This true crime story was heart wrenching. Such a young innocent couple that were brutally murdered. It made me understand how far we have come with DNA and tracking components since that time.

3.5 stars

Although I really liked this true crime account of cold case murders being solved by genetic genealogy, there were some times it got very tedious and overly detailed with the ins and outs of the process.

The main case this book is centered on, which is what captured my interest, was the case of two Canadian teenagers, Tanya and Jay, who in 1987 had traveled from BC to Washington state to pick up a furnace part, and disappeared. They were later found murdered and Tanya was sexually assaulted. It took over 30 years, but the culprit was eventually identified through DNA using the various databases available to researchers.

The core mystery was very fascinating, and how the detectives eventually found the person who did it really intrigued me. There were also other cases along the way that were solved using this and similar technology, and the accounts of those were also very interesting. Where the book kind of lost me was in the details of how everything works and the minutiae of the ethics involved. I can understand why this needs to be explored, but the book got a little long for me when talking about the various databases and privacy rules and terms and conditions, etc.

I did like and appreciate that this book covered cases that I had not read about in other true crime accounts featuring genetic genealogy (with the exception of the Golden State Killer, but that wasn't overly focused on here, it was more just mentioned in passing a few times). Learning how DNA can be used to create a digital mug shot and how those have been used to lead detectives to culprits is mind blowing.

Unfortunately, the Tanya and Jay case is still not fully resolved. The convicted murderer had his sentence overturned and the case is going to the state Supreme Court. It was disappointing for me to read that, because I wanted justice for these poor kids and what they endured.

Overall this is an interesting and intriguing book with a different angle. Modern technology is astounding and if things have changed this much in thirty years, imagine what crime solving will be like in thirty more years.

A Cold Case Solved Using Familial DNA


In 1987, Tanya Van Cuylenborg and her boyfriend, Jay Cook, were excited to be going to Seattle to make a delivery for Jay’s father. Both teens were very responsible. When they were not heard from for several hours, the families became concerned. The bodies were found in a remote location with no witnesses, no murder weapon, and only a hand-print on the van.

Thirty years later Detective Jim Scharf received the case. With little to go on he turned to laboratory analysis which included the DNA on the biological evidence that had been in cold storage. DNA is now a feature of criminal investigations. The new twist in this case was provided by CeCe Moore. She had become interested in tracing families through genetic information.

When CeCe teamed up with Detective Scharf, this was the first case in which familial DNA had been used to identify a suspect who was later tried. This opened a new avenue for criminal investigations, but it also raises privacy issues. People have become fascinated with finding out about their genetic heritage. A number of companies offer DNA analysis along with an interpretation of the findings. This is fun and educational, but the data bases are there and can be used by researchers as well as law enforcement.

This book was very well done. The cold case illustrates the effectiveness of using familial DNA in tracing criminals. The author goes into the process in some detail. I found this very interesting. However, the problems of unrestricted us of DNA for either research or law enforcement raises ethical issues that need to be addressed.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

The Forever Witness: How Genetic Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder (Dutton 2022) by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Edward Humes is one of the best works of true crime published this year. The Forever Witness is bound to inform readers’ understanding of criminal investigation and DNA testing.

The text recounts the murder investigation and close case of Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook, two young people who were murdered during a trip to Seattle from British Columbia in the 1980s. If you are at all interested in Canadian true crime, this case, which encompassed multiple countries, is extremely famous. Tanya and Jay’s last moments were undoubtedly harrowing, and although their bodies were found in separate locations, there was no murder weapon, no witnesses, and only a single handprint on the outside of the couple’s van. Police were unable to generate any promising leads in the 1980s, and the case seemed to fall into stasis, with the families of Tanya and Jay left waiting.

While the text recounts the tragedies of the losses of Tanya and Jay, The Forever Witness simultaneously explores the progression of familial DNA testing and its uses in solving crimes. Thousands of samples of DNA are frozen in crime labs across the US, waiting to be tested against potential subjects, including the DNA of Tanya and Jay’s killer. Humes follows one woman: California resident CeCe Moore and her devotion to using genetic genealogy to solve criminal cases. Eventually, Humes draws these two separate narrative threads together when a cold case detective working on Tanya and Jay’s case—Jim Scharf—sends a sample of the suspect’s DNA to Parabon NanoLabs. A thrilling pursuit involving detective work and science ensues, and the outcome of the case will go on to make history in the world of genetic genealogy.

This book was fabulous. The Forever Witness was thorough, informative, and deeply emotional. Humes makes vivid the lives of both Tanya and Jay, as well as the consequences of their losses for their families. His portraits of their lives and the world they lived in is deeply affecting. Humes is careful to unpack the social and criminal environment that constituted the Seattle area at the time that Tanya and Jay arrived, and overall, he paints a vivid picture of the circumstances behind Tanya and Jay’s deaths.

