In 1998, an unidentified victim of a brutal rape and murder who was left for dead was found by chance by a boater in a grassy area in southwest Broward County off of U.S. 27 in the state of Florida. The dead woman carried no identification, and did not match any missing women in the area. Attempts to ID her initially failed, although police suspected that she may be the victim of a serial predator in that area who had fled the United States. Years later, when DNA evidence was re-examined in an effort to ID the victim through genealogy, police caught a break. The genealogy determined that the victim was Eileen Truppner; a down on her luck woman who had bounced around the area prior to her death. But the re-examination of DNA that led to Eileen's identity, also led to that of her killer; Lucious Boyd, who turned out to be a different predator than the one police initially suspected. Boyd is on death row for his other crimes, and a case is currently being built against him in Eileen's case.

In 1991, a woman was found lying in the street near Akron, Ohio, half naked and set ablaze. She was quickly identified as Rachael Johnson, a young single mother who had last been seen walking in the parking lot of a local convenience store. A thorough investigation by Akron police looked at everyone Rachael knew even remotely – investigators were certain that she knew her killer. They were right, but it was not until decades later that forensic genealogy pointed them to someone they had never considered – someone who Rachael’s family knew all too well.

On November 1st, 1991, hunters in Circleville, Ohio discovered unidentified human remains in a shallow grave near a private farm. Based on the size of the remains, the authorities thought that they belonged to a young woman. They also found evidence that the Doe's head had been moved with some kind of toothed saw, possibly indicating a homicide. After searching for missing women who might be a match for the Doe, police came up empty, and the case went cold. Over the years, various teams and experts worked with the remains, and the DNA gathered from them, and eventually discovered that the Jane Doe they had was actually a John Doe; the victim was a male. Eventually, DNA & genealogy led the authorities to ID the remains as belonging to Robert A. Mullins who was reported missing by his family. He had disappeared in Ohio in late 1988, or early 1989 when he was 21. Now the investigators knew who their victim was, but the search to find out the circumstances of his death, and who was involved, goes on.