Latest news with #CODIS
Daily Mirror
08-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
Graduate, 25, found stabbed to death in ditch as lies of killer, 84, exposed
Creative university graduate Mary Schlais was killed on her way to an art show and the only clue was a hat left behind at the crime scene with no explanation until 50 years later It was 1974 and Mary Schlais was pursuing her dream of becoming a professional artist. Mary, 25, had graduated with honours from the University of Minnesota after completing an art degree and was already exhibiting her sculptures, paintings and drawings in public. Mary also had a natural talent for languages and had studied abroad. She loved to travel and often hitchhiked to explore new places – which was very common in the 1970s. On 15 February, at 10.30am, Mary left her Minneapolis apartment with a large cardboard sign that read 'Madison'. She was attending an art show in Chicago, Illinois, which was over six hours' driveaway, and planned to hitchhike there. From Madison, she intended to change the sign and find another lift. READ MORE: Schoolboy, 14, wiped out entire family after discovering 'mum's' true identity Mary's housemate saw her leave. It was winter, with snow on the ground, so Mary was wearing a long tan furry coat, jeans, a maroon polo neck top and she was carrying a handbag. It would be the last time Mary was seen alive. Three hours later, a witness called the police to say he'd seen a man throwing a body out of a car in Spring Brook, Wisconsin. The man then tried to cover it up but he fled when the witness drove past. It was around 90 miles from where Mary had started her journey. The witness went to investigate and found the body of a woman face down in a ditch. Brutal stabbing Police officers went to the scene and found Mary's body in the snow. Her coat and handbag were missing and would never be found. Mary had been stabbed at least 15 times in the upper body. She had cuts on her hands that suggested she had tried to fight back. The police believed the killer had picked Mary up in Minnesota and driven directly to the dump site that was 90 miles away, killing her in the car. Her body was still warm. The witness said the man was driving a gold-coloured car. Due to the snow on the ground, tyre tracks were unclear. An orange and black woolly hat, believed to be the killer's, was found at the scene. It contained hair fibres, but there were no matches on the Combined DNA Index System, the law enforcement database known as CODIS. There was also DNA under Mary's fingernails and blood on her clothes, but again, it didn't give the police a match. The public were given a drawing of a man, described as having brown hair and a moustache. There was an extensive investigation, with hundreds of leads, but none led to a suspect. The case ran cold, leaving Mary's loved ones with so many unanswered questions, but officers never stopped the investigation. They kept revisiting Mary's murder in the hope that, one day, her killer would be found. In 2009, Mary's body was exhumed for further testing, but even with technology advancements, her killer couldn't be identified. Two years later, investigators suggested there could be a link between Mary's killing and Randall Woodfield, an American football player once drafted for the Green Bay Packers, who would become known as the I-5 killer, due to the crime she committed along the Interstate 5 in Washington, Oregon and California in the early 1980s. Woodfield was convicted of one murder but has been linked to dozens more. But while he was highlighted as a suspect in Mary's murder, and was in the area at the time, he was never charged. And it turned out, Woodfield wasn't the killer. At the end of 2022, determined officers started working with a team of genetic genealogists at Ramapo College in New Jersey. They had access to voluntary DNA tests from members of the public who were looking to find out more about their heritage or trying to track down relatives. The genealogists also used public records to build family trees. They started working with the DNA found in the hat at Mary's crime scene. A possible family line was identified and slowly, they worked through the male line. When that led to a dead end, they considered the possibility that the killer might have been adopted. And they were right. Another relative led police to Jon Miller, 84. On 7 November 2024, close to what would have been Mary's 76th birthday, officers knocked on Miller's door in Owatonna, Minnesota, and took him in for questioning. At first, Miller denied any involvement, but when confronted with the DNA evidence, he changed his story. He admitted he had picked Mary up when she was hitchhiking. He said he'd asked for 'sexual contact', which Mary had made clear she wasn't interested in. As she'd leaned forward, he'd taken a knife that was stored in the visor on the passenger side and had stabbed her repeatedly in the back. He'd later pulled off the road and tried to hide her body in the snow-covered ditch but admitted he'd panicked after a car drove by and had fled, leaving his hat. Miller admitted to the police that as soon as he opened the door to the officers, he knew why they were there. Justice at last In March this year, Miller pleaded 'no contest' to first degree murder and was sentenced. Mary's niece, Nina Mary Schlais, expressed relief that, despite the number of years that had passed, her killer had been found. 