The other half of the novel is a comprehensive history of DNA testing, genetic genealogy, and the investigation. I was on the edge of my seat until the very end of the book. Humes also connects the text to other crimes that have been solved through this DNA method, such as the Golden State Killer case. It was fascinating to see this case in context as genetic genealogy becomes more prevalent.

Furthermore, The Forever Witness explores the ethical dimensions to this kind of DNA testing. Although there is an entire industry built around gemological testing, with companies inviting individuals to submit their DNA to learn more about their family history, Humes recounts the various debates around this incredibly new and ethically murky use of DNA technology and how law enforcement and criminal courts are attempting to cope with these technological developments. All of this is done against the backdrop of the solved murders of Tanya and Jay, which raises interesting questions, concerns, and debates that I was fascinated by.

I think The Forever Witness is a must-read for fans of true crime, cold case investigations, and those interested in the very current and still-developing issues in criminal cases today.

Please add The Forever Witness to your Goodreads shelf and follow Edward Humes on Twitter.
Don’t forget to follow True Crime Index on Twitter and please visit our Goodreads for updates on what we’re reading! You can find Rachel on her personal @RachelMFriars or on Goodreads @Rachel Friars.

About the Writer:

Rachel M. Friars (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature with a focus on neo-Victorianism and adaptations of Jane Eyre. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her academic writing has been published with Palgrave Macmillan and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary and the co-creator of True Crime Index, Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry. Find her on Twitter and Goodreads.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group!

Edward Humes knows how to write True Crime and knows how to do it exceptionally well.

This book had me completely captivated from page one to the very last. The Forever witness provides an opportunity to learn about developments within the forensics world and how the utilization of genetics and genealogy completely altered the world of forensics.

The Forever Witness also makes you step back and ask the question what would I do? Am I more protective over my own privacy vs. the safety of others? Would you be upset if investigators used your DNA to locate criminals?

I loved this book from beginning to end and I will forever highly recommend it.

This true crime account does a really good job of capturing the reader's attention. A young couple goes missing and the police tell the family to wait three days to make sure they don't show up on their own, but at that point it was already too late to help them. The bodies are found and their isn't enough evidence to point to the killer.
Many years later, cold case Detective Jim Scharf gets the case file and he never let's go. Any new investigation tool that come available he used it, even featuring the case on Unsolved Mysteries. It was more than thirty years from the murders until the families finally got their answers.
Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton / Penguin Random House for the opportunity to experience this riveting crime book.

I have been on a nonfiction kick recently and this one stood out for many reasons. I loved the honesty and emotion. I felt like I was in the moment with the author and I felt like the articulation of the circumstances were easy to understand which I appreciated with such a complex issue.

I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Here’s another fascinating True Crime book that I think you’ll devour in one sitting!.

As I’ve said previously I love all things True Crime and spend most nights on Discovery + watching all different kinds of documentaries, some shock you to the core just like I think this book will.

This was an interesting read that kept me wanting to know the next twist and turn, one detective just had to get justice for the young couple no matter how long it took him.

Genetic genealogy has been used in some high profile cold cases recently that has finally brought the perpetrators to justice and I think it’s just incredible

It’s no secret I’m a true crime junkie. Cold cases and new technology has always fascinated me, so when the opportunity to read The Forever Witness popped up, I had to read it!

This didn’t solely focus on a cold case, but also how DNA, new technology and genealogy can solve crimes. It was so interesting, I never found myself bored or wanting to skim certain sections, I was there for it all. The author did a great job of covering both the families’ sides as well as the detective. I loved Jim Scharff and find his determination to the victims and their families admirable.

I wanted desperately to google the case and find out if the murderer was convicted or not, because the jury did have me terrified and I didn’t know if I could wait until the end of the book to find out. I know I’ll never make it on a murder case jury, because while the jury was fair and wanted to be sure, I was silently screaming “he’s guilty” while reading about the deliberation.

The Forever Witness is available today. Many thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for my review copy!

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This book was absolutely fascinating to me.  It was the history of DNA & a cold case combined. I loved how the author meshed the two together. The focus being on the scientific development of DNA and how it had assisted in solving cold cases.  It was like a documentary but in a book forum.   Be still my bizarre heart 😆😆  This was not a book I went through quickly because I wanted to read every word and learn as much as possible.

Favorite Quote:
Genetic genealogy was the source that never lied, never faded with time,  never forgot. It was the forever witness.

Non-fiction

Humes knocked this book out of the park!

