Cold Case Research Articles

Getting the conclusive lead with investigative genetic genealogy – A successful case study of a 16 year old double murder in Sweden

On the morning of October 19, 2004, an eight-year-old boy and a 56-year-old woman were stabbed to death on an open street in the city of Linköping, Sweden. The perpetrator left his DNA at the crime scene, and after 15 years of various investigation efforts, including more than 9000 interrogations and mass DNA screening of more than 6000 men, there were still no clues about the identity of the unknown murderer. The successful application of investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) in the US raised the interest for this tool within the Swedish Police Authority. After legal consultations it was decided that IGG could be applied in this double murder case as a pilot case study. From extensive DNA analysis, including whole-genome sequencing and genotype imputation, DNA data sets were established and searched within both GEDmatch and FamilyTree DNA genealogy databases. A number of fairly distant relatives were found from which family trees were created. The genealogy work resulted in two candidates, two brothers, one of whom matched the crime scene samples by routine STR profiling. The suspect confessed the murders at the initial police hearing and was later convicted of the murders. In this paper we describe the successful application of an emerging technology. We disclose details of the DNA analyses which, due to the poor quality and low quantity of the DNA, required reiterative sequencing and genotype imputation efforts. The successful application of IGG in this double murder case exemplifies its applicability not only in the US but also in Europe. The pressure is now high on the involved authorities to establish IGG as a tool for cold case criminal investigations and for missing person identifications. There is, however, a continuous need to accommodate legal, social and ethical aspects as well.

Can a reference ‘match’ an evidence profile if these have no loci in common?

Cold case reinvestigations are a common occurrence. Occasionally some of the original work was conducted up to 30 years ago using profiling systems of the early 1990s, which targeted HLA-DQA1, ApoB, D1S80 and D17S5. When contemporary work is carried out, if a suspect is identified they will be profiled in contemporary profiling kits such as GlobalFiler. It would be common to then also attempt to profile the evidence profiles in the same contemporary profiling kit. Imagine a scenario where two evidence samples, E1 and E2, had previously produced single-source profiles, but only E2 had any DNA extract left to re-profile with GlobalFiler. At the old loci E1 matched E2, and at the new loci E2 matched the suspect reference. Of interest to the investigation was whether anything could be said about the suspect being a donor of DNA to E1 even though the reference of the suspect and the profile from E1 had no loci in common, by using the information from the profile of E2. This paper explores that possibility.

ACJS 2020 Presidential Address: From Local to Global: Scaling Up and Expanding Out the Study of Unresolved Homicides

A plea for scaling up (i.e., examining the global dimensions) and expanding out (i.e., considering indirect, alternative and complementary measures) of local crime and criminal justice phenomena is made in this paper. The implications and benefits of doing so are illustrated by utilizing the study of unresolved (or cold case) homicides, which are usually conceived as events responsive to localized co-victim, police, and prosecutorial actions. Cross-nationally, the homicide rate is found to be significantly correlated to the formal contact rate and conviction rate (i.e., as indicators of criminal justice system responsiveness to such cases). Inter-woven with the discussion is a personal narrative of how the author came to develop an interest in this and related topics.

Warm-assisted natural inflation

We consider natural inflation in a warm inflation framework with a temperature-dependent dissipative coefficient Γ∝ T3. Natural inflation can be compatible with the Planck 2018 results with such warm assistance. With no a priori assumptions on the dissipative effect's magnitude, we find that the Planck results prefer a weak dissipative regime for our benchmark scale f=5 Mpl, which lies outside the 2σ region in the cold case. The inflation starts in the cold regime and evolves with a growing thermal fluctuation that dominates over quantum fluctuation before the end of the inflation. The observed spectral tilt puts stringent constraints on the model's parameter space. We find that f< 1 M_ pl is excluded. A possible origin of such dissipative coefficient from axion-like coupling to gauge fields and tests of the model are also discussed.

