We hope that everyone has been able to stay safe and well during these unusually trying times. We want to say “happy Pride month!” but a lot of people do not feel like celebrating right now. Even though we’ve been on hiatus, we’ve been very busy. We are doing our best to focus on whatever hopeful thing we can hold on to, to contribute to a better future. #HopeDiesLast!
Here are some updates:
TDTF Reboot News
- There have been some changes to the website. There are some new features and articles, and some out-of-date material has been updated. Most of what you’ll see is pretty much the same, but a couple of old links that you may have saved may no longer work.
- Lee and Anthony (TDTF co-founders and leaders) are no longer working with the DNA Doe Project. For more on this, check out this article by Ken Doyle for The ISHI Report.
- Anthony is working with several interns to develop an online school for forensic genealogy. From a post on the FG4LE (Forensic Genealogy Training For Law Enforcement) Facebook: “Instructional designer and Forensic Genealogist Anthony Redgrave has moved on from volunteering for DDP as he is entering the dissertation phase of his doctoral work, with the development of this program being the focus.”
- The Trans Doe Task Force will take the form of a student club within the FG4LE school framework. Others who are not FG4LE students can contribute to the research efforts by joining “Team TDTF.”
- We have started a Team TDTF forum for collaboration and discussion on Trans Does and related subjects. You can help us with our research by joining Team TDTF here. There is a place to discuss our Doe cases as well as missing and unclaimed trans and gender-variant people. We also have an ongoing Virtual Pride section where people can exhibit and network, and discussion areas for “Queered Science.”
- If you were previously a TDTF volunteer before our hiatus, don’t worry! Your research skills are still needed – join Team TDTF and keep up the good work! We have saved all of the info out of the now-closed volunteer facebook group and Trello board. If there is something you specifically would like to be able to get out of either of those archives, email us at transdoetaskforce@gmail.com. Otherwise, rest assured that all relevant case info and research previously done will be migrated over here in the coming days. That way, this community will be able to leverage all of the prior research and add to it easily in one location.
- The TDTF Threadless swag shop has been updated with some new designs! Some of these may be familiar to people who saw us at Pride events last year, and others are brand new. #BlackTransLivesMatter
Case Updates
- TDTF case updates from DDP: The DNA Doe Project continues to work on two cases recommended to them by TDTF. Live Oak Doe’s DNA has been extracted and is on the way to the sequencing lab, Julie Doe’s case is in active research by DDP forensic genealogists and they are “still hopeful.”
- In collaboration with Georgia Bureau of Investigation, we have begun to work on the case of Eatonton Doe, a homicide victim recovered from a train car several days after death in 1978. Evidence suggests that the decedent may have been transgender or gender variant in life. A fundraiser to cover the costs of genealogy research and DNA sequencing will take place at the University of New Hampshire in Fall 2020 (pending COVID-19 safety measures), organized by professors Dr. Amy Michael (anthropology dept.) and Dr. Bobby Eckstein (psychology dept.) of UNH, with grant funds from UNH center for the humanities. DNA extraction and sequencing will be done by Othram, Inc. and forensic genealogy will be done by Redgrave Research Forensic Services. #WontBeErased