When I first read the description, I thought this would be exactly like I'll Be Gone in the Dark, which was the search for the Golden State Killer. Both books revolve around the murders of people that occurred many decades earlier and both are solved with the help of genetic genealogy.

Humes book tackles the murder of two young adults in Washington state. Unlike IBGITD, Humes follows the work of the cold case detective. Interspersed between the story of the investigation is the background on the two families and the history of genetic genealogy. Humes work was exhaustive, and so his book reads exceptionally well. I was caught up in the case from the beginning and hurriedly read through what happened.

The last 1/4 of the book is mostly devoted to the court case once the killer was caught. The book slowed down there for me, but this portion was so necessary to completing the story. At the publishing of this account, the story is not complete as the defense filed an appeal. All in all this was a great read and a must read for any true crime buff.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book.

Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for access to this arc.


Thirty five years ago – eerily almost to the day that I’m writing this review, a violent crime was committed against a young Canadian couple. Almost immediately, their families knew something was wrong, in part because of Tanya Van Cuylenborg’s faithful habit of always calling her family when she was going to be late. Their worried parents reported them missing but, stymied by the then police policy of waiting three days before beginning an investigation, Tanya’s father launched his own search for them. He and Tanya’s older brother were the ones to identify her body which was found, rolled down into a ravine, naked from the waist down except for her socks. Jay’s battered and strangled body was found by hunters two days later.

Roughly two decades later, a Washington State cold case detective got involved. The case had received wide publicity and coverage at the time but after years of chasing down leads and having the story on TV unsolved crime shows, they were no closer to cracking it. But by this point, use of DNA in solving crimes was about to enter a third stage. The first stage was collecting it from crime scenes and then using it to compare to suspects who were identified by standard means as at that point, DNA databases were small. In stage two, growing databases gave law enforcement officers something to compare collected samples to. But if a suspect’s DNA had never been entered into a database, LEOs were at a loss.

Then the growing field and hobby of DNA genealogy began. Spit in a cup, send it in and learn all about yourself. Upload your data and learn all about your family. Contact someone who knows more about mining databases and discover information about your adoption, or if your listed father is really your father, and more! When the identity of the Golden State Killer was discovered and announced, DNA use in crimes reached stage three, as people began to learn about how these databases could be reverse engineered to reconstruct a family tree and catch criminals.

How does all this affect individual privacy? Are there rules and laws to govern this sort of use of information that people didn’t realize could be used this way? Is it acceptable if it helps find violent criminals who have evaded justice for decades or a criminal who just recently committed his crime and whom police are afraid will strike again? And was a suspect in the murders of Tanya and Jay identified and brought to trial?

Author Edward Humes lays all this out in an easy to understand and follow book. It’s chilling, it’s fascinating, it’s horrific to read about the crimes, and it’s satisfying – in some ways. As of now over 200 cold case crimes have been solved. US States, LEOs, lawyers, and genealogists are discussing, debating, and passing laws regarding the use of genetic genealogy to solve crimes. As the book says, the genie is out of the bottle and consumers who get incensed at having their computer information and credit cards hacked are the ones happily handing over the key to their entire being to companies that are profit oriented. What will happen next, we don’t know. B+

This was such a fascinating read. I learned so much about genetic genealogy and about the various advancements in technology that have occurred over the years to bring us to the point where DNA samples shared by family members, even distant relations like cousins, to genealogy companies can lead to the finding, arrest, and conviction of criminals.
It’s such an interesting subset of forensics and the author does a great job explaining the nuances in lay men’s terms along with posing the following topics to the reader 1) the moral dilemma that has surrounded genetic genealogy being used by law enforcement and 2) the risks of people sending their DNA in to private companies.
A very thought provoking read.

A must read for fans of true crime, as it focuses on how genetic genealogy was used to solve a 30 year cold case, and for anyone that is interested in forensics and genealogical technology.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the copy of this eARC.

I want to begin with pointing out that this is a nonfiction book on how genetic genealogy was used to solve cold cases - it is extremely easy to forget this as author Edward Humes starts off by introducing readers to the double murder cold case of Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook. While it's very detailed and factual, it reads like a fictional work - too heinous to be real.

I did request the ARC for this book on NetGalley and was approved, so much gratitude to NetGalley and the publisher, Dutton.

If you're someone like me who watches every crime documentary that can be found, read thrillers and true crime novels like nobody's business - I believe this book would be right up your alley. Edward Humes writes this narrative in the same style as many of the best documentaries I've seen - I was riveted. A young couple on an overnight errand for the boy's father vanish. The families knew within hours that something was wrong because these two young people were like clockwork checking in with their parents. Both were found murdered and the killer or killers left no trace except a partial palm print on the van.

