The Landscape Shifts: The Future of Investigative Genetic Genealogy

Back in November 2024, I spoke with investigative genetic genealogist Cairenn Binder of Ramapo College about the basics of investigative genetic genealogy and how it helps solve cold cases and restore the names of unidentified people. Now, in an interview with Laurah Norton of The Fall Line, Cairenn returns to discuss a recent development that has shaken the field. Changes to the terms of service at Ancestry affecting access to historical records and family trees could have major implications for investigators working to identify John and Jane Does and generate leads in homicide cases. Many genealogists fear the policy shift could impact both current investigations and cases still waiting to be solved. Cairenn helps break down the key updates—and what they could mean moving forward. Sources for The Fall Line: Mentioned in the episode: ⁠NYT article⁠ Read Laurah's book, Lay Them to Rest Revisit "Cracking Cold Cases Using Investigative Genetic Genealogy" originally published 11/5/2024: ⁠ Support the show: ⁠ Instagram: ⁠@murdershetoldpodcast⁠ TikTok: ⁠@murdershetold⁠ Facebook: ⁠/mstpodcast⁠ Website: ⁠murdershetold.com⁠ ----- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can listen to The Landscape Shifts: The Future of Investigative Genetic Genealogy online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Landscape Shifts: The Future of Investigative Genetic Genealogy is an episode from Murder, She Told by Kristen Seavey.

This episode is 50:15 long.

This episode was published on Mar 10, 2026.

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