MASON CITY | DNA matching a sample from Michael Cisneros was found on a pair of blue pajama bottoms belonging to a Mason City toddler who drowned in Willow Creek 20 years ago, a DNA expert testified Monday in Cisneros' murder trial. Cisneros, 38, formerly of Mason City, is accused of first-degree murder in the July 1994 death of 20-month-old John Snyder Jr. He was reported missing about 8:20 a.m. July 20, 1994, by his father, John Snyder Sr., from their apartment on South Adams Avenue. He was found in the creek on July 21. Several DNA experts with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab testified Monday as Cisneros murder trial entered its second week. The statistical probability of the DNA profile developed from four blood stains on Little Johns pajama bottoms belonging to someone other than Cisneros is less than 1 in 100 billion people, according to DCI criminalist Tara Scott. Retired criminalist Marie Sides tested the stains on the pajama bottoms in 1994 and discovered the presence of blood, but DNA testing was not being conducted at the lab at that time. By 2002 the technology had evolved to allow Sides to develop DNA profiles for … Continue reading →

LONDON DNA testing is taking a bite out of the Bigfoot legend. After scientists analyzed more than 30 hair samples reportedly left behind by Bigfoot and similar mythical beasts like the Himalayan Yeti, they found all of them came from more mundane creatures like bears, wolves, cows and raccoons. In 2012, researchers at Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology issued an open call asking museums, scientists and Bigfoot aficionados to share any samples they thought were from the legendary ape-like creatures. "I thought there was about a 5 percent chance of finding a sample from a Neanderthal or (a Yeti)," said Bryan Sykes of Oxford University, who led the research, the first peer-reviewed study of Bigfoot, Yeti and other "anomalous primates." Sykes and colleagues tested 36 hair samples from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Russia and the U.S. using DNA sequencing and all of them matched DNA from known animals. Most were from bears, but there were also hairs from a Malaysian tapir, horses, porcupine, deer, sheep, and a human. While Sykes said they didn't find any proof of Bigfoot-related creatures, he acknowledged their paper doesn't prove they don't exist. "The fact that none of these samples turned out … Continue reading →