The Murphy Murder Mystery: An Irish “post-mortem situation”

This paper will propose that Beckett’s affinity for crime and mystery fiction also contributes to Murphy. The novel will be examined on the proposed hypothesis that Murphy’s death, so-called, is conspicuously left ambiguous to a certain degree, rendering it a type of mystery narrative. Approaching the mysterious death as something like a detective fiction “cold case”, the events of Murphy, and clues left by Beckett throughout the prose that follows, I will investigate whether or not Murphy does actually die toward the end of the book. Although Beckett does not present these aspects in the traditional form of “thriller” fiction, he does use them to create a modernist aesthetic which challenges traditions, identifications of being, identity, representation and space regarding both the individual and the social context of the Irish “postmortem situation” depicted in Murphy.

Heating Up Cold Cases: An Interview with Bruce Budowle on Human Identification

Heating Up Cold Cases: An Interview with Bruce Budowle on Human Identification

Cold Cases Heat up with New Forensic DNA Methods

Cold Cases Heat up with New Forensic DNA Methods

Thermal design, analysis, and testing of the first Turkish 3U communication CubeSat in low earth orbit

TURKSAT-3USAT is the first Turkish communication 3U CubeSat designed and built by the students of the Space Systems Design and Test Laboratory and Radio Frequency Electronics Laboratory of Istanbul Technical University (ITU). Students partnered with TURKSAT, A.S. Company as well as the Turkish Amateur Technology Organization, when creating the design. The payload of TURKSAT-3USAT, having dimensions of 10 × 10 × 34 cm3, is an amateur band VHF/UHF transponder that will be used for voice communication. In this study, a thermal control system of TURKSAT-3USAT at 680 km altitude was presented. TURKSAT-3USAT used both passive and active thermal control. The thermal model of CubeSat was constructed and analyzed using ThermXL and ESATAN-TMS thermal analysis tools. The temperature results showed that all electronic components were within their allowed temperature range, except the batteries. For batteries, heaters are recommended during the cold case condition. Thermal cycling and bake-out testing were carried out on the flight model in a thermal vacuum chamber.

A muted El Niño-like condition during late MIS 3

The evolutionary dynamics of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) over the last glacial period remains understudied, despite its potential in providing a “cold case” for climate sensitivity studies. Here, we investigate SE Asian-Pacific paleoclimate records to decipher the dominant underlying mechanism that governed tropical Asian-Pacific hydrology during MIS 3. Our results suggest that the glacial emergence of the Sunda Shelf likely altered the atmospheric circulation pattern in Southeast (SE) Asia and led to the realignment of rainfall patterns between Thailand and Indonesia during the last glacial period. We also propose that the long-term hydrological regime change in the tropical Asian-Pacific region during MIS 3 was mainly influenced by an El Niño-like mechanism. An intense El Niño-like condition led to strong aridity in SE Asia during mid MIS 3. By late MIS 3, an enhanced seasonality dampened the intensity of the El Niño-like conditions, thus, leading to muted aridity in SE Asia. The alternating warm and wet summer months and droughts during winter favoured the proliferation of C4 plant types in Northern Thailand from mid MIS 3 to late MIS 3.

Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations and TTA Program (DOJ)

Federal Grants & ContractsVolume 45, Issue 4 p. 4-4 Grants Alerts Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations and TTA Program (DOJ) First published: 15 January 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/fgc.31511Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume45, Issue421 January 2021Pages 4-4 RelatedInformation

A Theoretical Analysis of Mixing Length for Atmospheric Models From Micro to Large Scales

A new mixing length adapted to the constraints of the hectometric-scale gray zone of turbulence for neutral and convective boundary layers is proposed. It combines a mixing length for mesoscale simulations, where the turbulence is fully subgrid and a mixing length for Large-Eddy Simulations, where the coarsest turbulent eddies are explicitly resolved. The mixing length is built for isotropic turbulence schemes, as well as schemes using the horizontal homogeneity assumption. This mixing length is tested over three boundary layer cases: a free convective case, a neutral case and a cold air outbreak case. The later combines turbulence from thermal and dynamical origins as well as presence of clouds. With this new mixing length, the turbulence scheme produces the right proportion between subgrid and resolved turbulent exchanges in Large Eddy Simulations, in the gray zone and at the mesoscale. This opens the way of using a single mixing length whatever the grid mesh of the atmospheric model, the evolution stage or the depth of the boundary layer.

