DNA testing

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...

A Marlborough man is suspected in four sexual assaults in four different Connecticut cities and towns in 1984 and has been arrested after a DNA match

A Marlborough man and former charter school CEO is suspected in four sexual assaults in four different Connecticut cities and towns in 1984 and has been arrested after a DNA match. According to the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, 69-year-old Michael Marion Sharpe was arrested and charged with four counts of kidnapping in the first degree with a firearm after...

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…

Saturday, Bryan met his birth mother’s daughter Alyssa for the first time. They found each other after Bryan took a consumer DNA test.

Canton resident Bryan McGunnigle knew he was adopted. When he received a DNA test this Christmas, he was looking forward to learning more about his heritage, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up about finding members of his biological family. “The letter is a letter that my biological mother wrote when March 8, 1983. It’s just love...

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...

When Ryan Simpson took an at-home DNA test, he discovered he did not know any of the people who came up as DNA matches, so he started asking his parents some questions.

At-home DNA test kits are helping people understand their roots, but they’re also uncovering shocking, decades-old family secrets. Enfield resident Ryan Simpson said he bought a DNA test kit when it was on sale. “Everybody was doing it,” Simpson said. “(I) was not expecting to find anything other am I really Irish? Or am I really German? Or something...

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.