'Mary Schlais was more than a victim. She was a brilliant, independent woman, a gifted artist, an equestrian, a world traveller and a scholar,' she said. 'This case is a reminder that justice has no time limit, and to families still searching for the truth, let Mary's story be a testament that persistence, science and dedication can bring long-awaited closure.' The judge said that while he credited Miller for pleading 'no contest' and making the trial easier, his guilt was evident and he deserved punishment. 'I don't know if there's anything that could make up for the loss of life,' he said. Miller was given life in prison and was ordered to pay $2,200 in restitution. Five decades on, there was justice. The police spoke to the media to say that some of the officers who'd worked on Mary's case had since died themselves, due to the length of time that had passed – but the department had never given up. Sadly, Miller had been free while Mary's future brutally ended in 1974. But advances in technology mean investigators continue to hunt down killers with incredible results – even 50 years later.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Albany man receives two life sentences for 1988 cold case rape and kidnapping
The Brief Reginald Colwell was sentenced to two life terms plus 20 years for kidnapping, raping, and assaulting a woman in a 1988 cold case. The conviction was based on DNA evidence from a preserved sexual assault kit, matched to Colwell in 2019 through a federal initiative. Colwell's life sentences are subject to 1988 parole eligibility guidelines due to the crime's occurrence date. DECATUR, Ga. - An Albany man has been sentenced to two life terms plus 20 years in prison after being convicted of kidnapping, raping, and assaulting a woman in a 1988 cold case, prosecutors announced Tuesday. A DeKalb County jury on May 20 found 58-year-old Reginald Colwell guilty on charges of kidnapping, rape, and aggravated assault for the December 30, 1988, attack. Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams, who presided over the trial, handed down the sentence on Tuesday, ordering the terms to be served consecutively. The backstory According to investigators, the 20-year-old victim reported the rape to DeKalb County Police after being attacked while leaving her apartment on Weatherly Drive in unincorporated Stone Mountain. As she locked the front door, a man wearing a ski mask held a knife to her throat and forced her into nearby woods, where he sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she resisted. The victim fled to a nearby neighborhood once the attacker ran off, and a resident helped her call her boyfriend, who took her to the police station. Officers recovered her purse and other items scattered in the woods and transported her to Grady Memorial Hospital for a sexual assault examination. Although DNA testing was not available at the time, the sexual assault kit was preserved by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. In 2015, DeKalb County joined a federally funded effort through the Bureau of Justice Assistance's National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), which aimed to process long-untested rape kits. In 2019, testing from the victim's case produced a CODIS match to Colwell. A court-ordered DNA sample confirmed the match. Prosecutors said Colwell had been living in DeKalb County at the time of the attack. What's next Because the crime occurred in 1988, Colwell's life sentences fall under the parole eligibility guidelines in place at the time. The Source The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office provided the details on the case. The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office provided the mug shot and arrest record.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Homeland Security stonewalling info on noncitizen DNA collection operation, lawsuit alleges
The Trump administration has been turning to DNA technology to help find and arrest immigrants, including children, but immigration advocates say it has been slow to spell out how it's using and overseeing the genetic information. Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security on Monday after trying to get records about the data collection program since last summer, during the Biden administration. The plaintiffs are the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology, part of the Georgetown University Law School that focuses on privacy and surveillance law and policy; the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and Americans for Immigrant Justice, both immigrant rights groups. The groups describe in their lawsuit their back-and-forth with DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection since they originally requested information about their DNA collection from noncitizens on Aug. 1, 2024. Since 2020, DHS has expanded its DNA collection program and increased DNA contributions to the FBI's database, CODIS, by 5,000%, becoming the largest contributor, according to the Georgetown center. The DNA database of the FBI can be accessed by police across the country for criminal investigations, the plaintiff groups said in a statement. Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at the Georgetown center, said in a statement that DHS is expanding its database by "collecting DNA from people accused of no crime and while operating with none of the constraints that are supposed to be in place before the government compels someone to give over their most sensitive personal information." He said Americans deserve more visibility on the program and said DHS's lack of transparency is unacceptable. