REX, Ga. Joan Tribble held tightly to her cane as she ventured into the overgrown cemetery where her people were buried. There lay the pioneers who once populated north Georgias rugged frontier, where striving white men planted corn and cotton, fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves.

The settlers interred here were mostly forgotten over the decades as their progeny scattered across the South, embracing unassuming lives.

But one line of her family took another path, heading north on a tumultuous, winding journey that ultimately led to the White House.

The white men and women buried here are the forebears of Tribble, a retired bookkeeper who delights in her two grandchildren and her Sunday church mornings. They are also ancestors of Michelle Obama, the first lady.

The discovery of this unexpected family tie between the nations most prominent black woman and a white, silver-haired grandmother from the Atlanta suburbs underscores the entangled histories and racial intermingling that continue to bind countless American families more than 140 years after the Civil War.

The link was established through more than two years of research into Obamas roots, which included DNA tests of white and black relatives. Like many African-Americans, Obama was aware that she had white ancestry, but knew little more.

Now, for the first time, the white forebears who have remained hidden in the first ladys family tree can be identified. And her blood ties are not only to the dead. She has an entire constellation of white distant cousins who live in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas and beyond, who in turn are only now learning of their kinship to her.

Those relatives include professionals and blue-collar workers, a retired construction worker, an accountant, a dietitian and an insurance claims adjuster, among others, who never imagined they had black relatives. Most had no idea that their ancestors owned slaves.

Many of them, like Tribble, 69, are still grappling with their wrenching connection to the White House. You really dont like to face this kind of thing, said Tribble, whose ancestors owned the first ladys great-great-great-grandmother.

Some of Tribbles relatives have declined to discuss the matter beyond the closed doors of their homes, fearful that they might be vilified as racists or forced to publicly atone for their forebears.

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DNA give new insights into Michelle Obama’s roots

The Virginia Department of Forensic Science has released DNA test reports in 30 of the 38 cases that the Urban Institute says support exoneration. Five of those cases are from Richmond.

Two of the Richmond cases, Victor Burnette and Thomas Edward Haynesworth, led to exonerations that were supported by Michael N. Herring, the Richmond commonwealth's attorney who became a key advocate for Haynesworth.

But as far as Herring is concerned, in the three other cases, even if the DNA test results were available at the time of the trials, it would not have altered the outcomes.

Dennis Michael Titus, now 53, was convicted in Richmond of the April 10, 1978, murder and attempted rape of a 31-year-old sunbather stabbed to death on the roof of her West Franklin Street high-rise apartment building.

DNA testing in his case failed to identify his DNA in sperm taken from a physical evidence recovery kit from the victim, identified in news accounts as Mary Dill Simpson, but did find the DNA of an unknown male.

According to reports, police said they did not believe Simpson had been raped. Nevertheless, they obtained the evidence later subjected to DNA testing. Police said Titus, a janitor at the building, became a suspect when he indicated to police he knew she was dead before her body was found.

Police also said that after he was arrested, he admitted killing her when she refused to have sex with him. Titus was sentenced to life and is being held at the Powhatan Correctional Center. He declined to be interviewed last week.

Bernard Coleman, now 49, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Dec. 20, 1985, slaying of his roommate, Cedric Lee Mayo, 24, shot to death during a quarrel after both men had been drinking.

Mayo was shot once near the eye with a .22-caliber bullet. After the killing, Coleman and a friend took Mayo's body to a wooded area off North 39th Street, where a passer-by found it on Christmas Eve. Coleman fled to Washington and was arrested in February 1986.

The evidence tested in that case was described only as a white suit in the report that said Coleman's DNA was not found. Coleman was released from prison in 1991 and could not be reached for comment.

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Richmond DNA cases show not all reports prove innocence

The Fredericton SPCA is selling dog DNA kits to help owners determine their pet's breed.

The test can help an owner find out if their Rottweiler actually has some Chihuahua in its genes, or if their family's pureblood Labrador is really a mutt.

"This is CSI-type technology that is now available in your home," said LeeAnn Haggerty, the education and outreach co-ordinator for the Fredericton SPCA.

The dog DNA is matched to a genetic database of more than 190 different breeds to help identify the specific breed.

Within three weeks of administering the test, owners receive an eight-page report detailing their dog's ancestry.

Haggerty said the mixed-breed identification kits, which cost $70, have been popular in Fredericton so far.

Identifying a dog's breed can help owners understand what kind of dog they are dealing with, said Amy Schneider, a veterinarian at the Valley Veterinary Hospital in Fredericton.

"If you're talking about a mixed breed dog then you're talking about different breeds mixed together and then who knows what the resulting behaviours of that dog will be," she said.

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Dog DNA kits track mutt makeup

FREDERICTON, New Brunswick, June 22 (UPI) -- Canadian dog owners can now buy a DNA kit with "CSI-type technology" to help them determine their pet's breed, officials of an animal group say.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the New Brunswick capital of Fredericton says the kit can help owners confirm if their pet is purebred or a mutt, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday.

