Remains linked to cold case identified thanks to help from New Jersey college students
Students at a New Jersey college are being credited for helping police identify the remains of a woman who disappeared more than 10 years ago.
Maria Quinones Garcia went missing from Allentown, Pennsylvania, back in 2014.
"In 2017, a foot inside of a shoe was found in the Delaware River in Warren County, New Jersey," said Cairenn Binder, with the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) certificate program.
With no other evidence, the case turned cold until 2023 when the New Jersey State Police turned to Ramapo College of New Jersey's IGG center for help.
"We basically start by taking a DNA sample of many people, reconstructing their [family] trees to find a common ancestor," said Mike Flanagan, one of the students in the 15-week certificate program that helped identify Quinones Garcia.
The class analyzed the genotype profile created from the 54-year-old's bone remains, then uploaded the profile to genealogy databases.
"In this particular case, one of my colleagues researching the family found a Facebook post of the missing person," Flanagan said.
Ramapo College's IGG program attracts everyone from hobbyists to stay-at-home moms
The program's assistant director says the course attracts people in law enforcement and legal professions.
"Then we have a number of retirees, genealogy hobbyists, stay-at-home moms, and just whole wealth of people that are just interested in learning how to do this," Binder said.
Students have one goal in mind: to provide closure to the loved ones of missing people.
"It's a wonderful feeling. There's nothing worse than not knowing where a loved one is," Flanagan said.
"The family finally has answers," Binder said. "And for me, there's no better feeling than being able to teach investigative genetic genealogy and bring those answers to the cold case investigators."
In addition to the 15-week program, the center also offers a one-week boot camp in June.
The center has helped solve many other cases and helped exonerate people who have been wrongfully incarcerated.
