Reschenthaler Introduces Legislation to Help Solve Cold Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) introduced the Cold Case Modernization Act, which would expand the criteria for Department of Justice (DOJ) grant funds used to identify unidentified human remains through forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) testing. FGG is used by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to help reconnect missing and unidentified persons with their families.

 

“Across the United States, investigators lack the critical resources to solve the cases of tens of thousands of unidentified human remains,” Reschenthaler said. “The Cold Case Modernization Act puts these deceased Americans and their grieving families first, using state-of-the-art DNA technology to uncover answers and find the truth.”

 

Currently, under DOJ interim policy for “Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Searching,” DOJ funds are allowed to be used for deceased persons who are declared homicide victims. This bill would expand the funding criteria to cover deceased persons for which a manner of death is not determined or for which manner of death is ruled to be a non-homicide. There is not always enough evidence at a crime scene to establish a death as a homicide, and it is not uncommon for the manner of death to be revised or updated once a deceased person is identified. For instance, human remains found in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, were recently identified as those of 14-year-old Joan Marie Dymond, who went missing in June 1969.

 

FGG leverages hundreds of thousands of DNA markers, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, to establish long-range relationships with distant genetic relatives. This enables unidentified human remains to be identified, even if traditional forensic DNA testing is unable to establish an identification.

 

Read the full bill here.