What we do

Firebird Forensics is a non-profit that focuses on assisting law enforcement in identifying suspects in violent crimes and identifying unidentified human remains.

  • The Book Everyone's Talking About

    For twelve years the Golden State Killer terrorized California, stalking victims and killing without remorse. Then he simply disappeared, for the next forty-four years, until an amateur DNA sleuth opened her laptop. In I Know Who You Are, Barbara Rae-Venter reveals how she went from researching her family history as a retiree to hunting for a notorious serial killer—and how she became the nation’s leading authority on investigative genetic genealogy, the most dazzling new crime-fighting weapon to appear in decades.

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  • G.O.L.D. Unit Identifies Three Cold-Case Sexual Assault Offenders Utilizing Genealogy

    Investigative genetic genealogists with Gene by Gene and Firebird Forensics Group Incorporated as well as CCPO GOLD Unit investigators were able to connect John Doe #103’s DNA profile to that of Kenneth Edmond.

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  • Who is Barbara Rae-Venter?

    Barbara is the President and Founder of Firebird Forensics Group, Inc. a corporation that focuses on assisting law enforcement in identifying suspects in violent crimes and identifying unidentified human remains.

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Buy the book everyone is talking about…

For twelve years the Golden State Killer terrorized California, stalking victims and killing without remorse. Then he simply disappeared, for the next forty-four years, until an amateur DNA sleuth opened her laptop. In I Know Who You Are, Barbara Rae-Venter reveals how she went from researching her family history as a retiree to hunting for a notorious serial killer—and how she became the nation’s leading authority on investigative genetic genealogy, the most dazzling new crime-fighting weapon to appear in decades.

I Know Who You Are captures both the exhilaration of the moment of discovery and the sheer depth of emotion that lingers around cold cases, informing Rae-Venter’s careful approach to her work. It is a story of relentless curiosity, of constant invention and reinvention, and of human beings striving to answer the most elemental questions about themselves: What defines identity? Where do we belong? And are we truly who we think we are?