2020 NEAFS Virtual Annual Meeting
Where Ever You Are
October 14th - 17th, 2020
2020 NEAFS Annual Meeting T-Shirts
$24
Anvil Jersey T-shirt
Unisex - Black
Proceeds from T shirt sales will go to The Carol De Forest Research Grant
Jayann Sepich
Solving Crime and Saving Lives, A Mother’s Mission to Expand the DNA Database
Thursday, October 15th 1:00pm-2:00pm
Jayann Sepich was born and raised in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Her father was an attorney and her mother was a schoolteacher. She has been married to her high school sweetheart Dave for 43 years.
On August 31, 2003, Jayann saw her life shatter when her firstborn, Katie, then a 22-year-old graduate student at New Mexico State University, was brutally raped and murdered. In the aftermath of that experience, Jayann and her family learned more than they ever wanted to know about our criminal justice system, and the laws that affect our lives.
Jayann along with her husband Dave,
son AJ and daughter Caraline have made it their mission to see legislation passed in all 50 states to mandate taking DNA upon felony arrest. In New Mexico “Katie’s Law” passed in in 2006 and was implemented in New Mexico January 1, 2007. Since then New Mexico has had over 2050 crimes matched to their arrestee database. The Sepich family has continued to advocate for arrestee DNA testing programs. Jayann has testified more than fifty times before state legislative committees across the country, and has also testified twice before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. She has also advocated for the expansion of DNA databases in Thailand, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Thirty-one states now have arrestee DNA testing legislation. In 2008, the Sepich family began working on federal legislation that would provide grants to help states implement arrestee DNA programs. In December of 2012 the United States Congress passed “the Katie Sepich DNA Expansion Act”. President Obama signed the federal Katie’s Law on January 10, 2013.
In December of 2008, the Sepich family established DNA Saves, a non-profit organization dedicated to the passage of arrestee testing laws. DNA Saves has submitted amicus briefs in four court cases challenging arrestee DNA laws, including Maryland v. King. On June 3, 2013, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Maryland v King that taking DNA upon arrest for serious crimes is constitutional.
Katie’s story, along with the Sepich family’s fight for “Katie’s Law” has been chronicled on Anderson Cooper on CNN, NBC Dateline, America’s Most Wanted as well on the Discovery channel and other national television networks. As a result of Jayann’s work to see DNA legislation passed, she has been honored by USA Today as a “Outstanding Woman of the Century”, and by the Governor of New Mexico as an Outstanding New Mexico Woman, and was inducted into the New Mexico Women’s Hall of Fame. She was also honored by Redbook Magazine with their “Strength and Spirit Award”.
On August 31st, the Sepich family will commemorate the 17th anniversary of Katie’s murder. Although they will always miss Katie and abhor the violence that took her from them, the Sepich family is proud of her legacy.
Jayann says that she is an ordinary woman placed in an extraordinary circumstance. She believes that through DNA testing of arrestees, lives will be saved and crimes prevented, and families will be spared the pain of burying a much-loved child.
Susan Cooper LICSW
Coping with Stress, Cultivating Resiliency and Learning to Relax
Friday, October 16th 9:30am-11:30am
I am a trainer, keynote speaker and clinician with a passion for self-care and assisting others in finding and living their most authentic selves.
For the past 25 years, I have provided management consultations, conducted management/supervisor and wellness seminars, led grief groups and conducted critical incident debriefings for the Commonwealth of Ma/Group Insurance Commission Employee Assistance Program( EAP). I was employed by the three companies that were awarded the contract.
I have led grief groups for a Hospice, conducted psycho-social assessments for a Psych/Detox Hospital and have an ongoing private practice.
Throughout these 25 years I designed and facilitated a variety of training programs. They included stress management, emotional fitness, cultivating resiliency, compassion fatigue, and balancing work/family. I teach Meditation and relaxation techniques. I am comfortable training small and large groups of people I use humor, compassion and at times my own personal journeys to engage audiences.
My goal is to inspire people to be thoughtful, find clarity and be open to change which will lead to living a more joyful and peaceful life.
I have taught 1-2 hour workshops, half and full day seminars.
I also have taught on Substance Abuse and Dealing with Violence in the workplace. I have worked for three prior EAP’s providing short term counseling. I have experience being an onsite EAP counselor and conducting Debriefings after Hurricane Sandy and the recent flooding in Texas.
I was the Key Note speaker for the Youth at Risk conference( 800 participants) and The NE Chapter of the International Association of Forensic Nurses. The topics were Self Care for Caregivers and Cultivating Emotional Fitness. I conducted two workshops on Compassion Fatigue and Supporting Patients through Their Grief Journey at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
I hold a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston University. I am an LICSW /Comm of MA
My BA in Public Justice is from SUNY at Oswego NY.
Certifications: Assessment and Treatment of Psychological Trauma- BU School of Social Work
Direct Service Volunteer Training Program- Wayside Hospice/Parmenter VNA
Second-Degree Reiki Therapist- Arlington Reiki Associates
Group Crisis Intervention- MA Firefighting Academy
An Afternoon with Paul Holes
Lead Investigator, “Golden State Killer” Case
Friday, October 16th
Presentation: 2:30 - 4:30
Moderated Q&A: 4:30 - 5:00
Paul Holes is a retired investigator from the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. He was the Lead Cold Case Investigator for the infamous Golden State Killer Case. Holes worked in the East Bay for more than 27 years, with roles in the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office crime lab and the DA’s office. His tenure in East Bay law enforcement coincides with the evolution of the use of DNA technology as a law enforcement tool. He became a sworn criminalist in 1994, the same year the sheriff’s lab invested in a DNA program. Paul came up with the idea of using DNA from a crime scene to build a fake genetic profile on GEDmatch, a genealogy site,
which lead to distant relatives. A team of investigators then spent months combing through public records to piece together potential family trees. All that hard work eventually lead to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo, 72, on April 25. It also made Holes a bonafide hero in the true crime community.