BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK/KBFX) — The Kern County Sheriff’s Office has teamed up with Othram, a private lab specializing in forensic DNA analysis, to generate new leads in the unsolved murder of Juanita Francisco.
The beloved baker was killed 15 years ago in her bakery, and the case remains open. Detective Ashley Sanchez, who has been actively pursuing leads, facilitated the partnership with Othram. “Othram is successful,” Sanchez said, “we’re looking at other cases to send them to hopefully find other potential suspects or even unidentified victims from cold cases.”
Othram, the first private lab in North America dedicated to human identification from forensic evidence, collaborates with law enforcement to analyze DNA from crime scenes. Michael Vogen, director of law enforcement solutions at Othram, explained their process: “A skilled genealogist will start to reconstruct a family tree using public records and ultimately the goal is to kind of reverse engineer our way back to the direct family and hopefully the individual who left DNA at a crime scene.”
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Since its inception in 2018, Othram has assisted in solving 600 cases. Vogen expressed optimism about the impact of their work, stating, “We’re gonna really, you know, drive repeat crime to extinction. Someone commits a heinous crime one time, they’re not gonna have the chance to have another victim.”
