Retired FBI agent Jason Pack urges immediate dna testing for families still waiting on unidentified remains, and his message is blunt: time is the enemy. Pack spent years on the FBI's Evidence Response Team, work that taught him how quickly scene evidence degrades. The problem is familiar to anyone following cold cases.
Families submit samples late, labs face backlogs, and comparison opportunities slip away. This guide explains what Pack's push means in practice, how forensic genetic genealogy actually works, which tools labs rely on, and the concrete steps you can take today. You will also find a comparison table, practical checklists, and answers to the questions people ask most often.
Why the Urgency Matters in Forensic Identification
The core argument is simple: DNA does not improve with age. Forensic samples degrade through heat, moisture, and bacterial exposure, and reference samples from living relatives become unavailable when older family members pass away. That second point is where urgency bites hardest.
The FBI's Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS, links local, state, and federal labs so profiles can be compared across jurisdictions. According to the FBI's CODIS fact sheet, the system has assisted in hundreds of thousands of investigations since it launched. That scale only helps if a profile exists to search.
Consider a family with an unidentified relative missing since the 1980s. The surviving sibling is now in their seventies. Once that sibling dies, the closest available reference may be a niece or nephew, whose genetic distance makes a match far harder to confirm.
- Collect reference samples early from the oldest living relatives, since their genetic links are strongest.
- Ask the medical examiner whether a profile has been uploaded and to which database.
- Document the chain of custody for any sample you provide, so it is admissible later.
Pack's point is not that testing is magic. It is that the window for good samples closes quietly, one relative at a time.
How to apply this: call your local medical examiner's office this week and ask whether an unidentified person matching your case has a DNA profile in CODIS.
Degradation of biological evidence accelerates with every passing season, which is why retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing before viable material is lost forever.
Relatives who could provide comparison samples age and pass away, and retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing while those reference sources still exist.
How Forensic Genetic Genealogy Actually Works
Forensic genetic genealogy extends beyond CODIS by using consumer databases to find distant relatives, then building family trees backward to identify remains. The technique gained national attention with the 2018 arrest in the Golden State Killer case, which relied on uploads to GEDmatch.
The process runs in stages. A lab extracts DNA from remains and produces a profile with hundreds of thousands of markers. That profile is uploaded to a database where users have opted in to law enforcement matching. Genealogists then compare shared segments, build trees, and narrow candidates until a confirmation sample settles it.
GEDmatch is the best-known third-party upload site, and it requires users to explicitly opt in to law enforcement access. FamilyTreeDNA offers a similar opt-in program. Both are real, functioning services, and their policies on law enforcement access are published on their own sites.
The numbers here are genuinely uncertain. Success rates vary widely by case type, and no single published figure covers all jurisdictions. What is clear is that the method works best when remains yield usable DNA and when a candidate pool exists in the opted-in database.
- Confirm the lab's accreditation before trusting any profile it produces.
- Check the database's opt-in status, since a profile in a non-consenting database may be unusable in court.
- Expect months, not weeks, for tree-building on distant matches.
How to apply this: if you manage a consumer DNA kit, review your law enforcement opt-in setting today and decide deliberately rather than by default.
Consumer databases let investigators trace distant kin and build family trees backward, a method retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing to apply in cold cases.
This approach reaches far beyond CODIS, and retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing as the technique gains wider national attention.
What Families Should Do First
Start with the case file, not the lab. Many families spend money on private testing before confirming whether a profile already exists. That duplication wastes both time and sample material.
Ask three questions of the investigating agency. First, is there an unidentified person profile in CODIS? Second, has it been compared against your family's reference sample? Third, if not, why not? The answers often reveal a simple administrative gap rather than a technical dead end.
In one case, a family learned that a profile had been uploaded years earlier but never compared because the reporting agency had changed computer systems. A single phone call resolved a decade of silence.
| Step | What it tells you | Action to take |
|---|---|---|
| Request the case file | Whether a profile exists | File a written records request |
| Ask about CODIS status | Whether comparison happened | Get the answer in writing |
| Check database opt-ins | Whether genealogy is viable | Review consent settings |
| Identify oldest relatives | Who gives the best sample | Schedule collection now |
| Verify lab accreditation | Whether results hold up | Ask for the certificate |
The push behind retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing is really about sequencing: confirm what exists, then fill the gaps.
How to apply this: write a one-page timeline of your case and send it to the agency with three specific questions attached.