Element of Villainy: Crime and Violence in Recent OTT Malayalam Movies during the Pandemic Times

The Malayalam film industry has been actively engaged in the creation of valuable cinemas in the recent times. An all-new trend has been set upon the film industry during the Pandemic time. Showcasing and projecting violence and crime has been filled all over the movies, especially in Over the Top Theatre (OTT). Taking into consideration, the specific context of Indian especially Malayalam movies released in 2020 and 2021, the predominant and pervasive theme in most of the films is Murder, Crime and Villainy. OTT movies depict violence and murder in myriad forms with revenge being one of the most common themes in all the movies. The paper attempts to analyse the element of villainy in the recent OTT releases in Malayalam movies during 2019–2021. The OTT films released in 2020 and 2021-CU Soon, Kapeela, Anjam Paathira, Joji, Nayattu, Nizhal, Drishyam 2, Krishnankutty Panni Thudengi, Chathurmugam, The Priest, Irrul, Kuruthi, Mallik, Kala, The Cold Case, Bhramam-are taken for analysis in this paper.

The Current Status of Forensic Science and its Impact on Administration of Criminal Justice System in Pakistan: An Analytical Study

Every contact leaves a trace. The existence of duties of citizen in society and sanctions for the wrongdoings expressed in the statutes are meaningless if the courts cannot properly enforce and ensure conformity to them. The courts are responsible for administering justice and relies upon evidence gathered through different mean. One way of gathering evidence is through the use of forensic science. This research emphasizes on the significance of forensic evidence for the administration of justice in Pakistan. This research also aims to investigate the question whether the current status of forensic science has affected the administration of criminal justice in Pakistan. It focused on the key components of CJS as well as the concepts and nature of forensic science. This study concludes that the crucial role which forensic science plays in the administration of criminal justice cannot be neglected. Knowledge of forensic tools and services provides the investigators with the ability to identify and seize on evidence opportunities that would not otherwise be possible. The underdevelopment of forensic science in most parts of the country can be traced back to the later introduction of forensic science in Pakistan. Having an effect on the administration of CJS it is necessary to improve the current status of forensic science. Forensic analysis can make the difference between solving a crime and it becoming a cold case.

A Cold War Cold Case: What Huldah Clark Can Teach Us about Teaching Soviet History

This short article reconstructs the forgotten story of Huldah Clark, a Black American teenager who studied in Moscow in the years 1961–1964 on a scholarship offered her by Nikita Khrushchev. It deploys her story to explore the complexities of Cold War racial politics and how ordinary people mobilized the superpowers’ competing slogans in creative ways. It shows how ordinary Black Americans found hope and even tangible support in Khrushchev's Soviet Union as they struggled for civil rights at home and sought avenues for asserting Black power and anti-racist protest on the global stage. Whereas the historiography on Black American sojourners to the USSR has focused on the interwar period, this article shows how the avowed Soviet commitment to racial equality and global anti-racism still had the power to inspire ordinary Black Americans in their struggle against Jim Crow and in their global pursuit of Black liberation.

