DNASolves.com announced that this continued relationship between the Michigan State Police and third-party forensic lab Othram, resulted in the naming of a second suspect in the 1980 murder of 21-year-old Karen Umphrey near Port Huron in St. Clair County.

https://dnasolves.com/articles/michigan-murder-karen-umphrey-1980-anthony-harris

In 2022, the Michigan State Police submitted forensic DNA evidence from the crime scene to Othram, who developed a comprehensive DNA profile and used forensic genetic genealogy to develop leads used by the MSP and the St. Clair County Sheriff Department. Douglas Laming, age 70, was arrested on December 15, 2023.

DNA from a second unknown contributor was similarly tested by Othram and this lead to the arrest of 63-year-old Anthony Harris, who was arrested on February 6, 2024. 

Further proof that the MSP and the Michigan state lab well know how to work with Othram in cold cases. 

What we have now in the OCCK case are a few people mumbling on the sidelines about how there is no viable nuclear DNA to test in the OCCK case, and notations in the FOIA documents that some evidence has been extinguished during testing. Without answering to the families or the public, the stance seems to be that DNA testing by Othram would not be fruitful. That may well be, but your assumptions over the past decades have resulted in exactly squat.

I can certainly understand the reluctance given the inside knowledge people have about how this evidence was mishandled time and again. And how it was misfiled, lost, unaccounted for and maybe worse. But why won’t they come clean? You tested the evidence “a million times”? What did you test, how did you test it, and what was extinguished? As I have pointed out, in more properly handled cold cases, third-party labs have been able to develop DNA previously undetected by state and FBI labs. And how can they say for sure that a final review of the evidence, especially the four kids’ clothing will not be amenable to methods used by Othram to test for DNA not previously found using less advanced techniques? You’ve spent so many grant dollars, so many tax dollars in the OCCK case–but now you decide the purse is closed in this case but not others? 

Oh, I understand you probably have big chain-of-custody issues due to your sloppy investigations, but we all know you will never make an arrest in this case and no one will ever go to trial. Pretend you really want to solve these homicides or provide some answers, in spite of your previous failures. 

The failure to treat these four child homicides like your other cold cases (digitize the files and third-party lab) and the failure to account for why the stand-off/news black out is indefensible. It constitutes a continuation of the intentional infliction of emotional distress on victims’ families. 

How on earth you all managed to keep this shit under wraps for almost 50 years should be part of a case study for dirty agencies at every level around the country.