I recently spoke with a police department that believed they had no cases suitable for forensic genetic genealogy.

No active leads.

Nothing left to test.

That’s a common conclusion, and an understandable one.

But as we talked through prior investigations and evidence handling at a high level, something familiar came up.

Not a new suspect.
Not a database hit.

Evidence that had never been fully tested.

No one realized it.

Not because anyone failed.
Not because corners were cut.

It simply fell into the space between collection, submission, testing, and time.

And that’s when the conversation changed.

This Happens More Than Anyone Wants to Admit

Here’s the uncomfortable truth most detectives don’t hear out loud:

You can do everything right and still miss a viable lead.

Not because the lead doesn’t exist, but because no one is actively reviewing the entire evidence picture anymore.

Evidence gets:

• Collected under pressure

• Logged correctly

• Submitted in phases

• Tested based on the technology and budget available at the time

Years pass. Personnel change. Vendors rotate. Priorities shift.

Eventually, an assumption settles in:

“If there was something there, we would’ve known by now.”

That assumption quietly stalls cases every day.

Genetic Genealogy Doesn’t Start With a Database

This is where many agencies get tripped up.

Forensic genetic genealogy is often treated as something that begins after everything else has failed.

CODIS first.
Traditional leads exhausted.
Then genealogy.

But real case movement usually starts earlier—with questions most people stop asking:

• Which evidence items were never tested?

• Which items were tested using older or limited methods?

• Which items were excluded because of cost, prioritization, or timing?

• Which submissions solved part of a question, but not the whole one?

The evidence didn’t disappear.

It just stopped being interrogated.

Vendors Won’t Catch This for You

This is a hard reality.

Outsourced vendors work the evidence you send them.
They do not audit your case.

They don’t:

• Review your full property list

• Reconcile submission histories

• Flag overlooked items

• Ask why something wasn’t submitted

That responsibility always stays with the agency, even when the technical work moves outside the building.

When the thinking leaves the case, ownership leaves with it.

The Most Dangerous Phrase in Cold Cases

“I don’t think we have anything.”

That sentence has stalled more investigations than lack of funding ever has.

Because most of the time, it really means:

• “We don’t think we have anything new.”

• “We don’t think we have anything obvious.”

• “We don’t think we have anything left to try.”

That’s not the same thing as having nothing.

A Simple Reality Check Every Detective Should Run

Ask yourself:

• When was the last time someone independently reviewed your evidence list?

• Has anyone mapped what was collected vs. what was actually tested?

• Do you know which items were excluded and why?

• Do you know what today’s technology could do with those same items?

If the answer to any of those is “I’m not sure,” that’s not a problem.

That’s an opportunity.

Why This Matters

Every missed lead costs:

• Time

• Money

• Morale

• Public trust

• And credibility with families who are still waiting

And the worst part?

Cases don’t fail loudly.

They fade.

Not because detectives didn’t care, but because no one owned the full logic of the investigation anymore.

Final Thought

The case that moves next probably isn’t waiting in a database.

It’s sitting on your evidence shelf.

Logged. Stored. Quiet.

Not because it was ignored, but because no one went back and asked the right questions.

And that can be fixed.

If you’re unsure whether your cases still have viable leads, the fastest place to start isn’t a database,it’s your evidence list.

A short, independent review can often surface items that were never tested, tested with older methods, or excluded due to timing or budget constraints at the time.

You don’t need a new case.
You just need a fresh look at the one you already have.