The Chester Creek Murders – A Venator Cold Case is a genealogy-related novel, written by our favorite author, Nathan Dylan Goodwin. It was written a year ago (January, 2021), but I’ve just now gotten the time to enjoy it. As stated at the base of the front cover, this book in An Investigative Genetic Genealogy Mystery. Unlike Nathan’s earlier works, this book deals extensively with in-depth DNA research – specifically the kind of research which is done to break cold cases using DNA evidence. Not to put down the fascinating genealogical investigations of the indomitable Morton Farrier (who does his share of DNA research too), but Madison Scott-Barnett and her crew at Venator do some pretty amazing research. I fully understand most of what Morton does, but don’t have the DNA-related experience sufficient to fully appreciate the wonders of Madison’s DNA investigations.
We were introduced to Madison in Nathan’s 2019 “The Sterling Affair.” She is Nathan’s ex who left the U.K., and went to Salt Lake City – starting her own genetic genealogy company specializing in cold cases.
With as much study as I’ve done on the subject of DNA, this is the first novel I’ve read that deals with cold-case genealogy research. The book gives us a good idea as to how the Golden State Killer case, and numerous other investigations making the news in the last several years, may have been solved.
The story partially revolves around Detective Clayton Taylor, whose job requires the study of cold-case files that have lain near-dormant for years. Near-dormant, but not fully, in that if they get dusted off every so often, they can still be considered open-active cases, thus not subject to the media’s request for Public Disclosure. Taylor selected the Chester Creek Murder cases, which dated to the early 1980’s as his current project. The files ran to six huge binders. The case dealt with three murder/rapes, of young women aged 17-19. What tied the cases together was that their bodies were all dumped in Chester Creek, located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The perps DNA was found on the bodies, but hadn’t shown up in CODIS (Combined DNA Index system). The detective remembered reading about a cold-case being solved with DNA, checked it out on the Internet, and determined to call Venator, Maddie’s forensic genealogy firm located in Salt Lake City, Utah. This set in motion a fascinating research project, with techniques that most of us would never think to pursue.
Maddie Scott-Barnett has a team of four talented forensic genealogists. With the perp’s DNA signature (made up of 677,864 lines of DNA coding), they were able to crack the Chester Creek murders. Meet the team:
- Becky – a young, athletic woman, from a family with money.
- Ross – in a not-so-great marriage. He and his wife would like to adopt, in hopes of fixing their marriage – but can’t afford the expense.
- Kenyatta – a middle-aged African American woman, who is Maddie’s deputy. She works with the homeless, and has an unshakable sense of the need for justice for the victims in their cases.
- Hudson – 25 years old, with an unmatched understanding of the science used in their investigations.
The team of five, using systematic, and unwavering research, cracked the case in a total of 25 days – from their first meeting with Detective Taylor, to the arrest of the killer – and that included weekends (many of which included on-the-side research of the case).
Using a digital whiteboard, and regular team meetings, DNA matches found using FamilyTreeDNA were divided up into nine genetic network clusters, and shared among the team. Using a shared drive, they proceeded to research. The research was pretty typical, using census, BMD, and other sources to work a known cousin’s ancestry back to the 3rd great-grandparents, then working their way forward, searching for someone who could be the perp. This may sound boring to my readers, but Nathan writes so well, and the research was so compelling, that you’ll find that you can’t put the book down. Internet databases Ancestry, MyHeritage, and others, as well as a few quick trips to the Family History Library a few blocks away allow the research to be done quickly. As with nearly all of Nathan’s books, the chapters go back in time to deal with the crimes, then reverts to 2020 and the challenges of the case. While all this is going on, Madison is dealing with the 5th anniversary of her husband’s disappearance. Ross is struggling with the possibility of a windfall from a “side job.” Becky is dealing with the possibility that her father has a past that he wants to hide, and Kenyatta is busy with her overwhelming compassion for the homeless, all the while doing pro-bono work for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
As with all of Nathan’s books, it’s a great read, and I couldn’t recommend it more.
It’s available at Amazon in paperback for just $12.99.
The eBook is just $5.49.
Click on the links to order at Amazon.