Monthly Archives: August 2017

After twelve years, have we finally found out what happened to Natalee Holloway? Early DNA tests on the human remains discovered in Aruba indicate they might belong to the missing teenager!

Its been more than a decade since Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba, as the Alabama native vanished on May 30, 2005. Now, 12 years later, her family might finally have some closure. Human remains discovered at a burial site in Aruba reportedly belong to a young woman of eastern European descent, according to DailyMail. Early DNA tests on these bones seem to match the remains to Natalee, as her family is of eastern European heritage. Further DNA testing is needed to confirm these initial findings, but it appears that this discovery is the breakthrough the Holloways have been hoping for.

The full DNA testing results which will determine if the bone fragments belong the missing 18-year-old girl are expected within two weeks, a source close to the case tells DailyMail. The nature of these remains means further testing is required before anything can be confirmed, the source added. The discovery is part of The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a docuseries featuring her father, Dave Holloway, and private investigator TJ Ward searching for answers. Natalees mother, Beth Holloway, has also assisted in the search, as she reportedly provided a saliva sample to help out in the remains DNA testing.

Experts are reportedly conducting a mitochondrial DNA test (mtDNA test) on the remains at a reputable, undisclosed lab in the US, the source tells DailyMail. These tests race a persons matrilineal or mother-sideancestry using DNA. This DNA is unchanged when passed down by the mother to all her children. If the mtDNA inside the fragments match the mtDNA in Beths saliva, itll be conclusive evidence that these remains belong to Natalee.

Natalees father made the announcement that he and TJ had discovered the remains after an 18-month undercover investigation on the Aug. 16 episode of the Today show. An individual who had personal knowledge from Joran van der Sloot, 30, the prime suspect in Natalees disappearance, led them to the remains. However, the Aruban authorities are calling Daves claim into question. During an investigation by police in an area indicated by Mr. Holloway, we found remains, but they were found to be from animals, Aruba Public Prosecutor Dorean Kardol told the Huffington Post.

Plus, the FBI says they dont have records of human remains being brought into the U.S. from Aruba in connection with the Holloway case. On top of that, if these remains did belong to Natalee, they would be useless when coming to prosecuting the killer. Tampering with the evidence aka removing them for testing violates the chain of custody. If we wanted to take the case to court, Dorean Kardol said, we would be in trouble because we could not use that evidence.

What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Do you think they might have found Natalees remains?

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Have Natalee Holloway's Remains Finally Been Found? DNA Results Promising, Says Report - Hollywood Life

In an astonishing step forward in biomolecular computing, Harvard researchers encoded a 19th century film clip in DNA and stored it inside living bacteria. Later, they sequenced the bacterium's genome and decoded the film. From IEEE Spectrum:

To get a movie into E. colis DNA, (neuroscientist Seth) Shipman and his colleagues had to disguise it. They converted the movies pixels into DNAs four-letter codemolecules represented by the letters A,T,G and Cand synthesized that DNA. But instead of generating one long strand of code, they arranged it, along with other genetic elements, into short segments that looked like fragments of viral DNA.

E. coli is naturally programmed by its own DNA to grab errant pieces of viral DNA and store them in its own genomea way of keeping a chronological record of invaders. So when the researchers introduced the pieces of movie-turned-synthetic DNAdisguised as viral DNAE. colis molecular machinery grabbed them and filed them away.

The Gartner Hype Cycle places emerging technologies on a rising-falling-rising curve.

Tony Fadell is best known one of the fathers of the iPod at Apple, and as the former CEO of Nest. Weve agreed to forget that he led the Google Glass division for a while, too. Today, news broke that the serial inventor and investor is now working with companies including Samsung Electronics and Foxconns []

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that millennials have learned how to get free TV with a simple antenna, for a one-time cost of about $20. Us old-schoolers have known of this ancient wisdom since, well, forever but have neglected to pass down to the younguns. But the crazy thing is that its not just []

Top-performing content doesnt come from pure inspiration. So how do you get the maximum number of eyeballs to see your marketing copy? By analyzing the impact of the keywords within. Serpstat does this all for you. It can monitor up to 200 keywords in your projects, across 10 total domains. They keep track of the []

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Researchers encoded a film clip in DNA and store it inside a living ... - Boing Boing

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Clark County detectives say that new DNA evidence helps link suspected serial killer Warren Forrest to two more victims, a huge break in some of the agencys oldest unsolved murders.

