Austin Bethell - Identifinders International, LLC

23 and Me Male and Female Haplgroups

By Austin Bethell|2010-08-10T22:34:31-07:00August 10th, 2010|

I just spent the evening reviewing the male and female haplogroups of Benjaman's 23 and Me matches that are predicted to be at the 3rd and 4th cousins levels. I was hoping to find a geographical pattern that might indicate his origins. Unfortunately, the haplogroups of his matches do not reveal too much information because of their variety. His male haplogroups are mostly R1b1b2a and its downstream subclades, with one I1* [European], one Q1a3a [Native American], one E1b1a8a [African America], and one G2a [Turkey and the Mediterranean]. His female haplogroups are quite varied. These include HV0 and various subclades of H1, H5, and H7, also subclade U2, various subclades of U5, one T1, two [...]

The Hand in the Snow

By Austin Bethell|2010-08-08T17:22:01-07:00August 8th, 2010|

Our blog would not be complete without a mention of The Hand in the Snow. This was our first big military identification case with the Armed Forces DNA ID Laboratory, performed with a dream team of top forensic scientists. Our successful identification of the frozen arm and hand found in the Alaska glacier as belonging to crash victim Francis Joseph van Zandt was featured in 300 newspapers worldwide, and will be published as a feature article in Scientific American in the next few months.

U.S. AMBASSADOR PARTICIPATES IN WWII MEMORIAL DEDICATION, DISCUSSES US-FUNDED EFFORTS IN YAP

By Austin Bethell|2010-08-08T17:21:38-07:00August 8th, 2010|

Identifinders has been assisting History Flight and Missing Air Crew in their efforts to locate family references of MIAs for DNA identification. On July 24-28, U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia Peter A. Prahar travelled to Yap State to participate in the dedication ceremony of the Ensign Joseph E. Cox Memorial, named in honor of a U.S. naval pilot whose F6F-5 Hellcat fighter plane was shot down over Yap Island on September 6, 1944. Thanks to the efforts of Identifinders, members of the family of Howard Holding were present; Holding was killed during the same mission. Identifinders located his niece, Terri Trick, who with her brother Brent Jacob, traveled [...]

Identifinders Locates Family of Harry Dugan Brown

By Austin Bethell|2010-08-08T15:15:29-07:00August 8th, 2010|

Our first success working with History Flight and Missing Air Crew was the location of the Jenny, the sister of Harry Brown, who was killed while flying his VF-20 F6F-5 Hellcat on a routine mission over Yap Island on September 6, 1944. Jenny is the ideal mitochondrial family reference for Harry's future DNA identification. Harry's family was very challenging to locate, considering how much time had elapsed since his death and the fact that his family name is one of the most common in the US. Another difficulty was that his father was listed with a different family name in Harry's casualty records, implying that Harry had been adopted. Nevertheless, Identifinders was able to locate [...]

About Austin Bethell

August 2010

23 and Me Male and Female Haplgroups

The Hand in the Snow

U.S. AMBASSADOR PARTICIPATES IN WWII MEMORIAL DEDICATION, DISCUSSES US-FUNDED EFFORTS IN YAP

Identifinders Locates Family of Harry Dugan Brown