Thirty years later, technology had advanced, sure - but more importantly - so had DNA databases where people submitted saliva samples in order to trace their ancestry. With the help of some forward thinking individuals, genetic genealogists began solving cold cases....but what does using these databases mean as far as privacy??

I will admit, there were a few chapters that delved heavily into explaining the process of how genetic genealogy began, what it was used for, how it worked - that made my eyes glaze over. I wanted to get back to solving the case of Tanya and Jay! I actually treated it like it was two separates pieces - one was the research as to how this new process was instrumental in solving cold cases and the other was the double murder cases. Once I compartmentalized it that way - I was once again immersed.

This was my first book to read by Edward Humes, but it will NOT be the last. I've already been researching his backlog and picking out my next one. I decided on MISSISSIPPI MUD as I'm a born and raised Mississippi girl and very familiar with the Biloxi area and Strip this story centers around.

I can tell you one thing I've learned by all the crime books, documentaries and this story - I am so glad I live in the age we're in today - everything is caught on camera. To see how easy it was for these serial killers back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s - I don't know how folks slept at night!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for gifting me a digital ARC of this intriguing true crime book by Edward Humes - 5 stars!

Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook were murdered during a trip to Seattle in the 1980s and detectives had few leads. There was only a single handprint on the outside of the young couple’s van. The detectives assumed Tanya and Jay were victims of a serial killer—but without any leads, the case seemed forever doomed. Detective Jim Scharf couldn't let it go; when he was assigned to the Cold Case Unit, he made it a focus. When new genetic DNA technology came into play, Detective Scharf chose the young couple's case to send for analysis.

While this is definitely a true crime book, discussing all the details of this crime over the 30-year period, it's much more. It's a look into how genetic DNA began and the pioneers who made it happen and made history. It also looks into all the political, legal, and societal ramifications of this new technology and what we risk and gain by uploading our DNA into these genetic databases. It's extremely well researched and fascinating - kudos to all law enforcement officers and genetic researchers who just want to bring a sense of closure and peace to these families.

Spectacular. This is one of those books you can't stop reading.
Well written and researched, Edward Humes has done a fantastic job telling the story of two families united in a terrible crime.

While this was a decent read there was also something strangely sloppy about the format and writing. It read like someone’s incomplete notes or an idea for a book rather than a nicely formatted book. I wanted to read this due to my interest in genetic research and databases. The interwoven cases were too much at times and I feel contributed to this messy feeling. Overall the book did have some decent info on the history of using genetic information to solve cold cases.

This would have been a riveting piece of long-form journalism, but as a book it felt bloated with unnecessary detail.

As a lover and voracious reader of true crime, it means a lot when I say that this is the best true crime book I have read in a long time. It transcends the genre, and was immensely difficult for me to put down. Aside from being a page-turner, the author did an excellent job of breaking down the science of genealogy testing and its repercussions for the field of forensic investigations. While this book focused on one criminal in particular, it also referred to several other historical cases in order to most effectively explain genetic testing to the reader. I was hooked from the first page! Edward Humes' Pulitzer Prize is well deserved, and after reading this book I cannot wait to dive into his other works.

The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder by Edward Humes is a very highly recommended true crime account that reads like a novel. This investigative novel introduces the 1987 cold case of victims 18-year-old Tanya Van Cuylenborg and 20-year-old Jay Cook and then explains how the case was solved thirty-one years later by investigator Jim Scharf and genetic genealogist CeCe Moore.

Canadian citizens Tanya and Jay were taking an overnight trip from Vancouver to Seattle, Washington, to purchase some furnace equipment for Jay's father. The young couple never made it home and their bodies were found in separate locations in rural Washington. There were few clues and no witnesses, so the case went cold and the biological evidence from the crime was frozen.

Thirty-one years later Detective Jim Scharf is examining cold case files, looking for clues. Scharf decided to take a chance and work with CeCe Moore. Moore with her interest in genetic genealogy has been looking at the information from home DNA ancestry kits being used as a forensic tool. It is through the test that a link to familial DNA points out a suspect, Bill Talbott, a 55-year-old Seattle trucker.

This is a well-written and well-paced true crime story that follows the facts of the case and how a suspect was found and reads like a novel. Humes does an excellent job introducing us to the victims, the detectives working the case and later the cold case. There is an accessible discussion covering the advances of DNA research, the science behind it, and explaining the creation of GEDmatch, the DNA database that genetic genealogists and law enforcement use to solve cold cases. There is also a thoughtful discussion involving the pros and con of using genetic genealogy. Included at the end are notes for Humes research.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House via NetGalley.






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