Through its Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA grant program, BJA provided money and technical expertise that supported the Ervin investigation and, after 40 years, brought justice to his victims and their families.

BJA supports initiatives that identify human remains, prosecute cold cases using DNA, process backlogged sexual assault kits, exonerate the innocent, and strengthen local medical examiner and coroner’s offices. In fact, BJA awarded almost $300 million in forensic science grants in fiscal year 2023.

Through a network of training and technical assistance providers, BJA also provides guidance on how to make forensic science programs successful. And the head of BJA’s forensics unit, Dr. Angela Williamson—an internationally recognized forensic scientist—often advises on cases being investigated with BJA support.

That’s what happened with Joe Michael Ervin. As DNA technology developed and matured, detectives from the Denver Police Department’s cold case unit retested evidence from the four unsolved murders and discovered that all four were committed by the same person. But they could not match the killer’s DNA to anyone in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) national DNA database.

Then in 2022, Detective Kari Johnson applied a new investigative technique called forensic genetic genealogy. With funding from BJA, Johnson’s cold case team used publicly available ancestry databases to identify people who were distant relatives of the unknown killer. Through months of painstaking investigation, they identified a family match in Texas—and the possibility that the crimes were committed by Ervin.

To confirm that Ervin was the killer, they needed to exhume his body, which was buried in Texas. But the BJA grant Detective Johnson’s team was using did not cover exhumations.

However, BJA had awarded a different grant to the Texas Rangers that could pay for exhumations. Dr. Williamson connected officers from the two different law enforcement agencies, and they worked together to complete the investigation. This was the first time that two separate BJA grants had been used to solve a single case.

The case had a profound impact on Detective Johnson and her team. “A lot of people have asked, ‘What does this feel like?’ And there’s such a variety of responses I could give, and emotions that come attached to them,” she said. “The biggest one is telling these families that have waited 40 years, who had given up hope and had thought they would never find answers about what happened to their loved ones. Having those personal conversations with them, it’s life-changing in so many ways.”

“But there are so many important cases,” Detective Johnson added. “Utilizing these grants that BJA awarded us, my partner in the cold case unit made an arrest on a kidnapping sexual assault. So, I’m excited about being a part of this generation of investigator where these things are available to us.”

The Ervin case is just one of many substantial accomplishments that have resulted from work funded by BJA grants. Others include:

• BJA’s Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence Program, which began in 2007, has awarded $83 million to law enforcement agencies in 30 states, which have used these funds to review more than 175,000 cases. Of these, 62 convictions in 17 states have been overturned.

Exonerations of wrongly convicted people frequently generate national headlines. The thousands of DNA case reviews that confirm the guilt of those who were convicted attract virtually no attention, but they also ensure that justice was fairly administered.

• The Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Program, launched in 2022, has awarded more than $13 million to 19 recipients, including medical examiners and coroners, law enforcement and DNA laboratories. This money has been used to inventory missing persons and human remains, return remains to appropriate relatives and identify 130 bodies.

According to the Justice Department’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, more than 600,000 people go missing in the U.S. annually, and an estimated 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered every year.

• The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), launched in 2015, has supported widespread efforts to inventory, test, and track about 200,000 sexual assault kits and other crime scene evidence. Over the past eight years, SAKI has awarded more than $300 million to forensics agencies nationwide. Currently there are more than 80 SAKI grant recipients in 46 states.

In just one locality—Wayne County, Michigan, which surrounds Detroit—SAKI has helped investigators identify more than 800 suspected serial sexual offenders and obtain 170 convictions. Suspects identified by the Wayne County SAKI program have been connected to cases in 40 states.

• BJA’s DNA Capacity Enhancement through Backlog Reduction (CEBR) Program, which began in 2000, has supported DNA testing in more than 1.5 million cases. CEBR funding has also led to more than 600,000 individual DNA profiles being uploaded into the FBI’s national DNA database.

• Two BJA programs provide financial support to state and local forensic science agencies: the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program and the Strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner System Program.

The Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program is more than 20 years old and currently provides more than $30 million annually to forensic science agencies. Since 2017, the Strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner System Program has funded 44 medical examiner fellows who have conducted approximately 6,000 death investigations.

• BJA’s Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA Program began in 2019 and has awarded $28 million to about 50 localities. The funds can be used to support not only forensics and DNA-related activities but a wide range of cold case investigation techniques and prosecutorial support.

The Prosecuting Cold Cases program has led to the identification of 52 previously unknown suspects and resolved orclosed48 cases. For example, the program funded an investigation that led to the conviction of the man who raped and murdered 15-year-old Karen Stitt in Sunnyvale, California more than 40 years ago.

Even though forensic science is changing rapidly, BJA works to ensure that the agency’s grant programs can be used to fund advanced investigative techniques. In the Joe Michael Ervin case, that meant supporting Denver investigators who used forensic genetic genealogy.

“We can help people leverage their grant money to get the maximum benefit,” Dr. Williamson said. “And we can sponsor trainings that help people take advantage of the technology that’s out there.”