Hi everyone,
We’re excited to introduce a new feature on the Solve the Case platform: Community-Built Family Trees, now live at Family Tree Tools | Solve the Case. This tool is designed to support investigative genetic genealogists (IGGs) working to identify unidentified individuals and make connections between genealogy data and missing persons cases.
Why Family Trees Matter
When IGGs analyze the DNA matches of an unidentified person, they often look for surnames or family clusters that could connect to known missing individuals. Having accessible, well-constructed family trees for missing people can significantly speed up that work.
This is where our community can make a real impact.
How You Can Help
As a Solve the Case community member, you can now create family trees for missing persons listed on the platform.
- You don’t need to be a professional genealogist.
- You can build using publicly available records, cemetery indexes, obituaries, etc.
- Once submitted, your tree will be reviewed before it becomes part of the case resources.
This gives IGG practitioners a critical new tool: another searchable reference point when they’re comparing DNA networks to missing individuals.
Please note:
We ask all contributors to work respectfully. Do not contact relatives. Follow the Terms of Service and privacy policies of any sites you use. Solve the Case does not accept or store DNA data—everything relies solely on public records.
Calling All Investigative Genetic Genealogists
We also need the help of IGG practitioners.
Your role in this feature includes:
- Reviewing and approving community-created family trees
- Helping us maintain accuracy and quality
- Using these trees as part of your own search workflow when assessing unidentified individuals
- Letting us know what additional tools, filters, or export options would support your work
This platform was built to support you—and we want this new feature to become a powerful resource in your toolkit.
Get Started
Visit the feature here: Family Tree Tools | Solve the Case
Whether you’re a community researcher, an IGG professional, or someone passionate about helping families find answers, your contribution here truly matters. Every name added to a family tree increases the chances of making a meaningful connection that could help solve a case.
Let’s build this resource together.
Start a tree. Review a tree. Help make a match.
Together, we can help families get the answers they’ve waited far too long for.