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Daniel Melo, senior staff attorney with Amica's Immigration Impact Lab, told NBC News that previous administrations have also collected DNA. A 2005 law mandated federal agencies collect DNA from people in custody, including noncitizens. Prior to 2020, the Justice Department had told DHS that its immigration enforcement and border agents did not have to routinely collect DNA from every noncitizen it detained, Melo said. The Biden administration adopted rules requiring full compliance with the 2005 law, but whistleblowers and a government watchdog complained compliance was uneven. The "Securing Our Borders" executive order signed by President Donald Trump requires the attorney general and the DHS to fulfill requirements on DNA collection from noncitizens mandated in the 2005 law. Privacy and civil rights groups have long had issues with the government's DNA collection program. Melo said the public should be concerned whether people are being advised of their rights and how the information is being collected and used. "This information could tentatively be used in all sorts of ways to map full communities, to basically build a more intricate web of surveillance around noncitizen communities," Melo said. He said if DHS can continue to collect the DNA of noncitizens, essentially "experimenting" on them, "then they are able to refine these technologies and deploy them in new and interesting and probably really dangerous and scary ways on the rest of us." Emily Tucker, the Georgetown center's executive director, said in a statement that "it is a mistake to think of DHS' DNA collection program as 'immigration enforcement.'" "Trump is using immigration powers to justify the activities of his militarized federal police force because there is so little institutional or judicial oversight or accountability for executive enforcement actions that invoke 'immigration authority," she said in a statement. "This program is one part of a massive surveillance dragnet that sweeps in information about everyone. They will use it for deportation, but they will also use it to intimidate, silence, and target anyone they perceive as the enemy.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
02-06-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Homeland Security stonewalling info on non-citizen DNA collection operation, lawsuit alleges
The Trump administration has been turning to DNA technology to help find and arrest immigrants, including children, but immigration advocates say it has been slow to spell out how it's using and overseeing the genetic information. Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security on Monday after trying to get records about the data collection program since last summer, during the Biden administration. The plaintiffs are the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology, part of the Georgetown University Law School that focuses on privacy and surveillance law and policy; the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and Americans for Immigrant Justice, both immigrant rights groups. The groups describe in their lawsuit their back-and-forth with DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection since they originally requested information about their DNA collection from noncitizens on Aug. 1, 2024. Since 2020, DHS has expanded its DNA collection program and increased DNA contributions to the FBI's database, CODIS, by 5,000%, becoming the largest contributor, according to the Georgetown center. The DNA database of the FBI can be accessed by police across the country for criminal investigations, the plaintiff groups said in a statement. Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at the Georgetown center, said in a statement that DHS is expanding its database by "collecting DNA from people accused of no crime and while operating with none of the constraints that are supposed to be in place before the government compels someone to give over their most sensitive personal information." He said Americans deserve more visibility on the program and said DHS's lack of transparency is unacceptable. NBC News has contacted DHS for comment. Daniel Melo, senior staff attorney with Amica's Immigration Impact Lab, told NBC News that previous administrations have also collected DNA. A 2005 law mandated federal agencies collect DNA from people in custody, including noncitizens. Prior to 2020, the Justice Department had told DHS that its immigration enforcement and border agents did not have to routinely collect DNA from every noncitizen it detained, Melo said. The Biden administration adopted rules requiring full compliance with the 2005 law, but whistleblowers and a government watchdog complained compliance was uneven. The "Securing Our Borders" executive order signed by President Donald Trump requires the attorney general and the DHS to fulfill requirements on DNA collection from noncitizens mandated in the 2005 law. 