On April 2, 2011, Plano, Texas Police Department responded to a home invasion sexual assault that occurred sometime after 2 o’clock in the morning. The victim was awakened by an unknown male in her bed. She fought back during the sexual assault and in the course of doing so, her attacker’s blood was transferred to a pillowcase on the bed. The pillowcase was collected as evidence, as was a routine sexual assault nurse examination, both of which were forensically analyzed to develop a clear suspect DNA profile.

In September and October of 2011, Coppell Police Department (Dallas County) and Corinth Police Department (Denton County) responded to similar home invasion sexual assaults where the victims also underwent SANE exams. The unknown male profile in both of those cases was a forensic match to the suspect profile in the Plano case. Plano, Coppell, and Corinth police departments worked tirelessly for years collecting DNA from persons of interest and following up on any and all viable tips associated with these cases. The suspect was even the subject of an FBI’s America’s Most Wanted episode.

In 2018, Arlington Police Department (Tarrant County) sent sexual assault kits on unsolved cases for additional testing in hopes that advancements in DNA technology would result in new leads. This uncovered evidence from a 2003 home invasion sexual assault case that also matched to the same offender from all three 2011 cases.

You can read more in an article published in the Texas Metro News web site at: http://tinyurl.com/5caxda4e.

The following book review was written by Bobbi King:

The Sawtooth Slayer
by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. Self published. 2022. 342 pages.

Nathan Goodwin will be at RootsTech at his booth in the Expo Hall. He enjoys meeting and greeting his readers, so drop by and say hello.

The Sawtooth Slayer, a murder mystery set on the edge of the Sawtooth Range of the Rocky Mountains, in the small western city of Twin Falls, Idaho, is one more must-read story for the followers of Nathan Goodwin. A series of kidnappings and cruel murders have set the town on edge, and Detective Maria Gonzalez is tasked with solving the cases that have few leads and scant clues to a killer’s identity.

Detective Gonzalez turns to Madison Scott-Barnhart, and Madison’s staff at her  investigative genetic genealogy company, Venator, for help in solving the case. Madison has moved her work to home, amidst the Covid crisis, where personal family complications parallel the difficulties of crime-solving with DNA analytics and genealogy searches. 

The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the author does a good job weaving together the various threads of the story.  The genealogical aspect adds an intriguing layer to the mystery, and readers will find themselves drawn into the familiar world of genealogical problem-solving. 

After all these years of enjoying Mr. Goodwin’s books, I do have a criticism. I wish his books were better-produced. I wish the chapter headings, line spacing, margins, and chapter spacings were better formatted. More like the traditional formatting of novels; his pages are pretty dense with type, and my eyes are asking for a little white space. Some illustrations might be interesting, too, just something to break up the crowded pages full of text. I know Mr. Goodwin’s sense of image is skilled; his book covers are perfectly drawn for his stories. 

So on that slightly adverse note (although for an author, no critique is ever “slight”), Mr. Goodwin’s skillful storytelling and attention to detail make this a standout novel in the genre, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.

The Sawtooth Slayer is available from the author at: https://www.nathandylangoodwin.com/copy-of-the-chester-creek-murders, from Amazon, and most other online bookstores.

The unit will partner with smaller departments across the state to focus on solving old cases using genealogy databases and testing to follow leads. Can your Ancestry test help solve a crime? How does law enforcement use DNA databases? What kind of crimes are they focused on? 

“Ten, 15-20 years ago, this was science fiction,” Torrez explained. “I mean there was no way for anyone to figure these things out.”

Torrez explains how investigators used genealogy to ultimately identify and arrest Angel Gurule in 2020. Gurule was charged with attacking and raping a jogger near the bosque. He pled guilty to two counts of rape and was sentenced to 12 years.

Genealogy testing also led to investigators finding and identifying Edward Duran in 2021, matching his DNA to a rape kit from 1997. Duran remains behind bars awaiting trial on seven counts of rape.

You can read more in an article by Gabrielle Burkhart and Chris McKee published in the krqe web site at: http://tinyurl.com/4vdpc3mf.

The following press release was written by the U.S. National Genealogical Society:

The following is (part of) an announcement from the Homeland Security Department:

AGENCY:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

This final rule adjusts certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees charged by USCIS. This rule also provides additional fee exemptions for certain humanitarian categories and makes changes to certain other immigration benefit request requirements. USCIS conducted a comprehensive biennial fee review and determined that current fees do not recover the full cost of providing adjudication and naturalization services. DHS is adjusting the fee schedule to fully recover costs and maintain adequate service. This final rule also responds to public comments received on the USCIS proposed fee schedule published on January 4, 2023.

DATES:

This final rule is effective April 1, 2024. Any benefit request postmarked on or after this date must be accompanied with the fees established by this final rule.

Public Engagement date: DHS will hold a virtual public engagement session during which USCIS will discuss the changes made in this final rule. The session will be held at 2 p,m. Eastern on Feb. 22, 2024. Register for the engagement here: https://public.govdelivery.com/​accounts/​USDHSCIS/​subscriber/​new?​topic_​id=​USDHSCIS_​1081.

USCIS will allot time during the session to answer questions submitted in advance. Please email questions to public.engagement@uscis.dhs.gov by 4 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, and use “Fee Rule Webinar” in the subject link. Please note that USCIS cannot answer case-specific inquiries during the session.

