Christine Burke von Riddern Forensic Genetic Genealogist - FGG

07/29/2026

Been busy solving and shipping (it's a tech thing).

03/17/2026

Every detective remembers the cases that never got closed.

The evidence box still sitting on a shelf.
The victim whose family still asks for answers.
The report that ends with: “No further leads.”

But today, that line doesn’t have to be the end.

DNA technology has changed investigations forever.

Using forensic genetic genealogy, investigators can now generate leads from relatives of an unknown suspect — even when the suspect has never been arrested before.

Which means many cases once thought unsolvable…
can be reopened.

That’s why I created Do More With DNA Day.

It’s a live event specifically for detectives who want to learn how to take the evidence they already have and push their cases forward again.

Because sometimes the key to solving a case isn’t new evidence.

It’s a new way of looking at the DNA you already have.

Register here:

https://geneticgenealogyforlawenforcement.com/do-more-with-dna/

10/27/2025

My student recently hit that wall...

She was deep in the data, clicking through trees, color-coding matches, zooming in on every branch, trying to force the answer to make sense.

Hours passed. Days passed. Her confidence faded.

Here's what she missed:
❌ It’s not that the data stopped working.
🗸 It’s that she stopped trusting the process.

The biggest skill in this field isn’t overthinking the cM chart. It’s knowing when to pause and ask two simple questions:

🤔 Do I actually have the right person?
🤔 Does that person even know who they are?

The DNA was fine. The method was fine. SHE was the variable that drifted.

That’s why it's so important to step back, reset, and read the data like an investigator, not a perfectionist.

Because the truth in every case lives right here in the quote:

“Either you have the wrong person or the person does not know who they are.”

And once you understand that, you stop guessing,and start solving.

10/23/2025

10/15/2025

Free training for law enforcement:

Culling the Cold Cases: How to Use AI to Triage Stalled Files Fast.

Learn to re-read old homicide files, find overlooked leads, and flag solvable cases.

⚠️ Agency (.gov / .us) email required.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/mCjwQU-XTnCfo0WXGJkxBA #/registration

10/09/2025

It still hurts today.

My mom was robbed of her identity by Dementia in 2016.

But actually, my grandmother took her true one, when she faked the father's name on her birth certificate.

Mom was so proud of me as a cop. And she LOVED police procedural books.

Probably the reason this is not a "business" for me and instead something so, so much more personal.

I promise, every single one of you Unknown Humans....I'm coming to help and I'm bringing an army with me.

09/02/2025

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻’𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮

My students and I were debating “means versus ends” the other day, and these common theories came up:

“𝘞𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩.”
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴.”

Here’s the problem with that thinking: 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

It’s like the fisherman in this picture.

His net is already overflowing with fish, but he’s staring at the big one swimming just out of reach.

That’s the dilemma.
If you wait for “the big one,” you ignore the smaller ones that actually build the case.

And if you excuse shortcuts because “the ends justify the means,” you miss the integrity and accuracy that make the work defensible.

The truth is, those small matches—𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂—are the foundation.

They’re how you solve cases the right way, without gambling, without cutting corners.

Don’t fall for the Fisherman’s Dilemma.