Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center

Our collaboration with DNA Justice continues! Do you have Polish or Asian ancestry? Upload your DNA profile to DNA Justice to help solve cases using investigative genetic genealogy -- and if you find out you're a match to case #9118, you're a genetic cousin of St. Louis John Doe! Learn more about our active cases here: https://www.ramapo.edu/igg/about-us/cases/in-progress/

Don't forget - our Know Before You Go webinar is tomorrow at 8pm Eastern Time!

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We were delighted by our recent visit from the New Jersey State Police and the London Metropolitan Police to share information and knowledge about IGG. Collaboration is key!

Carl Koppelman has done it again! This new reconstruction image of St. Louis John Doe highlights his Asian (possibly Vietnamese) and European heritage. Bear in mind that the age of this John Doe could not be closely approximated, so the decision was made to reflect middle age for this image. However, John Doe could be either older or younger than the reconstruction shows.

Stay tuned - we will be sharing the DNA Justice ID for this case later this week!

The Ramapo College IGG Center is hiring our first full-time, fully remote position! The Director of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Certificate Program will need to be an experienced IGG practitioner with a proven track record in educating adult learners. Learn more and apply here: https://www.schooljobs.com/careers/ramapo/jobs/5369701/director-of-the-investigative-genetic-genealogy-certificate-program-pss2-u24?pagetype=jobOpportunitiesJobs

Very special thanks to our case manager, Tracie Boyle, and our volunteer IGG practitioner Kate Foster for visiting Indian Hills High School in Oakland this past week. We hope this talk leads to some future Ramapo Roadrunners interested in IGG!

No better place for a conference in September - join Tracie Boyle in Cape May September 21-23, 2026 for a presentation on IGG using several case studies from our IGG Center. Learn more here: https://njiai.org/conferences.php

Bootcampers, it's time to get serious - IGG bootcamp is less than 3 weeks away! If you've attended IGG bootcamp in the past, share your favorite aspects of the experience below in the comments! 👇

Waving hi from "down under"! In May, two of our team members hosted a bootcamp in Sydney, Australia in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney and the New South Wales Police Force. We can't wait to share what was accomplished by this great group of bootcampers!

Many have asked on our posts - what makes Mohave County Jane Doe's case so difficult to solve? Here are a few reasons why cases involving the Ashkenazi Jewish population can be so difficult to solve:

1) Endogamy. Due to cultural practices and isolation of the population over many generations, there are observable differences in DNA relatedness in Ashkenazi Jews which can make it difficult to interpret relationships.

2) Language barriers and naming practices. The Jewish Diaspora involves dozens of countries and languages, requiring specialty researchers to interpret records.

3) Lost records and family separation. Due to atrocities committed against the Jewish people during the Holocaust and other events, many records were lost or destroyed and many families were separated, making it difficult to trace the lineage of modern Ashkenazi Jews.

The article below from FOX 10 Phoenix includes more information about the case of Mohave County Jane Doe.

Rabbi joins 1989 Mohave County cold case search Investigative genetic genealogy revealed a Mohave County Jane Doe found in 1989 has 96% Ashkenazi Jewish DNA.