that DNA is the genetic material of all living things and that genetic information is literally written in the DNA molecule in the form of genes. Most of us have a grasp of genetics. We understand that the physical traits of parents show up in their offspring because of genetics. This genetic information is passed on because one half of an offspring’s DNA comes from the bull and the other half comes from the cow.” When the possibility of matching DNA was brought up, Jones was a bit surprised. “I certainly knew about
From left are Special Ranger Marvin Wills, Hill County Assis- tant District Attorney Nicole Crain, and Special Ranger H.D. Brittain. Crain was presented with the 2014 Prosecutor of the Year Award by the TSCRA special rangers for her work on the Shawn Linville case.
a break in the case — that he sold calves in Hubbard matching the description of my calves,” Jones says. Special Rangers Brittain and Wills and Johnson
County Sheriff’s Detective Steve Shaw accompanied Keith Jones to Logan Ranch to identify his 2 calves. Brittain explains the process: “We sorted off everything that was the wrong color, then sorted off the heifers. We had a group of 50 in the pen. Keith Jones picked them right out. He said, ‘These 2 are mine.’” The group was sorted a second time, and Jones went to the same 2 calves. “I picked them out like you would your own children on a playground. That’s how much I knew they were my calves,” Jones says. The special rangers immediately tagged and photographed both calves.
Proving the case DNA is obtained from hair, saliva, blood, etc., left
behind by humans and used in forensics to place a suspect at a crime scene. In this case, TSCRA special rangers used the same technology to match the DNA of the calves at Logan Ranch to the DNA of the bull Jones still owned — the sire of the missing calves. The special rangers had veterinarians pull blood
samples from the claimed calves and from the bull. Wills included a blood sample of an additional calf not claimed by Jones just to prove the test accurate. A lab certifi ed for forensic DNA testing received
the blood samples and conducted the test, adhering to strict protocol. In this case, DNA Solutions carried out the testing. According to their website, “The basics are
96 The Cattleman June 2014
DNA testing. I can’t say that I knew it was available to match cattle, but it made sense,” he says. In the meantime, while waiting for test results, Brit-
tain, Wills and Shaw continued to hunt down Jones’ branded cows. Brittain and Shaw drove to several prop- erties Linville was thought to have leased and Brittain conducted a statewide brand search for the cows, but turned up nothing. The pasture where Jones runs cattle adjoins the
old Cleburne Livestock Auction, which is now closed. Investigators suspected that Linville got to Jones’ cattle through a fence between the 2 properties. “During the investigation, a witness confi rmed Linville was seen
thecattlemanmagazine.com
Not only did Jones suffer a loss from the theft, but the future calf crop of those 5 cows was stolen as well.
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