Margaret Press Explained

Margaret Press (born 31 March 1947)^[1] is a forensic genealogist^[2] and an author of both true crime and mystery novels.^{[3] [4]} She is also known for co-founding the DNA Doe Project with Colleen M. Fitzpatrick.^[5]

Education

Press has a bachelor's degree in linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley and a Doctoral degree in linguistics from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Career

Press had a career in computer programming when she began helping adoptees find family members using DNA databases. When she retired from programming she came upon the idea of using the same method to try to identify persons who were deceased and listed as "Doe's" by authorities.^[6] She became known as a forensic genealogist through this work.^[7]

Press is an author of both fiction and non-fiction crime books. She has also had a career in speech and language consulting.^[8] She retired from computer programming in 2015 and relocated from Salem, Massachusetts to Sebastopol, California to live near family.^[8] As a hobby, Press had begun working in genetic genealogy in 2007, helping friends and acquaintances find relatives, as well as helping adoptees find their biological parents.^[8] Inspired by Sue Grafton's novel "Q" Is for Quarry, about a Jane Doe, Press hoped to use genetic genealogy to also identify unidentified homicide victims.

Published works

• Press, Margaret L. Elegy for a Thief: A Detective Sergeant Gabriel Dunn Mystery. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1993. Print.^[9]
• Press, Margaret L. Requiem for a Postman. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1992.^[10]
• Press, Margaret L, and Joan N. Pinkham. Counterpoint: A Murder in Massachusetts Bay. Omaha, Neb: Addicus Books, 1996.^[11]
• Press, Margaret L and Joan N. Pinkham. A Scream on the Water: A True Story of Murder in Salem. New York, NY: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1997.

External links

• A Chemehuevi Language Archive – Press' website containing the Chemehuevi language data collected for her dissertation

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sonoma County grandmother identifies murder victims in decades-old cold cases. Sonoma Index-Tribune. May 13, 2019. Murphy. Austin. March 20, 2022.
2. News: DNA detectives are using new tools to solve decades-old cold cases. en-GB. Wired UK. 2021-10-04. 1357-0978.
3. Web site: Petski. Denise. 2021-01-14. ‘Blood Relative’: Dawnn Lewis & Jude Elizabeth Mayer Join Fox Drama Pilot In Recastings. 2021-10-04. Deadline. en-US.
4. News: Hughes. Virginia. 2021-05-03. To Solve 3 Cold Cases, This Small County Got a DNA Crash Course. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-10-04. 0362-4331.
5. Web site: Zhang. Sarah. 2018-04-27. How a Genealogy Website Led to the Alleged Golden State Killer. 2021-10-04. The Atlantic. en.
6. Web site: Nobody Was Going To Solve These Cold Cases. Then Came The DNA Crime Solvers.. Testa. Jessica. 2018-09-22. BuzzFeed News. en. 2019-01-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20190330145706/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jtes/dna-cold-case-crime-doe-project-genealogy. 2019-03-30. live.
7. Olsen . Lise . The Disappeared . Texas Observer . May 2020 . 112 . 3.
8. Web site: Finding Jane Doe's real name: Local DNA sleuth is on the case. Hillin. E.I.. Sonoma West Times. 2019-01-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20180813004517/http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/news/finding-jane-doe-s-real-name-local-dna-sleuth-is/article_e52d0d0a-730f-11e8-a089-b3915b91cd9e.html. 2018-08-13. live.
9. Elegy for a Thief . Kirkus Reviews . April 15, 1993.
10. Requiem for a Postman. Kirkus Reviews . December 15, 1991.
11. Counterpoint . Kirkus Reviews . July 15, 1996.