What may look like an ordinary dining room is actually the place where Colleen Fitzpatrick helps solve decades old cold cases. 

“It’s a madhouse, the phone stars ringing at 9 and rings into the evening,” said Fitzpatrick. 

Her biggest case to date is that of Tracey Hobson, whose remains were discovered in Anaheim in 1987. They remained unidentified until just a few weeks ago – 31 years later – when Fitzpatrick and her team of volunteers at DNA Doe got involved. 

“This was a beautiful young girl, 20 or 21, had her life in front of her, she went to school locally,” she said. 

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department actually reached out to DNA Doe, a non-profit that Fitzpatrick and her colleague Margaret Press started. Fitzpatrick has a Doctorate in nuclear physics and consulted for NASA for 20 years.

Then she started getting involved in genealogy. 

“Genealogy is easy, you spit in a cup you have lots of DNA, there you go. But when you deal with John and Jane does, it’s not so easy,” she said.

Recently, there's been an influx of direct to consumer DNA test kits hitting the market. You’ve heard of some of the more popular ones, like 23 and Me and Ancestry. But forensics aren’t allowed to use these kinds of programs.

Then DNA Doe found a way to circumvent those companies by doing tests out of independent labs. Fitzpatrick's organization is one of only a few that does this. 

Now, the DNA Doe team continues to help law enforcement, even speaking at Homicide Task Force meetings. So far, the non-profit has identified the remains of 10 John and Jane Does.

“We learn to do more and more with less and less so that more of those John and Jane Does that were thought to be lost causes can be brought back to their families,” said Fitzpatrick. 

Families may not get their loved one back, but they can rest more easily knowing their loved one got their name back.