Catherine Rusoff
Nearly two decades after a woman died during Hurricane Katrina, modern forensic testing has finally allowed authorities to identify her remains. Citing her family anecdotes, forensic genetic genealogy firm Othram said Tonette Waltman Jackson was swept away by floodwaters that split her Biloxi, Mississippi, home in half during the devastating hurricane which hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005. She was 46 years old.
Jackson was hiding in the attic of the home she shared with her husband, Hardy Jackson, as the water level rose, said Michael Vogen, Othram’s director of case management. The company routinely partners with law enforcement agencies to help solve cold cases using DNA technology and worked with Mississippi authorities to identify Jackson. Jackson and her husband were swept away by the floodwaters, but Hardy managed to cling to a nearby tree and survived the hurricane. As far as her family knew, Jackson’s body was never found.
About a week after Katrina made landfall in September 2005, a search and rescue team discovered human remains among the rubble of two homes that had been destroyed in St. Martin, several miles from Biloxi, according to Vogen. . Although investigators were able to determine basic characteristics, such as the remains belonging to a black woman likely in her fifties who stood between 5 feet and 6 inches tall, they were unable to develop significant clues as to who she really was. it was. , and the case went cold.
Othram
Jackson’s remains were buried in Machpelah Cemetery in the city of Pascagoula, with a headstone that read “Jane (Love)” and recognized her as a victim of the hurricane.
“At that point, it was unknown who the individual was,” said Pascagoula police Lt. Darren Versiga, who was involved in the investigation into Jackson’s identity. WLOX, a CBS and ABC affiliate station. He added: “In 2005, when the remains of Jane Love or Tonette were found, forensic genetic genealogy was not an available tool.”
Jackson’s true identity was a mystery until very recently, when the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the state Medical Examiner’s Office coordinated to exhume the body just last year in hopes of unraveling it.
The agencies partnered with Othram, where scientists took a DNA sample from the skeletal remains and used forensic genome sequencing to build a complete profile for her. Genetic genealogy – where DNA profiling and testing are essentially combined with typical research methods to trace family trees – helped identify potential relatives that gave researchers new clues to pursue. Earlier this month, tests on a DNA sample sent by one of Jackson’s close family members confirmed her identity.
Hardy Jackson gave an on-camera interview to CBS affiliate WKRG shortly after Hurricane Katrina and shared his wife’s story. Versiga told WLOX that he might have been able to develop a lead sooner about Tonette Jackson’s identity if he had seen that video.
“I just lost it and I’m the expert,” he told the station. “But, we have her now. We gave her her name back, and that’s the beginning of it all.”
CBS News contacted the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the State Medical Examiner’s Office for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
