Channel 2 exclusive: Go inside the lab that has solved more than a dozen Georgia cold cases
ByWSBTV.com News Staff
ByWSBTV.com News Staff
ATLANTA — It was June 6, 2019 – a newborn with her umbilical cord still attached was found in the woods behind some homes in a Cumming neighborhood.
Not more than an hour old, police say the infant, later named “Baby India” by the nurses at Northside Forsyth Hospital, was left there to die. Amazingly, the child was found.
After thousands of hours of investigating by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, investigators decided advanced technology known as familial DNA was needed.
Channel 2 Action News recently visited Othram Labs in the Woodlands, Texas, where familial DNA analysis is done.
“Traditional forensic testing looks at 20 markers, and then you upload those 20 markers to the CODIS database, which is the FBI database of known perpetrators in the United States. Unfortunately, when you’re working cases like Baby India or other cases involving victims that are known, you can’t do that because the victims are not a known perpetrator. So they’re not going to be in that database,” said special agent Brian Head of the cold case unit of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
But they could be in a genealogical database, which is where Othram Labs found Baby India’s biological father.
Police don’t believe the father knew about the pregnancy-- but that lead helped them identify Baby India’s biological mother, Karima Jiwani, 40, who is in the Forsyth County Jail charged with murder, cruelty to children, aggravated assault and reckless abandonment.
So what does Othram do that local crime labs can’t?
“They’re bringing new types of investigative avenues for us to follow. It is absolutely a help for the GBI,” Head said.
Instead of 20 markers like the current technology, Othram is able to get hundreds of thousands of markers to build a DNA profile.
“Most of our cases are solving between fourth and sixth cousin, and some even beyond. And so that is what you need in order to be able to figure out where someone belongs,” said Kristen Mittelman, chief development officer for Othram.
A new Georgia law called the Coleman Baker Act allows families of homicide victims to request law enforcement agencies take another look at their cold cases.
According to Project Cold Case, there are roughly 12, 144 Georgia cold cases dating back to 1980. Agencies like the GBI are welcoming the help of established labs like Othram.
“So the GBI is definitely working on our unsolved homicides, our cold cases. We are using all the resources that we have available. The Georgia legislature and the governor’s office funded this unit fully. And we are using all those resources to use the private labs to send our samples out,” Head said.
To date, Othram has solved 13 cold cases in Georgia, and they are currently tasked with working on four more, and are currently using crowdfunding to foot the bills.
“Hundreds of cases every day come to us that have been stagnant, a dead end for decades and no hope. And now there’s hope that all those cases can be looked at,” Mittelman said.
The cost for Othram to take on these cold cases is from $5,000 to $7,000, which if agencies can’t pay for it, they will crowd source to get them funded.
That is what the company is currently doing to solve to Gwinnett County cold cases.
UPDATE: SOLVED UPDATE: The GBI identified her in November as 5-year-old Kenyetta Odom. Her mother and stepfather have been indicted in her death.
Found in Ware County in 1988. Victim's body was located in a brown baby blanket placed in a gym bag, in a cement filled suitcase inside a TV console cabinet. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Lowndes County in 1998. Victim was walking on I-75 in Lowndes County when she was struck by a large truck. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Chatham County in 1991. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Monroe County in 1998. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Jackson County in 2001. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in a field in Cumming. Nose was broken before death. Upper right tooth was missing. Only a skull with no mandible was found. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in a storm drain in Lawrenceville in 2003. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Douglas County in 1992. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Ellijay in 1986. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Cobb County at a construction site in 1993. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in the Chattahoochee River in Harris County in May 2022. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Bloomingdale in 1989. The only item found on the victim's body was a size 6, 10k gold ring with diamond, with the initials "KES". (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in McDonough in 1973. Only the skull was found. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Crisp County in 1975. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Skeletal remains were found in Twiggs County in 2003. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in a manhole in Henry County in 2000. In the jean pocket was a small fragment of a cartoon from a Spanish publication with the following: Fellowship Tract League P.O. Box 168, Banon Ohio 45036 . (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Eatonton in a coal car that stopped in Eatonton, Georgia in 1978. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
UPDATE: SOLVED Found in Jenkins County in 1988, wrapped in plastic and duct tape in a nylon suitcase. The victim had been dead approximately four to seven days. Cause of death was asphyxiation. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Skeletal remains found in an open field in Clayton County in 2002. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Forsyth County in 2006. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia A Tourist found a human skull partially buried on the beach at the south corner of Cumberland Island in 2001. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Jones County in 1984. Cause of death was a gunshot wound. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Blue Ridge in 1997. The decedent frequented truck stops in Georgia, Texas, Oregon, Missouri, and Arizona. The decedent owned his own rig and went by the CB radio handle of “BA” or “Bad Attitude”. T (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia The skeletal remains of a male were found in a wooded area just north of Emerson near Pagamine Road in Bartow County, GA. on July 3, 2011. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia On October 25, 2010, the decedent stepped off of a dock into the Savannah River behind the Marriott Hotel. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Victim had a heart attack and wrecked while driving (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Dade County in 1981. Prolific serial killer Samuel Little claimed responsibility for the murder of a woman in Dade County the same year. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Barrow County in 1999. Victim underwent reconstructive surgery to his skull at some point in his life- possibly to repair damage caused by car accident. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Skeletal remains found in Meriwether COunty in 2007. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Cedartown after an explosion at a home in 2003. Two male victims were found with her. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found near the Chattahoochee River in Cobb County in 1984. Was wearing a red wig. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in McIntosh County in 1978. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Glynn County in 1990. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
UPDATE: SOLVED Found in Bibb County in 1977. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Dougherty county in 1972. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Tattnall County in 1987 by hunters. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Kingsland in 2005. Victim possibly known as "Dom" and may be from Laos. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in a loaded coal car from Tennessee at the Georgia Power plant in Eatonton in 1979. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in the Wilmington River in Chatham County in 1988. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Seminole County in 1977. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in the Savannah River in 2002. Police said the man jumped off the bridge. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Barrow County in 2008.Homicide victim was found severely burned in the woods. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Seminole County in 2009. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Columbia County in 1997. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Cherokee County in 1969. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found in Cobb County in 1991. Items found near the victim include brown framed eyeglasses, red backpack with toiletry items, razor, razor blades, and stick deodorant (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Found burning in Jonesboro in 2002. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
Unidentified remains found in Georgia Skull and four cervical vertebrae found by hikers. in Jeferson in 2008. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
