DNA evidence

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Police Arrest 5 More Linked to Louvre Heist

France's crown jewels remain missing

(Newser) - French authorities have arrested five more people in connection with the daring heist at the Louvre that saw more than $100 million in crown jewels vanish. One of the newly detained suspects is believed to have been at the scene, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, who spoke to RTL...

Exhumed Body, DNA Wrap Up 61-Year-Old Murder Case in NY

Albany police now say late Joseph Nowakowski raped, killed Catherine Blackburn in 1964

(Newser) - Authorities in New York's capital have identified the man they say raped, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death a woman inside her home more than 60 years ago. Officials linked DNA from Joseph Nowakowski, who died in 1998, to the killing of 50-year-old Catherine Blackburn in September 1964, Albany Police...

Judge Rules: 7 Murders, One Trial
Judge Rules:
7 Murders, One Trial
Sep 23, 2025 6:16 PM CDT

Judge Rules: 7 Murders, One Trial

Defense bid for separate trials in Gilgo Beach killings denied

(Newser) - A Suffolk County judge on Tuesday ruled that accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann will face a single, unified trial for all seven murder charges, despite his defense's push to split the cases. Heuermann's attorneys had argued that differences in timing (four deaths occurred in 1993,...

Accused LI Serial Killer Gets Some Bad News

Judge allows advanced DNA evidence in Gilgo Beach serial killing trial of Rex Heuermann

(Newser) - A New York judge on Wednesday allowed DNA evidence obtained through advanced techniques into the forthcoming murder trial of the man accused of being Long Island's Gilgo Beach serial killer. New York State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei made the decision Wednesday but didn't explain the ruling at...

New Book Turns Sacagawea's Story on Its Head
New Book Upends
the Story of Sacagawea
longform
Jul 27, 2025 8:25 AM CDT

New Book Upends the Story of Sacagawea

Tribal historians say she lived to an old age and wasn't kidnapped as a child

(Newser) - A New York Times Magazine story on one of the most famous Native Americans in the history books raises a provocative question: "What if everything we know about Sacagawea was wrong?" reads the headline on the piece by Christopher Cox. For members of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara...

DNA Cracks Cold Case of Mom Who Killed Baby in 1986

Woman found in Florida is sentenced to probation

(Newser) - A woman who killed her infant son in 1986 in Connecticut and went on to live a seemingly quiet, normal life with her family in Florida for more than three decades was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation. Janita Phillips, 65, of Lake Mary, Florida, was charged with murder...

Ancient Chinese Culture Is Oldest Known Matriarchy

DNA links burial sites to women-led family lines

(Newser) - New DNA analysis has uncovered a 4,750-year-old female-led society in ancient China. Researchers say it is the oldest known matrilineal society, reports the South China Morning Post . A study published in Nature centers on the Fujia site in Shandong province—a region often cited as a cradle of...

SCOTUS Sides 6-3 With Texas Death Row Inmate

Ruben Gutierrez came within 20 minutes of being executed last year

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for a Texas death row inmate who is seeking DNA testing to show he should be ineligible for execution. The 6-3 decision in favor of Ruben Gutierrez gives him a potential path to have evidence tested that his lawyers say would help prove he...

Suit Seeks to Open Evidence to DNA Tests in Lindbergh Case

New Jersey has not yet allowed envelopes that held ransom notes to face new analysis

(Newser) - In a new development in a 93-year-old case, a lawsuit seeks to let experts apply the latest DNA analysis to evidence in the Lindbergh baby case. The plaintiffs want envelopes that held ransom notes tested for saliva to see whether anyone other than Bruno Hauptmann, who was executed for the...

To Bust a Shoplifting Gang, London Cops Broke Out the DNA

Metropolitan Police officers arrest 15 after raids on London shops suspected of selling stolen goods

(Newser) - An alleged shoplifting gang in the UK has been busted up by arrests, thanks to DNA evidence in some of the stolen items. Per Surrey Live , 100-plus police officers raided eight different shops in the London area suspected of buying up food and booze stolen from major supermarkets and reselling...