'Sweeps in information about everyone' Privacy and civil rights groups have long had issues with the government's DNA collection program. Melo said the public should be concerned whether people are being advised of their rights and how the information is being collected and used. "This information could tentatively be used in all sorts of ways to map full communities, to basically build a more intricate web of surveillance around noncitizen communities," Melo said. He said if DHS can continue to collect the DNA of noncitizens, essentially "experimenting" on them, "then they are able to refine these technologies and deploy them in new and interesting and probably really dangerous and scary ways on the rest of us." Emily Tucker, the Georgetown center's executive director, said in a statement that "it is a mistake to think of DHS' DNA collection program as 'immigration enforcement.'" "Trump is using immigration powers to justify the activities of his militarized federal police force because there is so little institutional or judicial oversight or accountability for executive enforcement actions that invoke 'immigration authority," she said in a statement. "This program is one part of a massive surveillance dragnet that sweeps in information about everyone. They will use it for deportation, but they will also use it to intimidate, silence, and target anyone they perceive as the enemy.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Homeland Security faces lawsuit over ‘massive surveillance dragnet' collecting immigrant DNA — including from children
Immigration authorities are collecting DNA from immigrants — including children — and feeding that information into a massive criminal database. Most of those immigrants are not accused of committing any crime, but federal law enforcement agencies can now access their detailed DNA profiles as part of a 'massive surveillance dragnet that sweeps in information about everyone,' according to a lawsuit demanding information from Donald Trump's administration. Monday's lawsuit from the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology calls on the Department of Homeland Security to answer how, exactly, the agency 'collects, stores and uses' those DNA samples. Georgetown Law and two other immigration groups filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information last year. Nine months later, without any response, the groups are now suing the agency for answers. DHS is 'quickly becoming the primary contributor of DNA profiles to the nation's criminal policing DNA database,' according to Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy for Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy & Technology. The Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, is administered by the FBI. The network is used by local, state and federal enforcement agencies to match DNA from crime scenes to identify suspects. Last year, Georgetown's center discovered that border agents are collecting DNA from virtually anyone in their custody, no matter how long they have been detained. That information is fed into CODIS, where it lives indefinitely, 'simply because they were not born in the United States,' according to Daniel Melo, an attorney with Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, which joined Georgetown's lawsuit. Homeland Security has added more than 1.5 million DNA profiles to the database since 2020, marking a 5,000 percent increase in submissions between 2000 and 2024, the report found. That figure includes more than 133,000 children, according to data reviewed by Wired. Nearly 230 children are under the age of 13 and more than 30,000 were between 14 and 17 years old. 'The government's DNA collection program represents a massive expansion of genetic surveillance and an unjustified invasion of privacy,' report author and Center on Privacy & Technology Justice Fellow Emerald Tse said at the time. 'The program reinforces harmful narratives about immigrants and intensifies existing policing practices that target immigrant communities and communities of color, making us all less safe,' Tse added. 'Americans deserve visibility on the details of this program, and the department's lack of transparency is unacceptable,' Glaberson said Monday. The lawsuit joins a wave of litigation against Trump's expanding 'mass deportation operation,' which is deploying officers across all federal law enforcement agencies to ramp up arrests and rapidly remove people from the country. Emily Tucker, executive director at Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy & Technology, said it's a 'mistake' to consider DNA collection part of 'immigration enforcement.' The president is instead relying on broad immigration authorities to justify Trump's expansion of federal law enforcement, according to Tucker. 'This program is one part of a massive surveillance dragnet that sweeps in information about everyone,' Tucker added. 'They will use it for deportation, but they will also use it to intimidate, silence, and target anyone they perceive as the enemy.' Last week, reports emerged that the administration has deepened the federal government's ties to Palantir, a tech firm allegedly building wide-ranging data tools to collect and surveil information for millions of Americans. Palantir — co-founded by Silicon Valley investor, Republican donor, and JD Vance mentor Peter Thiel — is reportedly working inside Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other agencies. The administration has reportedly spent more than $113 million with Palantir through new and existing contracts, while the company is slated to begin work on a new $795 million deal with the Defense Department. The Independent has requested comment from Homeland Security.
