Advisory Committee
Ryan Backmann
Ryan Backmann is the founder and executive director of Project: Cold Case, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving families of unsolved homicide victims. In 2009, Ryan’s father, Cliff Backmann, was shot and killed during a robbery in what remains one of the nation’s 300,000+ unsolved murders. Ryan is a special member of The Vidocq Society and serves on the Florida Sheriffs Association’s Cold Case Advisory Commission as the only survivor/advocate. He is a subject matter expert on cold case advocacy for the National Cold Case Initiative and served as chair of the Jacksonville, FL Mayor’s Victim Assistance Advisory Council, and as a board member for the Southeastern Homicide Investigators Association.
Founder & Executive Director | Project: Cold Case
Sheriff Sadie Darnell
Sadie Darnell was sworn in as the first woman Sheriff of Alachua County (FL) in 2006 where she served for fourteen years. Sadie has served as President of the Florida Sheriffs Association’s (FSA) Board of Directors and the Chair of FSA’s first statewide Cold Case Advisory Commission from 2015-2020. She also formed the first full-time dedicated Cold Case Unit at the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office which has had many successes.
In 1997 she had the honor of serving as an instructor at the University of North Texas National Victim Assistance Academy. She is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Program in Cambridge, MA.First Woman Sheriff | Alachua County Florida
Roger Davis
Roger Davis serves as the Special Agent-in-Charge with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and the statewide coordinator for BCI’s Cold Case Unit. His leadership background includes oversight of the Southwest Special Investigations Unit and the Southern Crimes Against Children Unit, where he managed critical investigations involving officer-involved shootings, homicides, serial offenders, public corruption, major financial crimes, child exploitation, physical and sexual abuse, and juvenile death cases.
Roger has been recognized through multiple commendations, including the City of Springdale Officer of the Year Award, a Certificate of Excellence, the Ohio Attorney General All Staff Teamwork Award, and the Ohio Attorney General Distinguished Law Enforcement Award.
Special Agent in Charge | Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation
Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick
Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick, Founder of Identifinders International, is an internationally recognized forensic genealogist and pioneer in the development of Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG). She is credited as the first to help solve a cold case using FIGG (1992-1993 Phoenix Canal Murders.) She has since worked hundreds of cold cases using autosomal SNP testing and Y-STR-based FIGG.
Dr. Fitzpatrick received her PhD in Nuclear Physics from Duke University. She worked for 25 years on the development of high-resolution laser measurement techniques for NASA, the Department of Defense, and other government agencies.
Founder | Identifinders International
Kim Gin
Kim Gin is currently the Owner/CEO of Kim Gin Professional Solutions. In 2021, she retired from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office where she began her 24-year long career as a death investigator and retired as the Sacramento County Coroner.
Her expertise lies in victim identification, particularly in mass fatality incidents and has written two chapters in two different textbooks, as well as multiple articles on disaster victim identification. She has extensive experience in working mass fatality events including the Camp Fire in 2018, the Santa Barbara Dive Boat Fire in 2019 and the Maui Wildfire in 2024.
Owner/CEO | Kim Gin Professional Solutions
Dr. Claire Glynn
Dr. Claire Glynn is a Professor of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven, Connecticut, and the Co-Executive Director of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science. Claire previously was employed as a Forensic Scientist at LGC Forensics (now called Eurofins) within the Homicide and Sexual Assaults team, in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
Claire is the Founding Director of the online Graduate Certificate in Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy at the University of New Haven, which is the first program of its kind in the world. Claire actively consults and provides subject matter expertise on FIGG and Forensic Science to law enforcement agencies in the United States and internationally.
Professor of Forensic Science | University of New Haven & Co-Executive Director | Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science