealogy magazines, GAMES magazine, and Scientific American.
You can order copies by clicking here.
You also might want to check out the website of our company Idenifinders International, www.identifinders.com, where I have posted descriptions of some of the cool projects I have been very fortunate to have been involved in. Click on Case Histories to read about The Unknown Child on the Titanic, The Hand in the Snow, Benjaman Kyle, Smithers-Gray, and the two Holocaust Literary Frauds I have helped expose. You’ll enjoy reading about them. Make sure you click on some of the links in the right margin of each page for further information.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD