The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office announced today that human remains found decades ago have been identified as those of a Trinity County woman reported missing in 1987. According to a press release, Hyampom School teacher Kay Josephine Medin was reported missing by her husband Nickolas Medin on Aug. 3, 1987, after he said he returned […]
DNA
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Woolly Mammoths: The Lady’s Not for Cloning
When I asked self-styled “museum artist” Beth Zaiken if I could use her evocative painting of a mammoth for a story, she was quick to point out that the image I attached was not just a mammoth, it was a woolly mammoth. Turns out, mammoths came in many shapes and sizes, with woolly mammoths particularly celebrated over […]
Posted inNews
Sheriff’s Office Identifies Wayne Adam Ford Victim After 25 Years
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified one of serial killer Wayne Adam Ford’s victims 25 years after her dismembered body was found through advanced forensic DNA testing. Through a partnership with the California Department of Justice and the forensic genealogy laboratory Othram Inc., the sheriff’s office was able to identify the woman as Kerry Ann Cummings, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Mastodons in Greenland
At first blush, the headlines sound like something out of science fiction: “Scientists recreate ancient ecosystem by studying dirt!” But it’s real. The dirt in question, 41 sediment cores taken by Danish paleontologists in 2-million-year-old northern Greenland permafrost in 2005, turned out to be a treasure chest of DNA. They didn’t know that back then […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Fleeced by Phylos?
About two years ago, we wrote in these pages about the looming battle over cannabis genetics and the effort of deep-pocketed companies to register utility patents — the strongest intellectual-property protection available for field crops in the United States, one that essentially treats them like works of art — for cannabis (“Who Owns Your Pot?” […]
Posted inNews
Remains in Blue Lake Were Missing Man Wanted in Child Assault Case
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office confirmed today that the coroner’s office has identified the skeletal remains discovered March 29 of this year in Blue Lake as belonging to 70-year-old Roy Allen Gibbs. Gibbs, a veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart, went missing on Memorial Day in 2016. Later, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reported […]
Posted inNews
Skeletal Remains Found in Wooded Area Near Blue Lake
Skeletal remains were found Friday near Blue Lake in what the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office “a steep, wooded area.” A local resident made the find while checking out a dumping site and, among the debris, locating the remains amid the debris. The remains will now be analyzed for DNA to try to identify the individual, […]
Posted inNews
Remains Found by the Eel River in 2016 Identified
When George Preston Daniels didn’t show up at the Humboldt County Courthouse on March 24, 2016, for charges stemming from what authorities said they believed was a marijuana rip-off, he became a wanted man. But, most likely, he was already dead. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office confirmed today that remains found along the Eel River […]
Posted inNews
Charmaine Lawson: DNA Evidence Identifies Son’s Killer
The mother of slain Humboldt State University sophomore David Josiah Lawson took to Facebook this morning to express frustration that the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office still hasn’t made a charging decision in her son’s case two months after the Arcata Police Department handed over its investigation. “The Department of justice [has] identified my son’s […]