What We've Built

Since the Golden State Killer arrest in 2018, over 1,400 publicly reported cases have been resolved with the aid of forensic investigative genetic genealogy [4]. That number reflects only what has been documented through media reports and public announcements; the actual total is almost certainly higher. FIGG has expanded beyond the United States — Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Australia, and others have enacted legislation or conducted casework using these methods [5, 6, 7]. The DOJ Interim Policy established a federal framework in 2019 [8]. Professional standards are emerging. And the laboratory technologies for generating genealogy-database-compatible single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiles have matured, with multiple validated approaches: targeted sequencing, microarrays, and whole-genome sequencing.

This progress is real. And much of it was built by a community that was industrious and opportunistic, especially in the early days of working with the tools and platforms that were readily available, often ahead of any formal framework or dedicated infrastructure. For example, genealogists used to contact close DNA matches directly to work out the relationship to an unknown profile, operating without established protocols because none existed yet. That industriousness moved the community forward. It also created ethical and procedural questions the community is still sorting out. Getting to the next level requires a fully fleshed-out ecosystem with mature infrastructure: dedicated databases, sustainable funding, trained investigators, and laboratories equipped to generate profiles in-house. Today, we arguably have more credentialed forensic investigative genetic genealogists looking for work than there are investigators trained and available to identify the cases so they're ready to be worked using FIGG. The question is whether, as a community, we have directed our resources at the right priorities in the right order.

Without the Horse, the Carriage Goes Nowhere

The Engine: Government Lab Adoption of Next-generation Sequencing (NGS)

FIGG's operational backbone was built largely on consumer platforms never designed for forensic use; this is where the dependency and fragility originated. The genealogists who pioneered this work did so with the tools available to them, and their contributions have been foundational to every case resolved since. Another pillar of growth has been the private forensic laboratories that stepped in and have carried the majority of the community's casework to date. Frankly, the most impactful change the forensic community needs to move beyond borrowed tools and outsourced expertise, is for government forensic laboratories to step up and join the movement. As of 2026, the vast majority of FIGG casework is still outsourced to private service providers. Public crime labs, the institutions best positioned to sustain FIGG as a long-term forensic capability, are involved in varying degrees – some support their agencies by reviewing cases or helping implement cold case units. But most have not yet brought SNP profiling in-house. Some have validated and are operational, and they are demonstrating that government labs can generate SNP profiles and support FIGG casework in-house. Others are still evaluating or waiting. The barriers are real: instrument costs, validation timelines, the shortage of NGS-trained analysts, and the constant competition for resources against existing CE/STR backlogs. The global implementation curve is early. We are past the beginning, but nowhere near the middle.

The Fuel: Dedicated Funding

Law enforcement agencies that want to pursue FIGG today typically face a per-case outsourcing cost of $5,000 to $10,000, if not more. Federal funding through NIJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (US Department of Justice) exists but the application process is complex, competitive, and the funds come with usage restrictions that can be difficult to navigate. The Carla Walker Act (S. 1890 / H.R. 3591) would authorize $5 million per year in DOJ grants specifically for FIGG, but it remains in committee [9]. In the meantime, the community has gotten resourceful: organizations like Season of Justice fund cases directly, Compass IGG and DNA Doe Project provide genealogy services at no cost, and UNT's Center for Human Identification offers free SNP generation and related genealogy research. The FBI has established its own IGG unit, providing support to law enforcement agencies [10, 11]. These resources help but the deeper need is for law enforcement leadership to build the cost of FIGG into existing budgets, and for more funding to be directed toward public lab adoption of NGS so that SNP profiling becomes an in-house capability rather than a per-case expense.