UPDATE: the jury found Alexander Christopher Ewing guilty on all six counts ( three counts of first-degree murder after deliberation and three counts of first-degree felony murder) on Friday August 6, 2021. Ewing faces life imprisonment however, he will be sentenced under the law as it was at the time of the crime. In 1984, […]
Bennett Family Murders: the prosecution rests
The case against Alexander Christopher Ewing (60) comes down to forensic evidence. The state pointed to DNA found at the crime scene. The crime scene is the Bennett Family home where 3 out of 4 family members were murdered in January 1984. All four family members were assaulted, only one survived. In the papers, the […]
Queen of the Burglars by Shayne Davidson
Sophie Lyons (Dec 22, 1847 – May 8, 1924), I had never heard of her until I read Shayne Davidson‘s book. Full title: Queen of the Burglars, the scandalous life of Sophie Lyons. It is true crime, a historical overview of many criminal cases and procedures, and a biography. With several husbands, children, accomplices, and […]
Robert Thomas Keith (1925 – 1973)
In 1973, Pennsauken, Camden County, New Jersey was plagued by a series of crimes. I was alerted to the shooting death of restaurant manager Robert Thomas Keith (Aug 11, 1925 – April 24, 1973) whose murder was never solved. Keith was the manager of The Pub. He had worked at the restaurant for well over […]
The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy part 4
In part 4 of my series on Forensic Genealogy, we look at what is happening in Iowa. The Iowa Supreme Court, in a 4-3 split, decided on June 18, 2021, to ban police from searching the people’s uncollected trash without a warrant. In doing so they outlawed a decades old investigative technique. The Justices said […]
Elodie Kulik: Barton sentence upheld
On July 1, 2021 the North Assize Court of Appeal in Douai, France, confirmed the 2019 verdict of the lower court that sentenced Willy Bardon to 30 years in prison. Bardon was accused, convicted, and sentenced for the 2002 kidnapping, confinement, rape, and murder of Elodie Kulik. One of the conflicting points was that the […]
Myrtle M. Sayers Smith (1895-1930)
A case like this from Myrtle M. Sayers Smith, this old, is hard to solve. All people involved in the case have passed away. We would need preserved evidence hoping that nothing has deteriorated beyond what can be tested for DNA. Or, we need documented confessions, witnessed on deathbeds, or written in journals, wills, etc. […]
The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy part 3
Two US states have enacted bills to protect people’s privacy when the authorities use commercial direct-to-consumer DNA databases and forensic genealogy to solve old crimes. What happens when they use DNA databases? Police use DNA from an old unsolved crime scene and compare it to genetic online profiles in commercial DNA databases. They will try […]