The Center for Human Identification at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth announced on Thursday that it is the first public crime lab in the U.S. to offer forensic genetic genealogy — or FGG — capabilities, making it possible to solve decades-old crimes once thought to be unsolvable.
Using a combination of advanced DNA technology and genealogical mapping, the center will assist law enforcement and medicolegal agencies in solving both criminal and missing persons cases, according to a press release.
The announcement follows the center’s recent accreditation extension by the ANSI National Accreditation Board.
“FGG is changing the landscape of the criminal justice system at a global level,” said Dr. Michael Coble, executive director of HSC’s Center for Human Identification. “As the first accredited public lab to offer this technology, we hope to become the go-to cold case center for Texas and eventually the nation. Most importantly, it will allow us to assist in unresolved cases, bringing solutions to families that have had to wait far too long for answers about their loved ones.”
Genetic genealogy solved one of Fort Worth’s most notable cold cases. Fort Worth Police cold case investigators were able to identify 78-year-old Glen McCurley as the killer of the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Western Hills High School student Carla Walker.
The detectives used DNA collected at the time of the murder. They had it analyzed through a company in Houston, Othram, which matched the DNA to a test submitted to a genealogy site by a member of McCurley’s family.
Almost 50 years after the crime, McCurley pleaded guilty in 2021. He died this year in prison.
Cost, time, and level of scientific validation necessary for official accreditation to keep pace with the technology have forced law enforcement agencies to use private, for-profit and sometimes unaccredited companies.
As a result, small departments, historically underserved indigenous agencies, and victims’ families have had limited access to the technology.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has introduced the Carla Walker Act in Congress. The bill is designed to help solve cold cases by creating federal funding for agencies to use the advanced technology.
The center will be able to provide free FGG services to Texas law enforcement agencies through state funding. The university said that it also plans eventually to offer fee-for-service for agencies outside of Texas, only to cover costs, though Cornyn’s legislation might theoretically off-set that expense for labs with FGG capabilities.
Following an internal scientific and capital investment of more than $4 million, CHI will implement FGG technology in a three-tiered approach: Kintelligence (target sequencing), MicroArray and Whole Genome Sequencing. Kintelligence targets just over 10,000 SNPs using massive parallel sequencing techniques. MicroArray analyses target 650,000 to 2.5 million SNPs using fluorescent tags. Whole Genome Sequencing uses MPS to attempt to sequence the whole genome multiple times, collecting up to 3 billion data points.
While a few private labs have started using some of these platforms, no other publicly accredited laboratory currently offers this full spectrum.