An Assessment of the Diversity of Indigenous Forage Plant Species of the Dry Season in Dry Lands of North Western Ethiopia: Implication for Their Conservation and Sustainable Use

This study was done to assess the diversity of indigenous forage plants of the dry season in Combretum-Terminalia woodlands of Guba District, North West of Ethiopia. A total of 69 species of plants were identified and of which all are consumed as a feed resource by the local animal breeds during dry season. The diversity (H) values of the forage plant species ranged between 0.65 to 1.67 across the plots sampled. The similarities (J) between the plots in terms of species composition of all forage species were 0.56 and 0.94. The evenness (E) values of all forage species were in between 0.78 and 0.86 across the sampled plots. The densities of all forage species, including seedlings, were 1216 stems ha -1 . In the study area Combretum colinum , Lonchocarpus laxiflorus, Terminalia laxiflora, Acacia polycantha and Ziziphus mucronata were the five relatively abundant forage species. The Importance Value Index (IVI) values of all the forage species ranged between 0.31 ( Strychnos innocua ) and 81.67 ( Combretum colinum ). Particularly local goat breeds of the study area were known to feed on various plant resources than other breeds. Moreover, Bigariya local cattle breeds were also know to feed on various similar plant resources hence adapted to harsh environmental condition known in western Ethiopia. Pounded barks of Cordia Africana and roots of Securidaca longepedankulata is used in treatment of diarrhoea and common cold cases of goats. Moreover the sheath of Hyphenea thebiaca is used to treat the eye disease of Goats, sheep and cattle. Keywords : Bigariya cattle, density, diversity, evenness, frequency, Importance Value Index DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/72-04 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

COLD CASE HOMICIDES IN POLAND - POSSIBILITIES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT

Currently, there are over a thousand unsolved homicide cases in Poland. Up to this point, numerous, mostly popular science, research papers have been focusing on the individual units in charge of these difficult cases. This paper, however, is an attempt to represent the current state of investigations that were discontinued due to the fact that the perpetrators could not be found, hereinafter referred to as Cold Case Homicides. This paper depicts both the researcher's perspective and the statistical side of such conduct. Furthermore, it presents the first results of a pilot study conducted among the prosecutors, concerning the problem of Cold Case Homicides from their perspective, the possibility of cooperation with the academics, and their opinion on the idea of complex research, concerning the reconstruction of events in this specific area of crime.

Investigating a cold case using high-resolution multi-isotope profiles in human hair

Human remains, later named “Madame Victoria”, were discovered in 2001 near the Royal Victoria hospital in Montreal but were never identified by forensic practitioners. We use multi-isotope hair profiles to investigate Madame Victoria’s travel and diet history. Based on carbon isotope abundances, Madame Victoria had a stable diet and values typical of eastern Canada. Nitrogen isotope ratios are more positive than average Canadians, and increase sharply over the last two months of her life, likely reflecting a rapid health deterioration. Hydrogen isotope abundances are typical of eastern Canada, and become stepwise more positive throughout the hair profile. Based on hydrogen isotope data, Madame Victoria moved progressively from either a western Ontario or northern Quebec locality towards Montreal over the last 3 years of her life stopping multiple times along the way. The strontium isotope ratios are constant throughout the hair profile and equal to the isotopic value of the soil exchangeable strontium at the site where the body was discovered. This observation, combined with hair major and trace elemental data, indicates that strontium from soil diffused and replaced the original hair strontium post-mortem. This study shows the interest of multi-isotope hair profiles to focus investigations on cold cases but also underlines the need for further work to take advantage of metal and metal isotope data.

The effect of after-treatment techniques on the correlations between driving behaviours and NO emissions of passenger cars

Nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emissions from passenger cars are significantly dependent on after-treatment techniques, cold start conditions, and driving behaviours. The widely-used selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technique has low effectiveness of reducing NO x emissions during the cold start period or at low speeds. As a new technique, ammonia creation and conversion technology (ACCT) system can further decrease NO x emissions to achieve cleaner travelling. The correlations between driving behaviours and NO x emissions are different for vehicles equipped with SCR and ACCT systems over cold start and warm start driving cycles. In this paper, the effect of SCR and ACCT systems on the correlations between driving behaviours and NO x emissions were explored based on worldwide harmonized light vehicle test cycles (WLTC). The results indicated that vehicle fuel consumption rates almost linearly increased with acceleration when the acceleration was higher than −0.5 m/s 2 . For cold start situations, vehicle speed range of 55 km/h∼ 100 km/h presented the lowest NO x emission factors over SCR and ACCT scenarios. SCR efficiency was lower than 60% for the vehicle speed range of 25 km/h∼ 40 km/h, and the efficiency of ACCT system was higher than 65% in the corresponding speed range. Regarding the warm start scenarios, average catalyst efficiency was higher than 80% for SCR system over the speed range of 25 km/h∼ 40 km/h, and ACCT efficiency was higher than 95% for all the speed and acceleration ranges. Applications of ACCT systems provided a possibility of meeting stricter emission regulations, and the relationships between driving behaviours and NO x emissions provided the guidance for eco-driving to achieve cleaner travelling. • Effect of NO x reduction techniques on correlations of NO x and driving behaviours. • Catalyst efficiency was <50% for part of medium-low engine speed after warm up. • SCR efficiency was <60% in the speed range of 30 km/h∼ 40 km/h over cold start case. • Speed range of 30–60 km/h dominated total pipe-out NO x emissions for all the cases. • Pipe-out NO x emission factors were less depended on vehicle acceleration than speed.

Subtropical-tropical pathways of spiciness anomalies and their impact on equatorial Pacific temperature

Understanding mechanisms of tropical Pacific decadal variability (TPDV) is of high importance for differentiating between natural climate variability and human induced climate change as this region sustains strong global teleconnections. Here, we use an ocean general circulation model along with a Lagrangian tracer simulator to investigate the advection of density compensated temperature anomalies (“spiciness mechanism”) as a potential contributor to TPDV during the 1980–2016 period. Consistent with observations, we find the primary regions of spiciness generation in the eastern subtropics of each hemisphere. Our results indicate that 75 $$\%$$ of the equatorial subsurface water originates in the subtropics, of which two thirds come from the Southern hemisphere. We further show two prominent cases where remotely generated spiciness anomalies are advected to the equatorial Pacific, impacting subsurface temperature. The relative contribution of Northern versus Southern Hemisphere prominence and/or interior versus western boundary pathways depends on the specific event. The anomalously warm case largely results from advection via the Southern hemisphere interior (65 $$\%$$ ), while the anomalously cold case largely results from advection via the Northern hemisphere western boundary (48 $$\%$$ ). The relatively slow travel times from the subtropics to the equator (> 4 years) suggests that these spiciness anomalies underpin a potentially predictable contribution to TPDV. However, not all decadal peaks in equatorial spiciness can be explained by remotely generated spiciness anomalies. In those cases, we propose that spiciness anomalies are generated in the equatorial zone through changes in the proportion of Northern/Southern hemisphere source waters due to their different mean spiciness distribution.

Evaluation of the Ion AmpliSeq™ PhenoTrivium Panel: MPS-Based Assay for Ancestry and Phenotype Predictions Challenged by Casework Samples.

As the field of forensic DNA analysis has started to transition from genetics to genomics, new methods to aid in crime scene investigations have arisen. The development of informative single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers has led the forensic community to question if DNA can be a reliable “eye-witness” and whether the data it provides can shed light on unknown perpetrators. We have developed an assay called the Ion AmpliSeq™ PhenoTrivium Panel, which combines three groups of markers: 41 phenotype- and 163 ancestry-informative autosomal SNPs together with 120 lineage-specific Y-SNPs. Here, we report the results of testing the assay’s sensitivity and the predictions obtained for known reference samples. Moreover, we present the outcome of a blind study performed on real casework samples in order to understand the value and reliability of the information that would be provided to police investigators. Furthermore, we evaluated the accuracy of admixture prediction in Converge™ Software. The results show the panel to be a robust and sensitive assay which can be used to analyze casework samples. We conclude that the combination of the obtained predictions of phenotype, biogeographical ancestry, and male lineage can serve as a potential lead in challenging police investigations such as cold cases or cases with no suspect.