Within three weeks of administering the DNA test, owners receive an eight-page report detailing their dog's ancestry from matching the DNA to a genetic database of more than 190 different breeds.

"This is CSI-type technology that is now available in your home," said LeeAnn Haggerty, education and outreach coordinator for the Fredericton SPCA.

The identification kits, which cost $70, have been popular in Fredericton so far, she said.

Confirming a dog's breed, or its mix, can help owners understand what kind of dog they are dealing with, Fredericton veterinarian Amy Schneider said.

"If you're talking about a mixed breed dog then you're talking about different breeds mixed together and then who knows what the resulting behaviors of that dog will be," she said.

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Dog owners offered 'CSI-type' DNA test

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) A state appeals court has ordered that DNA evidence from a 1997 murder trial in Lake County be tested for the first time.

As WBBM Newsradios Bernie Tafoya reports, Louis Rozo, 46, has already served more than 15 years of his 75-year sentence. He was convicted of the murder of retired speech pathology professor Christy Shervanian, 69, on Dec. 1, 1996, in his Highland Park home.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradios Bernie Tafoya reports

Rozo tried a few years ago to get a Lake County judge to order than evidence from the trial undergo DNA testing, but he was turned down.

But now, a higher court says samples of tissue from underneath the victims fingernails, and blood recovered from a glove, should be tested.

Rozo also wants the DNA samples to be compared to those of two men who were lovers of the victim. One of them, Rudolph Zink, even testified for the prosecution at Rozos trial in 1997.

There is no reason not to test the already extant DNA evidence of the two other men whom (Rozo) alleges were actually involved in the murder. This evidence would be materially relevant to defendants claim of innocence, Second District Appellate Justice Robert McLaren wrote in his opinion.

Rozo will be eligible for parole in 2034.

DNA evidence is a hot-button issue in Lake County, following several recent cases where it led to convictions being tossed, or charges being dropped.

Leading the high-profile cases in Lake County is that of Jerry Hobbs, who was jailed for five years awaiting trial, having been charged in the murders of his 8-year-old daughter, Laura Hobbs, and her friend, Krystal Tobias, 9. Their bodies were found in 2005 in the Beulah Park Forest Preserve in Zion.

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Appeals Court Allows For DNA Testing In 1996 Highland Park Murder Case

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DNA Isolation Kits feature magnetic bead-based design.

ScienceDaily (June 21, 2012) In the small Texas town of Del Rio, about five miles from the Mexican border, lies Westlawn Cemetery, a place where the poor and lost are buried in unmarked graves, their identities unknown. A group of Baylor University professors and students hope to give those buried there a name and return them to their loved ones.

Dr. Lori Baker, associate professor of anthropology at Baylor, forensic science lecturer Jim Huggins, and 18 students exhumed remains at the cemetery and are performing DNA analysis to help identify the deceased.

After exhuming the graves, students worked in teams to analyze the remains and are in the process of performing a full anthropological analysis to determine age, sex, ancestry, and stature of the deceased, measuring and completing 3D scans of the bones at laboratories at Baylor and Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

During the field school in Del Rio, the team unearthed six deceased to be identified along with the remains of a baby. "I am hoping that we will be able to go back and see if the mother was also buried in the cemetery near the baby," Baker said.

The DNA analysis will be included in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and shared with officials in Del Rio and the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs with the goal of positive identification and repatriation of the remains to their families in Mexico. For Baker, the field school is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have an impact on others.

"No one else in the United States is doing this right now -- taking students on a field school to identify the undocumented population that have died while crossing the border. This is unique," said Baker. "This field school has allowed the students to learn with hands-on experience how to locate and recover human remains in a forensic context. They are learning how to analyze the remains in order to learn all that they can from the deceased and how to look for signs of antemortem and post-mortem trauma. There is no better learning experience that we can provide for them. The field school also provided an opportunity for the students to work in a humanitarian effort that has the potential to significantly affect others."

Although this is Huggins's first field school of this type, his almost 30-year career in law enforcement has allowed him to experience exhumations as part of forensic criminal investigations. He believes experience is the best teacher for the students. "This type of project provides real-world experience for students who aspire to become anthropologists and forensic scientists as well as those who desire to serve in a worthwhile project," Huggins said.

Baker, who was recently featured in a four-part series on the National Geographic Channel called "The Decrypters," has examined the remains of roughly 300 unidentified, undocumented immigrants that resulted in 70 direct identifications and subsequent repatriations as part of her Reuniting Families Program. She hopes to help families heal after the loss of their loved ones.

"The families are left without knowledge of what became of their loved ones. These deceased individuals are buried without names and as long as they are buried, there is no further action to find their identities," Baker said. "We will do all we can to give them names and to get them back to their families. We hope that the closure will bring peace to the families."

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DNA used to identify deceased along Texas-Mexico border