Genealogy sites lack diverse DNA and struggle to identify people of color

COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) – When Michigan State Police began submitting DNA from unidentified remains for genealogical testing, the agency was thrilled with how quickly the process got results .

“We knew she was a white woman, but we didn’t know who she was,” Michigan State Police Lt. Scott Ernstes said of the remains found Oct. 12, 1988 in Van Township. Buren County.

“In six weeks, we identified her. She was from Oklahoma. And with the other 2010 Wayland affair, same thing. White male, (and) we identified him very quickly, ”Ernstes said.

But that was not the case when it came to three other sets of unidentified remains found over three decades in Covert Township.

“It was quite shocking that (genealogical testing) took so long,” Ernstes recalls.

“This is where the conversations with DNA Doe (Project) came in. They said, “here’s why”. The populations you are looking for are under-represented in the system, ”he said.

In the three Covert Township cases for which no DNA-family tree link emerged, the unidentified remains were those of two men of Hispanic or Latino descent – both victims of homicide – and a male of of Asian origin who drowned in Lake Michigan. . .

In 1979, the remains of one of these men were found in a pile of debris, charred to the point of unrecognizable.

He was a Hispanic man, from the young to the Middle Ages. He wore a religious medallion with Spanish writing on the back which translated as “our lady of Guadalupe – pray for us”.

Despite police efforts, including a clay reconstruction, the case remains unresolved. In 2018, MSP submitted the details to a national database of missing persons and in 2019, the man’s DNA to a public genealogical database.

But the remains have not yet been identified.

Neither the remains of the Asian man found in 2010, nor those of the Hispanic man found in 1987 in the woods.

Margaret Press, co-founder and CEO of DNA Doe Project, told News 8 that there are many reasons why genealogy databases include fewer DNA samples from people of Latin or Hispanic descent, as well. than blacks, natives and people of color (BIPOC).

Press, who was careful to note that she did not want to speak on behalf of any group, said her impression is that it is often a matter of “economy and mistrust”, at least in the United States.

“In (America) in particular, it’s partly a question of economics. Testing costs money. So economically disadvantaged people are unlikely to test, ”Press said. “These often have a greater impact on African Americans and Hispanics than on Caucasians – Europeans -. So there tends to be a bias in the database due to the economics associated with testing and, again, mistrust. “

Press also noted that the DNA tests themselves are primarily based in the United States.

“We have the big testing companies, Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, and 23andMe, and it has been marketed in the United States. It has only been marketed in a few countries outside,” Press explained.

“There are different countries where culturally people just aren’t interested. They feel they have great records. They feel like they know who they are, ”Press said.

Ernstes hopes that more people of diverse origins will begin submitting their DNA to public genealogical databases.

He also hopes they will tick the box that allows law enforcement agencies to access their DNA sample and potentially use it to resolve an unresolved case – giving someone’s family the answers they want. she is desperately looking.