So many people either rejected their children during that time, or lost touch when their children rejected the lifestyle required to live without getting beaten in BFE -- for NY, FL, or CA where they could be themselves... and then AIDS hit. My Dad was one of the lucky ones, getting his diagnosis in 1992 and managing to skate on no meds until HAART was perfected. But I'm sure many parents have wondered what happened to their child who left BFE, and still have no closure, assuming it was AIDS and they just never knew.
Julie's very bones are testimony to what gender non-conforming people still experience today, and her death is EXTREMELY suspicious. People have mentioned that at that time in Orlando, the main drag club was next to a redneck bar, shared the same parking lot. But until they know who Julie is, they don't have much to go on. Nothing came up in trying to gather touch DNA from her clothing to catch a perp, and she didn't match to any relative with a criminal record in FL (I think that type of CODIS search is limited to state databases).
So forensic genealogy, which already identified Marcia King of my state as "Buckskin Girl", is probably the only way they can ever find out who she was.
I'm an extreme advocate for this technology to be used to identify those who still remain nameless. I am concerned, however, that continued use of GEDMatch's database for criminal cases vs unidentified decedent cases will keep people from contributing their family trees and DNA to this database. I kind of wish they'd establish that the only crimes they will pursue with forensic genealogy are rape and murder. Fortunately those are also the cases most likely to yield DNA, and the kind where people are willing to cooperate even if it's a cousin who did something so atrocious.
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