ADDRESSES:

Docket: To view comments on the proposed rule that preceded this rule, search for docket number USCIS 2021–0010 on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Carol Cribbs, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 5900 Capital Gateway Dr., Camp Springs, MD 20746; telephone 240–721–3000 (this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A lot more supplementary information may be found in the Federal Register at: http://tinyurl.com/2wkk68v7.

About 54 years ago, a boy scout troop leader in Sauvie Island, Oregon stumbled upon a shallow grave. In the buried dirt seemed to be some forgotten clothing. In reality, it was the remains of a teenage girl.

Her entire body, in skeletal form, was discovered underneath the grave, as well as pieces from a black curly wig, according to Oregon State Police. At the time, investigators said the body showed clear signs of foul play. 

For decades, the identity of the young woman remained a mystery — until Thursday. 

State authorities identified the woman as Sandra Young, a teenager from Portland who went missing between 1968 and 1969. Her identity was discovered through advanced DNA technology, which has helped solve stubborn cold cases in recent years. 

The case's breakthrough came last year in January, when a person uploaded their DNA to the genealogy database, GEDMatch, and the tool immediately determined that the DNA donor was a distant family member of Young. According to Oregon State Police, Young's DNA was already in databases used by law enforcement to help identify missing persons.

From there, a genetic genealogist working with local law enforcement helped track down other possible relatives and encouraged them to provide their DNA. That work eventually led to Young's sister and other family members who confirmed that Young went missing around the same time that a body was discovered in the far north end of Sauvie Island.

You can read more in the full story written by Juliana Kim in the NPR web site at: http://tinyurl.com/muz92rd8.

Transport for London (TfL) has a rich history that spans more than 160 years and transcends the borders of London and the UK, with globally recognised iconography such as our red buses, black cabs, Tube maps and famous roundel. After three years of close collaboration with Google Arts & Culture, we are delighted to be bringing our archives, histories and stories online for a global audience with this new exhibition.

United in our passion to preserve culture and art, we wanted to immerse users in our world of transport in a new, accessible way. With the digitisation of more than 2,000 documents and images from our Corporate Archive collections — including hundreds of historic maps — this online exhibition shares our history, current projects and cultural contributions, and details the stories and moments that led TfL to be who we are today.

What can audiences look forward to? Never-seen-before content and stories. For example, did you know that in 1905, TfL owned over 17,000 horses? Or that TfL contributed to the World War II efforts by producing 710 Halifax Bombers in just three years? You can also investigate the innovative tunnelling and construction methods used to build the Victoria line.

You can read more in an article by Emma Strain, the Customer Director for Transport for London, at: http://tinyurl.com/2yjxra96.

Here is a list of all of this week's articles, all of them available here at https://eogn.com: 

Over 1,700 issues of The Central Express and The Sanford Express are now available to view thanks to our partner Lee County Libraries and funding from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). According to the Library of Congress, the paper was published under name The Central Express from ~1886 until 1891 when it was changed to The Sanford Express. This batch adds issues from a period of urbanization as well as agricultural and industrial expansion in Lee County from the late 19th to the early-to-mid 20th century.

From 1880 to 1919, Sanford saw agricultural and industrial expansion and community growth as a result of improved transportation. During this period, a large Black community began to take shape in Sanford with the establishment of business and residential district centered on Pearl Street. Individuals who did not work in the Pearl Street businesses in Sanford farmed; worked in the county’s brownstone quarries, sawmills, turpentine distilleries; or in building trades. 

The Central Express, September 28, 1889.

John and David Womack are specifically mentioned in the National Register of Historic Places application submitted in 1993 for the “Historic and Architectural Resources of Lee County, North Carolina, ca. 1800-1942,” as Black business operators. According to the application, the two were operators of a brickyard located near Sanford in the 1890s. Interestingly, John Womack is mentioned in the September 29, 1889 issue of The Central Express as being “a respectable colored man of this place,” that went to Charlotte to “become chief cook at the Buford House.” There appears to be no follow-up in The Sanford Express for John Womack’s return to Sanford in the 1890s to operate the brickyard.

Information about Sanford was taken from the NPS National Register of Historic Places application, seen here.

To view more issues of The Central Express and The Sanford Express, view the newspaper’s landing page here.

To browse more newspapers from across North Carolina, view our newspaper collection page here.

To learn more about Lee County Libraries, visit their website here.

All Swedish-language newspapers published in Finland are now available digitally, as the National Library's digitization project has been completed.

The University of Helsinki reports that nearly 3.9 million pages were digitized in the project which ended on December 31st.

Now, almost six million pages of Swedish-language newspapers are available digitally through the National Library's digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi service. According to the National Library, Swedish-language papers account for 30 percent of all newspapers available on the service.

Searches can be made from digital content within newspaper contents and descriptive information.

According to Kimmo Tuominen, Chief Librarian at the National Library, comprehensive digitized collections can promote language science, machine learning and AI development by opening up new opportunities for Finnish researchers to develop language models.

"The availability of digitized newspapers revolutionizes research possibilities and deepens understanding of Finnish history and culture. We are grateful to our supporters and partners for making this part of Finland’s Swedish-speaking cultural heritage increasingly accessible," says Tuominen in a statement.

You can read more in an article by Joakim Kullas published in the tivi.fi web site at: http://tinyurl.com/yvssene8.