The Practical Limits and Ethical Questions
Testing is not free of tradeoffs, and pretending otherwise undermines public trust. Privacy advocates have raised legitimate concerns about consent, particularly when a distant relative's decision affects an entire family tree.
The U.S. Department of Justice addressed part of this in its interim policy on forensic genetic genealogical DNA analysis, which sets limits on how such searches may be conducted and requires documentation of the process. The policy states that the technique should be used only after CODIS and other standard methods have been exhausted.
Practical limits matter too. Degraded samples may yield partial profiles that cannot be uploaded. Labs differ in their ability to handle bone or tooth samples. Costs for private testing vary considerably, and no reliable public average exists across providers.
- Ask who can access your data and whether it can be withdrawn later.
- Request the lab's error rate for the specific sample type involved.
- Keep expectations calibrated, since partial profiles often require additional testing.
A common scenario involves a family that uploads a sibling's kit, gets a distant match, and assumes identification is imminent. In reality, that match may require years of documentary research to resolve.
How to apply this: read the consent language on any database you use and note the withdrawal procedure before uploading.
Privacy advocates rightly question consent when one person's choice affects an entire family, yet retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing despite these unresolved tensions.
Acknowledging real tradeoffs builds public trust, and retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing with transparency rather than pretending the ethical questions are settled.
Building a Case File That Holds Up
Documentation decides whether a match becomes an identification. Courts and agencies need a defensible record linking the sample, the lab, and the conclusion.
Keep a simple binder or digital folder containing the chain-of-custody form, lab accreditation certificate, profile upload confirmation, and every piece of correspondence with the agency. Timestamped emails are more useful than phone calls because they create a written trail.
The urgency in retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing rests partly on this: records degrade too. Agencies purge files, staff retire, and institutional memory fades. Families who kept their own copies fare far better when a case reopens.
- Store digital copies in two separate locations.
- Log every contact with date, name, and outcome.
- Request written confirmation of each upload and comparison.
How to apply this: create a shared folder today and add the first document, even if it is only your initial records request.
Frequently Asked Questions About retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing
Who is Jason Pack and why does his opinion carry weight?
Jason Pack is a retired FBI agent whose career included work with the Bureau's evidence response teams, giving him direct exposure to how forensic samples are handled and lost. His advocacy reflects operational experience rather than theory.
That background is why the retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing message resonates with families, who often hear only bureaucratic silence. Treat his view as informed guidance, not an official FBI position.
Can I request DNA testing if the case is decades old?
Yes, in most jurisdictions, though the process differs by agency. Cold case units exist at many state and local levels, and they can reopen files when new testing methods become available. A family in a rural county may need to escalate to the state bureau of investigation if the local agency lacks resources.
The retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing argument applies most strongly here, since older cases often have the fewest surviving reference donors.
What if the unidentified person was never entered into any database?
That happens more often than most people expect. A remains profile may exist in a medical examiner's file but never have been uploaded, sometimes due to budget limits or staffing. Ask specifically whether the profile was uploaded and request documentation.
If it was not, the retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing push becomes a request to fund that upload, which is often a modest, one-time cost.
Does consumer DNA testing create privacy risks for my whole family?
It can, because a match reveals information about relatives who never consented. Most reputable databases address this through explicit opt-in consent and withdrawal options. Read the policy before uploading and check whether law enforcement access is a separate setting.
The retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing recommendation works best when families make informed choices rather than rushed ones.
How long does identification typically take once a match is found?
Confirming a match is not the same as closing a case. Genealogists may need months to build a tree, and a confirmation sample adds more time. Agencies also vary in how quickly they act on findings. Budget realistically for a year or more in complex cases, and keep following up.
The retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing message is about starting now, not about instant results.
Conclusion
The takeaway is straightforward and practical:
- Time erodes evidence and donors, so reference samples from the oldest relatives should be collected first.
- Confirm what already exists in CODIS before paying for private testing.
- Document everything, because records disappear as fast as memories do.
- Read the consent terms on any database and decide deliberately about law enforcement access.
You do not need a background in forensics to move a case forward. You need a phone call, a written request, and a folder to keep the answers in.
Start with one action today: contact the investigating agency and ask, in writing, whether a DNA profile exists and whether it has been compared. The retired fbi agent jason pack urges immediate dna testing message is ultimately a reminder that the next step is yours to take, and that waiting is the one choice that cannot be undone.
