On July, 24th, 2000, an unidentified man's body was found floating 27 miles off the coast of Jonesport, Maine. Due to the lack of ID, and condition of his remains, not much could be gathered to help investigators determine who this John Doe was, or how he died, although they were able to determine that he did have some specific health issues. The man known as 'Jonesport John Doe' was cremated and buried in an area cemetery. A sample of his DNA was collected with hopes that he would one day be identified, although early attempts proved fruitless.

Eventually, genealogy made it possible to determine that Jonesport John Doe was actually a man named Philip Kahn who had been reported missing by his family in Las Vegas shortly before his body was found. Why Kahn left his family behind and how and why he wound up in Maine remains a mystery. Confounding the mystery is the fact that Philip Kahn may actually have been someone else altogether; creating a mystery within a mystery.

In 1987, someone broke into Edna Laughman’s home and suffocated and raped the 85 year old widow. She was found by her relative and best friend, Madeline Laughman. Within 2 weeks, Madeline’s son was arrested for Edna’s slaying. Barry Laughman “confessed” to the crime, and was tried, convicted, and spent 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Barry was finally exonerated by updated DNA testing in 2003. But the investigation into who killed his elderly relative was back to Square 1. The case languished until forensic genealogy pointed the investigators to Edna’s killer – someone who had been right under their noses the whole time.

In 2019, a woman called into Queens PD with a tip. She recalled that as a child in the late 1970's, she believed that her and her mom had witnessed her mom's then-boyfriend, Martin Motta, clean up, and cover up a murder he had committed in his barber shop, before dismembering his victim's remains to dispose of them. Although the witness couldn't provide exact details and dates, police took her seriously. She told police that some of the remains were likely buried in on the property she lived in as a child. Police wasted no time searching the area, and were able to recover human remains exactly where the tipster told them they would find them. And just as she had indicated, there was evidence that the victim; a man, had been dismembered.