Blood on a weapon used as evidence in a 1974 case against Forrest was recently determined to belong to a different victim: Martha Morrison, a 17-year-old Portland girl whose body was found in rural Dole Valley more than 40 years ago.

Morrisons body was found 120 feet from that of Carol Valenzuela, 18. Based on the proximity in time of the killings and location of the bodies, Hoss said that Forrest can also be linked to Valenzuelas death.

Up until now, nothing was physically linking him to either of those disappearances, or those bodies, Clark County Sheriffs Office Sgt. Duncan Hoss said. Its a big deal.

Forrest, 68, of Battle Ground is suspected of having at least six victims, but hes only been convicted of one murder. He is serving a life sentence at the Washington Department of Corrections Monroe Correctional Complex for the 1974 murder of 19-year-old Krista Blake of Vancouver.

Periodically, he goes before a sentencing review board, where his release is considered. The new evidence could seal his fate and keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Blake went missing on July 11, 1974, when she was last seen getting into a blue Ford van, but her remains werent found until two years later.

During those two years, Forrest went to trial for a similar crime, one that had a different outcome.

On Oct. 1, 1974, a 20-year-old Camas woman got into a van driven by Forrest, where she was threatened with a knife and bound with tape.

Forrest drove her to Lacamas Lake Park, where he raped her, shot her with an air pistol, choked her and stabbed her five times in the chest. The woman survived the attack and made her way to a public road for help.

She later identified Forrest as the man responsible and he was arrested on rape, assault and robbery charges.

In that case, Forrest was acquitted of the charges by reason of insanity, meaning the crimes were committed when Forrest was insane, and he was committed to Western State Hospital.

In 1976, Blakes body was found and Forrest was tied to her death. After a trial, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1979.

For decades, detectives suspected that Forrest was tied to homicides and disappearances of several other young women in the early 70s.

Investigators believe that Forrest is responsible for at least six other deaths and that Jamie Grisim, who disappeared in 1971 on her way home from school at 16, was his first victim.

Forrests name also comes up in connection with Barbara Ann Derry, whose body was found in 1972 and Gloria Knutson, who went missing in 1974.

Also in 1974, hunters found skeletal remains of two women in shallow graves in the Dole Valley area. One was identified as Carol Valenzuela, and the other remained unidentified for 40 years, then in 2015 was identified as Morrison.

In June 2014, the Clark County Sheriffs Office had more than a dozen open homicide investigations that dated to 1962. Major crimes detectives are often busy with the deluge of incoming cases, so then-Sheriff Garry Lucas formed a cold case unit of volunteer investigators to breathe new life into the stale investigations.

Among those volunteers was former prosecutor Denny Hunter who prosecuted the murder cases against Forrest.

When he and the other investigators sat down to asses the cases, Hunter remembered the bloodied air pistol Forrest used in the rape and assault case.

Everyone assumed the blood stain on the air pistol belonged to the original victim, Hoss said. One of the cold case detectives, instead of assuming, actually verified.

So the pistol, which had been in a secure holding area for 40-plus years, was sent to the state crime lab.

The results came back to a profile for a female Caucasian, but that profile didnt match any known DNA samples.

A year later, investigators got a break that would help them find their answer.

Nikki Costa, operations manager for the County Medical Examiners Office, took it upon herself to identify the unidentified remains found near those of Carol Valenzuela. It took her eight years, but in 2015, she was able to determine that the remains belonged to Martha Morrison.

Since then, the crime lab has connected the puzzle pieces and identified the blood found on Forrests gun as belonging to Morrison.

In this maze of events, establishing a DNA profile and identifying Martha, we turned a major corner in this case, Costa said.

The breakthrough has implications for not one, but two unsolved homicides.

Hoss said that since Morrisons body was found in such close proximity to that of Valenzuela, investigators can tie Forrest to her death too.

Detectives are still working on ironing out the details, though.

They hope to have a statement of probable cause, which outlines support for an arrest, to prosecutors in the next few weeks.

If prosecutors decide there is enough evidence for a charge, Hoss said that theyll apply for an arrest warrant and have Forrest transported to the Clark County Jail to face the charges.

Hoss said that when the cold case unit first formed, there werent high expectations for results. But the volunteer investigator worked doggedly to reinvestigate these cases, and the break, he said, is a nice payoff.

They have put all this time, energy and effort into it, and were hoping its going to finally result in a conviction and mean closure for the families, Hoss said.

We want to hold Warren accountable.

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New DNA evidence links Warren Forrest to 2 killings - The Columbian