Latest news with #DNAtesting
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Indiana coroner says police 'dropped the ball' in Fox Hollow Farm serial killer case
A coroner in Indiana investigating the Fox Hollow Farm serial killer said law enforcement "dropped the ball" when the case was first investigated in the 1990s. Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison announced in April that his office had identified human remains at Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield, Indiana, that belonged to Daniel Thomas Halloran. He was the tenth victim of suspected serial killer Herb Baumeister, whom law enforcement has tied to at least 25 victims. Jellison told Fox News Digital in an interview that he thinks law enforcement didn't handle the case as they should have when they were first investigating it. "I think originally in the investigation, law enforcement did a good job of excavating the remains, but I think as time went on in the investigation, our county really dropped the ball," Jellison said. Fox Hollow Farm Serial Killer's 10Th Victim Identified: Coroner Jellison said local law enforcement in the late 1990s made victims' families pay for DNA testing, and he believes they didn't pursue the possibility of additional victims or suspects aggressively. Read On The Fox News App "They made the decision not to fund DNA testing to identify potential victims in what might be one of the most prolific serial murders in our country. They put the burden of that DNA testing on the families, the cost of that on the family. And I think there was, from a criminal side, the potential for an additional suspect or suspects exists. And I don't know that law enforcement pursued that as aggressively as they could have," he said. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub Detectives believe Baumeister lured gay men into his home during the 1980s and 1990s, and allegedly killed them. He would then bury their bodies across his 18-acre property, which is known as Fox Hollow Farm, according to detectives. When his family was out of town, Baumeister, who owned the Sav-A-Lot shopping chain, would go to gay bars across the Indianapolis area and allegedly find men to bring home. Investigators first considered Baumeister a suspect in summer 1995, according to Fox 59. But detectives were unable to access his property until 1996, when around 10,000 bones and bone fragments were found. Fox Hollow Serial Killer's Secret Tapes Could Reveal Murder Horrors If Ever Found: Documentary Baumeister killed himself in 1996 at a Canadian park shortly after bone fragments were found on his property by his 15-year-old son, prompting authorities to launch an investigation. In April 1998, Hamilton County Sheriff James Bradbury said the case was considered closed. Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter ''If somebody has any information, we don't care who it is, we'd be happy to look at it,'' Bradbury said. ''But Herb Baumeister is the only suspect we have in any of them.'' Families of people allegedly killed by Baumeister spent decades waiting for closure, which Jellison wants to change. He first began an investigation into identifying DNA from the 10,000 bone fragments in 2022. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X Jellison said he "cannot imagine" that law enforcement would push the financial burden of a DNA test onto a victim's family in today's world. "These remains represent victims in a homicide, in a murder. So, to say to the families that if you want to know if your loved one was a victim of a murder, I mean, that's a tragedy in and of its own," Jellison said. "I think we're better today. We're more sensitive today to victims and family members of victims of crimes." The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office declined to comment. The Associated Press contributed to this article source: Indiana coroner says police 'dropped the ball' in Fox Hollow Farm serial killer case
Fox News
4 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Indiana coroner says police 'dropped the ball' in Fox Hollow Farm serial killer case
A coroner in Indiana investigating the Fox Hollow Farm serial killer said law enforcement "dropped the ball" when the case was first investigated in the 1990s. Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison announced in April that his office had identified human remains at Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield, Indiana, that belonged to Daniel Thomas Halloran. He was the tenth victim of suspected serial killer Herb Baumeister, whom law enforcement has tied to at least 25 victims. Jellison told Fox News Digital in an interview that he thinks law enforcement didn't handle the case as they should have when they were first investigating it. "I think originally in the investigation, law enforcement did a good job of excavating the remains, but I think as time went on in the investigation, our county really dropped the ball," Jellison said. Jellison said local law enforcement in the late 1990s made victims' families pay for DNA testing, and he believes they didn't pursue the possibility of additional victims or suspects aggressively. "They made the decision not to fund DNA testing to identify potential victims in what might be one of the most prolific serial murders in our country. They put the burden of that DNA testing on the families, the cost of that on the family. And I think there was, from a criminal side, the potential for an additional suspect or suspects exists. And I don't know that law enforcement pursued that as aggressively as they could have," he said. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB Detectives believe Baumeister lured gay men into his home during the 1980s and 1990s, and allegedly killed them. He would then bury their bodies across his 18-acre property, which is known as Fox Hollow Farm, according to detectives. When his family was out of town, Baumeister, who owned the Sav-A-Lot shopping chain, would go to gay bars across the Indianapolis area and allegedly find men to bring home. Investigators first considered Baumeister a suspect in summer 1995, according to FOX 59. But detectives were unable to access his property until 1996, when around 10,000 bones and bone fragments were found. Baumeister killed himself in 1996 at a Canadian park shortly after bone fragments were found on his property by his 15-year-old son, prompting authorities to launch an investigation. In April 1998, Hamilton County Sheriff James Bradbury said the case was considered closed. ''If somebody has any information, we don't care who it is, we'd be happy to look at it,'' Bradbury said. ''But Herb Baumeister is the only suspect we have in any of them.'' Families of people allegedly killed by Baumeister spent decades waiting for closure, which Jellison wants to change. He first began an investigation into identifying DNA from the 10,000 bone fragments in 2022. Jellison said he "cannot imagine" that law enforcement would push the financial burden of a DNA test onto a victim's family in today's world. "These remains represent victims in a homicide, in a murder. So, to say to the families that if you want to know if your loved one was a victim of a murder, I mean, that's a tragedy in and of its own," Jellison said. "I think we're better today. We're more sensitive today to victims and family members of victims of crimes." The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office declined to comment.
