J.D. | Ph.D | Founder and President of FF Group

Barbara is the President and Founder of Firebird Forensics Group, Inc. a 501(3)(c) corporation that focuses on assisting law enforcement in identifying suspects in violent crimes and identifying unidentified human remains. She is also the Director of Investigative Genetic Genealogy at Gene by Gene, the parent company of FamilyTreeDNA.

Barbara is a retired intellectual property attorney who specialized in the patenting of biotechnology inventions. She earned a J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin Law School and a B.A. double major in Psychology and Biochemistry (Special Projects) and a Ph.D. in Biology (Biochemistry) at the University of California at San Diego. She is licensed to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office and the State Bar of California (inactive).

Barbara is a Search Angel with DNAAdoption.org helping adoptees find their birth relatives and also helps teach the online autosomal DNA (atDNA) classes that DNAAdoption.org offers to teach adoptees how to use their atDNA to find birth relatives.

Barbara identified the mother of Lisa Jensen, abducted in infancy and then abandoned by her abductor as a 5-year-old. This was the first use of what is now known as Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) in a criminal case. Identification of who Lisa’s mother was led to the NH State Police solving the murder of the Allenstown Four in Allenstown, NH.

Barbara and Junel Davidsen, a participant in the Firebird Forensics Group, subsequently determined the true identity of Lisa’s abductor and suspected murderer of the Allenstown Four as Terry Peder Rasmussen.

Using the same technique as she used to identify Lisa and Rasmussen, Barbara assisted the FBI, Paul Holes (now retired), and the Sacramento DA’s office in identifying Joseph James DeAngelo as the notorious Golden State Killer. Barbara requested to remain anonymous in the original press release. IGG is now being used to solve hundreds of previously “unsolvable” cold cases.

For her work, Barbara was recognized by the journal Nature as one of “10 people Who Mattered In Science In 2018.” She was also recognized as one of Time100’s Most Influential People of 2019.

Using IGG, Barbara and her Group have helped law enforcement solve over 50 cases.