Infamous Cleveland Cold Case Suspect May Be Named
WKYC Channel 3 is revisiting a cold case that has confounded U.S. Marshals.
U.S. Marshals have identified a possible last name for a John Doe who committed suicide in Eastlake back in 2002.
The man had been living as Joseph Newton Chandler, but that was an identity he stole and investigators have been trying to figure out why for a few years now.
WKYC Channel 3’s Hilary Golston is now the first to bring you a new break in the case, because of a newly utilized method.
A forensic genealogist has linked the mystery man to the last name Nicholas or Nichols.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, founder of IdentiFinders International is based out of Southern California. Read more…
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Forensic Genealogist Uncovers Suspect’s Name in Phoenix Cold Case
Forensic Magazine – December 13, 2016
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Forensic Genealogy – The Real Story
Forensic Magazine – December 2016
Colleen Fitzpatrick is an American scientist who is widely regarded as the founder of the field of forensic genealogy. Boasting a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Duke University, Fitzpatrick owned a contract company that specialized in high-resolution laser measurements techniques. After contracts with NASA and other government agencies ran their course, Fitzpatrick decided to close the company and finish writing her first book, “Forensic Genealogy.” It was an overnight success. Read more…
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How Forensic Genealogy led to an arrest in the Phoenix “Canal Killer” case Arizona Republic, November 25, 2016
The man accused in Phoenix’s “Canal Killer” case may have his ancestors to blame for his 2015 arrest.
Records show forensic genealogy was key in leading police to Bryan Patrick Miller, a man now facing a death-penalty trial in the early 1990s slayings of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas.
Using a method with little precedent in the world of criminal justice, a California genealogist named Colleen Fitzpatrick handed police what would amount to a case-busting lead: the suspect’s last name. Read more…
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The Last Unknown Man
The New Republic – November 21, 2016
Early one summer morning, Son Yo Auer, a Burger King employee in Richmond Hill, Georgia, found a naked man lying unconscious in front of the restaurant’s dumpsters. It was before dawn, but the man was sweating and sunburned. Fire ants crawled across his body, and a hot red rash flecked his skin. Auer screamed and ran inside. By the time police arrived, the man was awake, but confused. An officer filed an incident report indicating that a “vagrant” had been found “sleeping,” and an ambulance took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah, where he was admitted on August 31, 2004, under the name “Burger King Doe.” Read more…
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Adelaide Advertiser
October 1, 2016
THE world-renowned scientist at the centre of remarkable new DNA break-throughs in the cold case of one of Australia’s greatest mysteries has delivered a passionate appeal for the South Australian Government to exhume the body of the Somerton Man to “finally give him a name”.
Somerton Man – buried at West Terrace cemetery – has puzzled police and researchers ever since his fully clothed body was found propped up against a wall on December 1, 1948.
From the very start of the extensive police and coroner’s investigation there was a strong suggestion the man, who was in his mid-40s, was an American.
World-renowned American forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick this week presented evidence to a conference in the US that DNA testing – from a presumed relative of the dead man – virtually confirmed Somerton Man was from the east coast of the US.
Read more…
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True identity of Lori Ruff revealed six years after she committed suicide
NY Daily News – Sept 25, 2016
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A six-year investigation into the true identity of a woman who called herself Lori Erica Ruff has finally yielded answers.
In 2010 the mystery woman took her own life,leaving behind two suicide notes, which authorities at the time said were “ramblings from a clearly disturbed person.” Following her death — caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound — her husband Blake Ruff learned the woman he married and the mother of his child was not who she claimed to be. Read more…
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My God, that’s Kimberly!’ Scientist solved perplexing mystery of identity thief Lori Ruff
The Seattle Times-September 21, 2016
In opposite corners of the country, two families were on flip sides of the same tragic mystery. One, in Texas, had lost a wife to suicide in 2010, then learned that she was not who she claimed. So who was she? All their digging turned up nothing.
The other, in Pennsylvania, had lost a family member, too, back in 1986. The young woman had fled abruptly, leaving no clue. Where was she? They spent 30 years hoping she was alive and safe. Read more…