Highlights – Forensics TTA

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Castanet

Remains found in Florida identified as woman last seen in Saskatchewan

In January 1985, skeletal remains of an unidentified woman were found in a densely wooded area in Malabar, Florida. Despite extensive early investigative efforts, investigators were unable to identify her, and she became known as “Malabar Jane Doe”. In 2024, leveraging Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) Program funding, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), working with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and the District 18 Medical Examiner, outsourced forensic evidence to a vendor laboratory for advanced DNA testing. These testing efforts enabled FDLE’s Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) team to conduct a genealogical search, generating new investigative leads into the woman’s possible identity. This investigation ultimately identified the remains as Jeanette Marcotte, a woman originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, who was last seen in Saskatchewan in 1981 or 1982.

January 2026

Get the Coast

Skeletal remains found in Miramar Beach identified as Niceville 19-year-old missing since 2015

Skeletal remains discovered in Miramar Beach, Florida in October 2022 have been positively identified as Jacob Lyon, a 19-year-old from Niceville, Florida who went missing in late 2015. The Walton County Sheriff’s Office and Niceville Police Department announced the identification after DNA analysis performed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) matched the remains to family reference samples obtained from Lyon’s family nearly a decade earlier. Lyon was last seen in late 2015 and officially reported missing by his mother on February 1, 2016, the same day he was entered into state and national missing person databases. DNA confirmation from FDLE came on January 21, 2026, bringing long-awaited news to the family. Investigators emphasized that while the identification provides partial closure, the case is now an active death investigation. Evidence found near the remains will undergo further analysis as part of continued investigative efforts.

January 2026

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DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office, GA

DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office uses ME/C funding to achieve Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accreditation in 6 months

The DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office used grant funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Strengthening Medical Examiner/Coroner (ME/C) System Program to prepare and apply for accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). These funds enabled the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office to prepare the necessary physical space for a fellow, acquire a multiheaded microscope, cover ACGME accreditation fees, develop a robust educational lecture series for incoming fellows, and support other requirements for ACGME accreditation. The DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office attained ACGME accreditation just 6 short months after being awarded their ME/C Program funds!

January 2026

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Highlights

DNA leads to suspect in 1998 rape and killing of nurse at Maryland hospital

Nearly three decades after the 1998 rape and murder of 50-year-old nurse, Sherry Crandell, the Prince George’s County Police Department announced the case has been solved. Crandell was found tied up, raped, and strangled in her office at the former Prince George’s County Medical Center in Cheverly, Maryland. Despite an extensive investigation, no arrests were made at the time. In December 2021, investigators revisited preserved DNA evidence and obtained a warrant to analyze it using Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG). With assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Baltimore Investigative Genetic Genealogy Team, police identified Edward Watts, also known as Baari Shabazz, as the suspect in late 2025. Watts died in 2019, so no charges can be filed. The investigation was supported by Bureau of Justice Assistance Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA (COLD) Program grants awarded to the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Prince George’s County Police Department to expand FGG testing in cold cases.

November 2025

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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department

Sexual Assault Suspect Arrested and Charged in 32-year-old Cold Case

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Sexual Assault Cold Case Detectives have arrested 55-year-old Dulaine Lotharp in connection with two sexual assaults committed in 1993 and 1994, bringing resolution to a 32-year-old cold case. The first assault occurred on July 22, 1993, when a woman reported being attacked by an unknown suspect in the Providence Division. Over a year later, on August 25, 1994, another woman was similarly assaulted while walking along a wooded path in the same division. Sexual assault kits were collected in both cases. Although detectives investigated diligently at the time, the limitations of early DNA technology prevented a suspect from being identified. Years later, detectives revisited the case and submitted the preserved DNA samples for retesting using funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s DNA Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction (CEBR) Program and the New York County District Attorney’s Office (DANY). This testing ultimately identified Lotharp as the suspect in both assaults. He was taken into custody on August 30, 2025, and charged with three counts of First-Degree Rape, two counts of First-Degree Kidnapping, Common Law Robbery, and Communicating Threats.

