In 2002, Joseph Newton Chandler III shot himself in his apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. The body was not found for days, and it was so decomposed that it was impossible to lift fingerprints. But Chandler had left $82,000 in his bank account, and the search was on for his next of kin.
Just when authorities thought they had found the deceased man’s sister, the plot thickened. It seemed Joseph Newton Chandler III had died as a boy in 1945, in a car accident in Texas that also killed his parents. So who was this dead man in Cleveland, and why had he assumed another person’s identity? Moreover, why had he killed himself?
Crime reporter James Renner explored these questions in an article for the Cleveland Scene about Chandler's death and forensic sleuths Colleen Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press, who pieced together the puzzle. The pair went on to solve many other John and Jane Doe cases, as well as revealing the identities of serial killers. Renner's article — “Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women from California Who Are Solving All the Mysteries” was so compelling that it was optioned by Paramount Television.
Now, it's been turned into a series called “Blood Relative,” a crime drama from writer-producer Chris Levinson and producer Liza Chasin. And a pilot was recently shot in St. Charles Parish — in, around and under the old Des Allemands Bridge.
“It would take another 14 years to discover just who the suicidal man really was, and it was done through the sophisticated use of genetic genealogy,” said Renner, now the creator and co-executive producer as well as co-writer of the TV pilot.
CHUCK COOK / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Actress Melissa Leo waits in front of a Mandeville house to shoot a scene from the 2010 indie drama, 'Welcome to the Rileys.' The Academy Award-winning actress plays a lead role in 'Blood Relative.'
What is genetic genealogy? Think Ancestry.com, or 23 and Me, popular genetic testing sites used to unravel family ancestry through DNA testing. The same basic science is being used to solve cold cases, and much of the particulars of how this is done and the controversy surrounding was detailed in the Renner article for The Cleveland Scene.
The process that allows hobbyists to explore their family trees also lets law enforcement track down suspects, using scraps of DNA left behind at crime scenes. It's a rich, and mostly unexplored, vein of true-crime drama.
The only notice that Fox TV was shooting the pilot in St. Charles Parish came in a three-paragraph announcement from the parish government, announcing the closure of the bridge, Des Allemands Boat Launch and La. 631 for the filming.
"Up the Bayou Road, Down the Bayou Road and Access Road will be inaccessible as well," the release noted.
Pains were taken to keep the filming away from the prying eyes of nosy onlookers who might just grab their phones and start posting pictures to Facebook. That’s not what Paramount Television Studios or Fox Entertainment, the show's co-producers, wanted. They preferred to keep the particulars of their production private until it was closer to an air date.
Filmmakers say that since the coronavirus pandemic began a year ago, the rush has been on among streaming services to crank out content to keep up with viewer demands. But new storylines require constantly thinking outside the box, so keeping one’s cards close to the vest on new productions is critically important.
“There are only so many ideas in the world, so everyone is looking at trend lines to see just where content is going,” said Carroll Morton, Director of Film New Orleans, the official film office for the city. “That’s why no one wants their story idea out floating around while they are hurriedly getting through postproduction.”
When it came time to cast the series, the biggest coup was getting Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo to come on board as the lead. Leo plays a character named Louise Kelly, a woman very similar to real-life scientist Fitzpatrick. She uses unique forensic tools to solve all sorts of crimes, and her keen intellect — an IQ in the 190s — guides the way.
In a coincidental full circle, the real-life Fitzpatrick, who now resides in Los Angeles, is originally from the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans, where she grew up the oldest of four children in the 1950s and ’60s. According to Renner, Colleen was always a bit different.
“From an early age, Colleen exhibited savant-like behavior,” said Renner. “She was proficient in French by the time she was 4. She skipped eighth grade, and was always working on some fantastical project.”
Fitzpatrick studied physics at Rice University and later earned her Ph.D. from Duke. She became an expert on laser radar systems, worked in President Reagan’s Star Wars initiative and at NASA, and went on to write the very first book on applying science to genealogy. The girl from Lakeview has come a long way, now with a series based on her forensic triumphs.
In the series, Melissa Leo stars alongside award-winning actor Tate Donovan ("Rocketman," "Argo") and Dawnn Lewis ("Be the Light"). No date has yet been set for Fox’s release of the “Blood Relative” pilot.
Leslie Cardé can be reached at lesliecardejournalist@gmail.com.
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