How did forensic technology solve a 25-year cold case in Pueblo County?
The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation worked with Othram, a forensic DNA Lab in Texas, to identify the remains of 34-year-old Marvin Majors on Monday.
'There are hundreds of thousands of unsolved violent crimes in the United States, and tens of thousands of unidentified John and Jane Does,' said Colby Lasyone, the Chief of Staff at Othram.
Majors' remains were found in November of 2000. The Sheriff's Office said the Oklahoma native was homeless and was believed to have been sleeping in a field just north of the Walking Stick development when a woman walking her dog found his body. For years, Major's remains were not identified, which is why you typically hear the term 'John and Jane Doe' used in cold cases.
'These are people who die without their name being known, as well as cases where there's a crime that's been committed and there's some DNA evidence left behind,' Lasyone said.
This case was reopened in June of 2021 when the sheriff's office found a DNA profile related to the case completed by the FBI. After, the sheriff's office created a new DNA sample from evidence collected from the scene. The evidence was then submitted to Othram to try and put together a DNA profile.
Once they believe they can, the process of forensic grade genome sequencing begins, which requires working through lots of data provided to put together any sort of profile.
'It's very comprehensive, composed of hundreds of thousands of DNA data points or DNA markers,' Lasyone said.
It all depends on the data available. Lasyone said it can take days, weeks or even months to put together some type of profile.
'In this particular case, we were able to develop the DNA profile in a matter of weeks and provide it back to the folks in Colorado,' Lasyone said.
In November 2024, a DNA match was made with a distant family member of Majors. After obtaining another sample from a suspected sibling, the DNA comparison was a match to the unidentified man, which was identified as Majors. This is the sixth cold case Othram has solved in Colorado, and they are hoping to help crack more across the country.
'Instead of having one lab in Texas that can help to build these DNA profiles, our vision is that there are labs across the United States and the world that have the same capabilities,' Lasyone said.
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