September 2025

Highlights

Timely Case Entry Leads to Rapid Identification in an Arizona Unidentified Human Remains Case

On March 31, 2025, unidentified human remains were discovered near a campsite in Payson, Arizona (Gila County). Despite a thorough investigation, local law enforcement and the Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office were initially unable to determine the individual’s identity. 

On May 12, 2025, the Pinal County Medical Examiner entered the case into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), a national database designed to support the identification of missing and unidentified individuals. The entry included detailed descriptions and photographs of the clothing found with the decedent, including a shirt, sweatshirt, and hat. Within 24 hours of the case appearing on NamUs’ public-facing site, concerned citizens began sharing the information on Facebook. By May 14, 2025, tips were coming in to both law enforcement and the medical examiner’s office — including one from friends of a man who had been living unhoused in the area. They recognized the clothing from the NamUs post and contacted authorities, reporting they had lost contact with him nearly three years prior.

The Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office obtained dental records for the individual, which were then compared to the postmortem dental records of the unidentified decedent. This comparison confirmed a positive identification, restoring the individual’s name and identity. Next of kin were subsequently located and notified.

While this identification was not directly funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) grant to Pinal County, it powerfully illustrates one of the core objectives of the MUHR Program: the rapid entry of cases into databases like NamUs to aid in identification. This case demonstrates the impact of timely data sharing, the value of public engagement, and the critical role of collaboration and accessible tools in helping bring resolution to families and communities.

August 2025

Highlights

Remains recovered in 2007 identified as diver who went missing in Florida, deputies say

Using funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Missing and Unidentified Human Remains (MUHR) Program awarded to Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and the work of FDLE’s Genetic Genealogy Investigations team, Volusia Sheriff’s Office detectives were provided a lead in 2025 for an unidentified human remains case that originated in 2007 after a diver went missing while off the coast of Ponce Inlet, Florida. With the help of the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office and funding from the MUHR Program grant, the recovered remains were DNA sequenced and databased, after which FDLE’s Genetic Genealogy Investigations team conducted extensive analytical and genetic genealogy research. Their research resulted in an investigative lead that ultimately led to the positive identification of the victim—providing answers in a case that had remained unresolved for nearly two decades.

June 2025

Highlights

She was left strangled outside. 46 years later, police found a suspect

More than 45 years ago, Kathryn Donohue, a 31-year-old union secretary, went out for dinner in Georgetown with co-workers after work. Early the next morning, on March 3, 1979, a person found her body in a parking lot in Glenarden, Maryland, miles away from where she lived in Arlington, Virginia. According to charging documents, she had been violently raped and strangled.

March 2025

Broward County Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services, FL

Broward County Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services helps address the national shortage of medical examiners through ME/C funding

Since being awarded grant funding through the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA’s) Strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner (ME/C) System Program, the Broward County Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services (BCOMETS) has successfully trained seven forensic pathology fellows. BCOMETS has one current fellow nearing the completion of their fellowship, with another aspiring forensic pathology fellow set to begin July 1, 2025. Additionally, BCOMETS is concluding interviews for the 2026-2027 academic year, aiming to welcome their ninth forensic pathology fellow that will be funded through their ME/C Program grant.

March 2025

District One Medical Examiner, FL

Florida’s District One Medical Examiner’s Office set to break ground on new standalone facility, thanks to ME/C funding

Florida’s District One Medical Examiner’s Office utilized funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA’s) Strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner (ME/C) System Program to create the conceptual schematic design and layout for a new facility. This new facility will be the first ever standalone medical examiner’s office in their district’s 50-year history. This new facility will not only allow them to better serve the four counties in their district but will also support the requirements for National Association of Medical Examiner (NAME) accreditation. The District One Medical Examiner Director of Operations said “These ME/C Program funds were an integral piece to push the capital construction project forward. We were able to leverage these grant funds, along with state funding, to get the four counties that we serve to agree to provide the remaining funding necessary for the new facility. Without these ME/C Program funds, the project would not have gotten off the ground and we would be much further back in the process. Construction will begin in March 2025 with an anticipated completion of July 2026. The BJA funding through the ME/C Program made a big difference in our pursuit of a new facility that will meet the requirements for NAME accreditation.”

March 2025

Category: Highlights