Florida AG announces new DNA testing aimed at cracking decades-old murder cases

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WINK)—Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a new statewide partnership aimed at helping law enforcement agencies solve cold cases using advanced forensic DNA testing and genetic genealogy.

The Office of Statewide Prosecution is partnering with Othram, a forensic technology company specializing in human identification, to proactively identify and assist unsolved cases across the state that may be solvable through existing DNA evidence.

Through this initiative, the office will work to bring answers to victims and their families who have waited years for closure.

"For too long, many victims and their families have been left without answers," Uthmeier said. "Our partnership with Othram will add an invaluable took to our proactive approach for solving cold cases. We hope this effort brings answers and some measure of closure to those who have waited years."

The initiative will begin with three multi-circuit, multi-homicide investigations spanning different regions of the state. These include a 1970s murder case with ties to Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, a late-2000s double homicide involving victims found in the Miami Gardens area and an early 1980s homicide in Central Florida.

While the cases remain under investigation, the goal of the partnership is to provide local law enforcement agencies with new leads and investigative breakthroughs through modern DNA analysis that was unavailable when many of these crimes were committed.

The partnership is designed to be statewide and proactive, helping identify unsolved violent crimes across Florida where biological evidence may still hold the key to solving the case.

"These cases remained unsolved not because the evidence wasn't there, but because the technology didn't exist to interpret it," Othram Founder David Mittelman said. "By combining CODIS with advanced DNA-based identity inference, Florida is enabling investigators to generate leads without a suspect or database match, identifying offenders and delivering answers and justice for families."

To date, there are 21,000 unsolved murder cases in Florida and nearly 900 cases with unidentified human remains. Othram's technology can use complete or partial DNA evidence to generate investigative leads through forensic genetic genealogy, a process that has helped solve violent crimes and identify unknown victims across the country.

The new partnership allows local law enforcement agencies to leverage this technology to solve cold cases where viable DNA evidence exists. The initiative is expected to expand beyond homicide investigations and into serial sexual battery cases, further strengthening efforts to pursue justice for victims of violent crime in Florida.