US Toddler Kidnapped 25 Years Ago Found Living in Mexico

Andrea Michelle Reyes was 2 years old when she was illegally taken by her mother

(Newser) - A quarter of a century after a 2-year-old vanished from Connecticut, authorities there have finally tracked her down: She's now 27 and alive and well in Mexico. The Guardian reports Andrea Michelle Reyes was abducted by her mother, Rosa Tenorio, in 1999. Police long suspected Tenorio, who didn't...

She Said Her Virgin Mary Wept Blood. Not So Fast

DNA tests suggest blood was actually from Italy's Gisella Cardia, not some sort of supernatural event

(Newser) - About a decade ago, Gisella Cardia purchased a statue of the Virgin Mary at Bosnia and Herzegovina's Medjugorje, where thousands of religious pilgrims flock annually. The Sicilian native created her own pilgrimage site in the town of Trevignano Romano, on the outskirts of Rome, using the statue as the...

DNA Testing Brings Arrest in Teenager's 1977 Death

Dawn Momohara's body was found at her Honolulu high school

(Newser) - Dawn Momohara's body was found outside a classroom at her Honolulu high school in March 1977, after she left home to go shopping with friends. There were leads, people were interviewed, and sketches of a car and a man reported near the building the night she was killed were...

Former DNA Analyst Faces More Than 100 Charges

Yvonne Woods accused of tampering with data at Colorado Bureau of Investigation

(Newser) - A former Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA scientist appeared in court Thursday to face criminal charges over data tampering that authorities said raises questions about the validity of more than 500 cases. Problems with the scientist's work were found in cases involving homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and other crimes,...

Families of Jack the Ripper Victims Demand 'Form of Justice'

After researcher names Polish barber as the serial killer, victims' relatives ask for a new inquest

(Newser) - Descendants of victims of the infamous "Jack the Ripper," the serial killer who terrorized London's East End and is tied to about a dozen murders in the late 1880s and early 1890s, are demanding a new inquiry be opened after DNA evidence has pointed to a not-so-new...

Couple's Killer Caught by a Hair—Literally

Erik Sparre arrested in 1985 fatal church shootings in Georgia

(Newser) - A southeast Georgia man was arrested and charged in the 1985 killing of a couple at a Black church after the original suspect was exonerated on DNA evidence, authorities said Monday, per the AP . Erik Kristensen Sparre, 61, was jailed on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault in the...

Nearly 50 Years Later, Man Charged in Deaths of 3 Women

Authorities say Mississippi's Warren Alexander strangled victims in 1977 in Southern California

(Newser) - A 73-year-old man has been charged in the strangulation deaths of three Southern California women in 1977 after cold case detectives obtained a DNA match, authorities said Thursday, adding they believe there could be more victims. Warren Luther Alexander of Diamondhead, Mississippi, made his first court appearance Thursday, but arraignment...

Niagara Falls Victim's Body Was Found 140 Miles Away

Vincent Stack's remains likely drifted for 16 months

(Newser) - Remains found on the shores of Lake Ontario 32 years ago have now been identified as those of a New York man who's believed to have gone over Niagara Falls. CBS News reports the "badly decomposed and mostly skeletal" remains were found some 140 miles from the falls...

Report: 'Star' DNA Scientist Manipulated Evidence

Colorado probe into work of Yvonne 'Missy' Woods says her manipulation affected at least 652 cases

(Newser) - An esteemed analyst known as "Colorado's star DNA scientist" purposely manipulated evidence for years, involving hundreds (if not more) of the cases she worked on and putting the spotlight on her entire career, according to an investigation. According to a report released Friday by the Colorado Bureau of...

Man Who Blamed Identical Twin for Rapes Gets 140 Years

California's Kevin Konther ultimately didn't get away with attacks that happened more than 25 years ago

(Newser) - In 2019, DNA testing led investigators with the Orange County Sheriff's Department to haul in two suspects for a set of cold-case rapes in California—identical twins, each insisting they were innocent. In fact, Kevin Konther blamed his brother for the crimes, which included the rape of a 9-year-old...

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