The Verge
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
23andMe and its user data will soon belong to a pharmaceutical giant
23andMe will keep offering customers its DNA testing services after being bought out of bankruptcy. New York-based biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced an agreement on Monday to purchase the 23andMe startup for $256 million, alongside its Total Health and Research Services business and biobank of customer data and genetic samples. Regeneron is the winner of 23andMe's bankruptcy auction, which required all bidders to comply with applicable laws and the firm's privacy policies around customer data. 23andMe says that customer data is anonymized and that stored genetic samples are destroyed when users delete their 23andMe accounts, but it's unclear how much information is retained and may, therefore, soon be in Regeneron's hands. The acquisition is expected to close later this year, subject to US Bankruptcy Court approval. If all goes ahead, Regeneron co-founder George D. Yancopoulos says the purchase will further the company's 'large-scale genetics research' into future drugs and treatments. 23andMe has collected genetic samples and data from more than 15 million customers since launching its at-home DNA testing kit business. Once briefly valued at $6 billion after going public in 2021, the company filed for bankruptcy in March after failing to turn a profit. Its co-founder and former CEO, Anne Wojcicki, simultaneously stepped down from the company. 'We are pleased to have reached a transaction that maximizes the value of the business and enables the mission of 23andMe to live on, while maintaining critical protections around customer privacy, choice, and consent with respect to their genetic data,' said 23andMe chair Mark Jensen. 'We are grateful to Regeneron for offering employment to all employees of the acquired business units, which will allow us to continue our mission of helping people access, understand, and gain health benefits through greater understanding of the human genome.'
Wall Street Journal
19-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Regeneron to Buy 23andMe Out of Bankruptcy for $256 Million
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said it will acquire substantially all of 23andMe's assets for $256 million after coming out on top at a bankruptcy auction for the once-sizzling DNA-testing startup. The Tarrytown, N.Y., based Regeneron said Monday that it intends to acquire 23andMe's signature Personal Genome Service, as well as its Total Health and Research Services business lines and its biobank of customers' genetic samples and data.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Campaigners seek help amid search for victims of Argentina's military dictatorship
Women whose relatives were murdered and disappeared under Argentina's military dictatorship will meet EU officials in Brussels on Monday to seek support for expanded DNA testing to identify missing children. A delegation from the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, a campaigning group, will denounce efforts by the far-right president, Javier Milei, to dismantle the search for missing persons. They will seek support for continuing their efforts to find the children of the disappeared who were illegally adopted, many of whom may be in Europe. Claudia Poblete said: 'Under the guise of economic reform, the Argentine government is taking the opportunity to dismantle and defund many of the institutions dedicated to searching for the disappeared, such as the National Commission for the Right to Identity, which works to trace children who were taken.' One of Argentina's 139 'recovered grandchildren', Poblete was found by her biological family after her parents were murdered and disappeared under the 1976-83 dictatorship. She said: 'For more than 20 years, the Abuelas have received state funding to continue the search for their kidnapped grandchildren, because the state has a duty to find the disappeared. 'One of the goals of this trip to Brussels is to explore whether new forms of funding might be available to carry on the search. There are hundreds of people between 45 and 49 years old who could be anywhere in the world, even in Europe, and who have no idea they were kidnapped as children.' After the 1976 coup, Argentina's military set about crushing potential opposition and eventually 30,000 people were killed or disappeared, almost all of them civilians. Pregnant prisoners were kept alive until they gave birth and then murdered. At least 500 newborns were taken from their parents while in captivity and given to military couples to raise as their own. By 1983, hundreds of these 'adoptions' were coming to light. But it was not until 2021 that large-scale efforts were made to trace the children, when the Argentinian government sent hundreds of DNA testing kits to its consulates around the world in an effort to put names to unidentified victims and to find the children of the disappeared, many of whom are unaware of their true identity. That changed when Milei took office in 2023, with human rights groups raising the alarm over his attempts to rewrite history and overturn the longstanding consensus over the dictatorship's crimes. Since he took power, Milei has ordered the closure of the special investigation unit of the National Commission for the Right to Identity; defunded the national genetic data bank; dissolved the survey and analysis team of the armed forces archives; and restricted access to official documentation at the ministries of defence and security. The trip to Brussels follows an appeal for help last December from Estela de Carlotto, the 94-year-old founder of the Abuelas [grandmothers] group. Horacio Corti Pietragalla, a child kidnapped by the military who was Argentina's human rights secretary from 2019 to 2023, said: 'There are more than 250 people who don't know they are children of the disappeared, and many of them live today in Europe, in Spain, in France, especially in Italy. We must continue our efforts to find them.' In Italy, a country with deep cultural ties to Argentina and where, according to the Abuelas, dozens of missing children could be living, the Democratic Party has submitted two parliamentary motions urging the government to press Milei to reverse the funding cuts. Italy's far-right government failed to respond and last year Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, granted citizenship to Milei, citing his Italian family roots. The move sparked outrage among opposition politicians. 'The last grandchildren found by the Abuelas are also European citizens,' said Jorge Ithurburu, the president of 24 Marzo – a Rome-based group representing the relatives of victims of the dictatorship. 'They were found in Europe, in the Netherlands, in Spain, in Great Britain. The most recently found one has a brother who lives in the Canary Islands, and another one has two brothers living in Rome. Searching for grandchildren, for children of the disappeared, also means searching for European citizens.' Martín Moze, coordinator of the Abuelas in Barcelona, said: 'We will continue our search throughout Europe. We will carry the voice of the Abuelas to every corner of the world. We will shout their message in the streets: Grandsons and granddaughters, we are looking for you.'
