S3 Ep10: TCP Ep 51: Margaret Press, Founder of the DNADOE Project

The Writer Stuff Podcast

Tonight, I’m talking to Margaret Press founder of the DNADOE Project.

To answer her burning question “How can investigative genetic genealogy help identify John and Jane Does?” Margaret Press co-founded the DNA Doe Project in 2017 with Forensic Genealogist Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick. After months of work hunting down labs, experts, bones and donations, they tackled their first case in September 2017 and incorporated as a non-profit the following month. The subsequent success provided the answer: persistence, patience, and a team of skilled and spirited volunteers. That’s how it’s done.

Margaret grew up in Los Angeles, California where at age 15 she inherited a passion for genealogy from her grandmother. While working most of her life in software development, Margaret also fell into mystery writing. Two published novels set in Salem, Massachusetts were followed by essays and short stories, and a true crime book based on a 1991 murder in her own neighborhood.

When DNA testing redefined the genealogy landscape, Margaret joined the impassioned group of citizen scientists who would propel this new field to where it is today.

Margaret is a proud parent and grandparent, with descendants of her own to carry her mitochondrial haplogroup C1d and passion for genealogy down her family tree.

The DNA Doe Project was founded in 2017 as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation with a simple humanitarian mission: to identify John and Jane Does using investigative genetic genealogy. On March 5, 2018, they solved their first case – Robert Ivan Nichols, the John Doe previously known as Joseph Newton Chandler III. On April 11, 2018, DNADOE joined local authorities at a press conference in Troy, Ohio to identify the young woman known as ‘Buckskin Girl’ as Marcia L. King – the first time in history that the world learned of the power of investigative genetic genealogy to solve cold case identifications.

To date they have solved a total of 212 cases.

Please consider donating to the DNADOE Project here.

Follow the DNADOE Project on X: @DnaDoeProject

https://dnadoeproject.org

Don't forget to check out ⁠Blood Red Ivory⁠ on amazon or where ever books are sold. Ty Benhoff two coming soon.

Thanks to ⁠Crush Limbo⁠ for the music.

Tripecoh Media LLC.

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