Angie Pearson

Mr. Ippolito

Forensics D Odd

Current Event 15

Knippel, Haylee. “Albuquerque Woman Uses Forensic Science to Uncover Family Secret.” KRQE News 13, 7 Feb. 2020, www.krqe.com/krqe-plus/community-reports/albuquerque-woman-uses-forensic-science-to-uncover-family-secret/.

The Geneology Center in Albuquerque led a local woman, Toni Leon Kovarik, to pioneer a new use of forensic-style DNA testing. Kovarik has spent the last 40 years tracking down her great-great-grandfather, Tony Leon, who is the man she is named after. Kovarik's family has gathered various bits and pieces of his past, including information on why their actual last name was a mystery. Leon joined an acrobatic group called, The Leon Brothers, which is where he adopted his new surname. There were many gaps in his story, but in the 90's she was able to find the last male descendant of the Leon family. Sadly, in 2017 he passed away but she got permission from his family to take a DNA test. The funeral director was able to take a postmortem, post-embalming hair-root sample, which gave Kovarik the genealogical information she needed. She didn't know that doing this type of DNA test is usually only used for forensic science, like testing old sexual assault kits to reveal a deceased perpetrator. Genealogy specialist Blain Bettinger says it had not ever been done before for genealogical research, which made Kovarik a pioneer in the field. Her findings have concluded her real surname is Elliot. However, there are still holes in the story, such as when the Family came from the UK to the US. She is still uncovering the mystery of her family. Hopefully, various other individuals can do the same type of testing to reveal their family history, such as where they are originally from, or how their history has been altered. 

 However, there were a few points in the article that could be improved upon. First, I feel as if the actual summary of how the DNA testing happened was brief and could have been expanded. Secondly, they rarely acknowledged various individuals who helped Kovarik come to her conclusion but instead made it seem as if she single-handedly uncovered her family's mystery. Apart from this, however, it was fascinating to see how DNA testing could be used outside of the forensic field, and into the personal lives of curious individuals. Overall, the article was well written and interesting, but there were a few areas that could have been improved.