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FINDING CLOSURE Thursday, July 31, 2008
DNA testing provides answers in the absence of logic. Such is the case with the mysterious feet, five in all, that have washed ashore along British Columbia in the last year. While authorities cannot explain the coincidence of them all being the right foot or why there have been so many in such a short period of time, DNA testing has given one family closure. Police made a positive match to one of the feet from a DNA sample submitted from a family member of a depressed man who disappeared a year ago. They are continuing to review the almost 300 missing persons cases in hopes of identifying the remaining feet.
[Seattle Times]
[The Guardian]
[Komo 4 TV]
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Lestor Leroy Bower, Jr. is hoping DNA testing will give him a new lease on life. Literally. Bower has been on death row in Sherman, TX for the last 24 years, after being convicted for a quadruple murder in 1983. During that time, Bower has had five stays of execution, one of them just five days before the scheduled date. State District Judge Jim Fallon is expected to make a ruling in early August that may give the green light for DNA testing to be performed on old evidence from the crime scene. There were no fingerprints at the scene to link Bower to the crime, and the murder weapon was never found.
[Houston Chronicle]
[Dallas/ Fort Worth CBS]
[Dallas Morning News]
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TOGETHER AGAIN Friday, July 25, 2008
Scientifically speaking, the bond between mother and child is more than special; it's unique. The same can be said for all members of the same family, which is why DNA testing is so important in immigration issues. In cases where valid documentation is not available, or paperwork is questionable, DNA testing makes it possible to have the most meaningful of family reunions. Bradley Waite understands this situation first hand. His daughter was born out of wedlock in Jamaica so his name was not listed on her birth certificate. A positive result from DNA testing requested by U.S. Immigration officials increases the chances of them being reunited.
Some immigrants are making sure all their i's are dotted and t's are crossed by obtaining DNA testing without being asked. Joseph Mataley a Ghanaian immigrant now living in Colorado went ahead with DNA testing as soon as he filed a residency application for his four daughters. He believes it was money well spent after they joined him in the U.S. two years ago.
[U.S. State Department]
[Fox News]
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THE MISSING LINK Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Playing princess is a rite of passage for many little girls. Anna Anderson made a pseudo career out of it from the early 1920's until her death in 1984, claiming she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, a daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The Czar, his wife and five children were all executed by the Bolsheviks almost a century ago but Anderson insisted she had escaped. In 1994, DNA testing on a piece of Anderson's preserved intestine from an operation she had in 1979, finally proved her claims to be false.
The real fate of one of the Czar's daughters was still in question. A mass grave uncovered in the 1970's only contained remains of two adults and three female children, leaving questions about what happened to his son and other daughter. That is until now. A Department of Defense Lab has worked meticulously to identify bone fragments of two bodies from a grave located 70 feet away as a DNA match to the original remains found, confirming there were indeed no survivors.
[New York Times]
[Scoop]
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FACT VS. FICTION Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Some argue that parenthood isn't just about biology. Concerned about what's best for the children involved, many state policies assert that if a man has treated a child as his or her own, then that makes him responsible for financially supporting that child. DNA testing is the only conclusive way to determine fact over fiction.
DNA evidence is revered so highly in many other arms of the law. It has been used in criminal cases to exonerate men like Rickey Johnson and Patrick Waller whose convictions were overturned. DNA evidence was proof enough to clear them of crimes for which they each served more than a decade in prison. In Texas alone, the state where Waller was wrongfully convicted, more than 31 people have been exonerated by DNA testing.
Paternity fraud is becoming an epidemic. DNA testing protects all parties involved, providing scientific proof in the face of uncertainty.
[Dallas Morning News]
[Leesville Daily Leader]
[San Francisco Chronicle]
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FRESH START Friday, July 18, 2008
Paternity testing is an equally important issue for women, especially if you're unmarried. If you've had more than one partner and find yourself pregnant, learning the identity of the biological father has emotional and financial benefits for you and your child. While welcoming a new life is a joyous occasion, it can also be stressful. Why add to the anxiety by leaving any questions about the father's identity unanswered? Even if you choose to raise the child alone, he or she may want answers to this question in the future, so better to find it out now.
From a financial point of view, it's not just about child support. Knowing the biological father, and having proof of it on the birth certificate, also guarantees your child's eligibility for Social Security benefits, veteran's benefits, if applicable, and health insurance. The American Pregnancy Association recommends getting a DNA paternity test with an AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) accredited company. Orchid Cellmark can put your mind at ease so mother and child can both have a fresh start.
[American Pregnancy Association]
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FAMILY AFFAIR Wednesday, July 16, 2008
DNA paternity tests aren't just for the here and now. Recently, we wrote about Chris Tanner's petition to have the remains of country singer Eddy Arnold exhumed for testing. Now a battle is waging for the Godfather of Soul, James Brown's, estate. Judge Jack Early, from the Second Judicial Circuit Court in South Carolina, has ruled all of Brown's heirs must undergo DNA paternity testing unless they can provide other conclusive proof that they are his children. While Judge Early didn't specify what other proof would be acceptable, a birth certificate can't provide the same scientific proof and certainty as DNA testing.
[Augusta Chronicle]
[NBC-Augusta]
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DIGGING FOR ANSWERS Monday, July 14, 2008
Chris Tanner, 47, grew up most of his life believing country singer Eddy Arnold was his biological father. The only problem is Arnold was singing a different tune, repeatedly denying it to Tanner's mother, Arlene Tanner-Glynn, and refused to take a paternity test. Arnold's death on May 8, at the age of 89, may give Tanner the chance to put his questions to rest. Tanner is petitioning a Nashville court to exhume Arnold's body to perform DNA paternity testing on his remains. While Tanner says he just wants to know the truth, if the court approves the test and it comes back that Arnold is indeed his father, he may be able to lay claim to part of Arnold's estate.
[The Orange County Register]
[Country Hound]
[WIS News 10]
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SHOCK AND AWE Thursday, July 10, 2008
Issues of paternity have a 50-50 chance at a happy ending, depending on what side you stand. In an odd turn of events for one young girl, the outcome was a 100-percent surprise. Seven years ago a routine blood test resulted in earth-shattering news for Francesca Correa, now 21. It turns out neither her mother or father are her biological parents. Yet, hours after Veronica Burbano had a Cesarean section and gave birth to a baby girl at Hospital Metropolitano in Ecuador, Francesca was delivered into her arms. No one knows what happened during those in-between hours, and the hospital will not release records of other female babies born that day claiming it's a privacy issue. While they have moved on, and remain a loving, close-knit family, painful questions still linger. If hospital policy changes, DNA testing can one day offer much sought after answers.
[The Orange County Register]
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TRUTH TRIUMPHS Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Extortion, conspiracy and lying about paternity sounds like daytime television. For Don Wallace, a prominent businessman and philanthropist in Tampa, FL, it was a reality that ended with the arrest of his sister, Marion Strickland, her husband, Clyde Strickland, and their daughter, Samantha Strickland Harris. Wallace contacted authorities after they started blackmailing him for $1.2 million with false accusations that he had molested his niece, now 26, from childhood up until six years ago, resulting in the birth of a baby girl. While harassing emails and letters proved the trio had hatched the whole plan, it was a DNA paternity test that proved unequivocally that Wallace was not the biological father.
[St. Petersburg Times]
[Bay News 9]
[ABC Action News]
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