Margaret Press

Margaret Press (born 31 March 1947) is a forensic genealogist and an author of both true crime and mystery novels. She is also known for co-founding the DNA Doe Project with Colleen M. Fitzpatrick.

Early life and education

Raised in Pasadena, California, Press earned a bachelor's degree in linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968, and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1974., with thesis work based on extensive field work in Chemehuevi, a nearly extinct dialect of the Uto-Aztecan family.

Career

After graduate school, Press worked as a speech and language specialist at a Boston-area school for multi-handicapped children. Later, she was a software engineer in financial services and also an author of mystery novels and true crime nonfiction.

This interest soon led to her co-founding, with Colleen M. Fitzpatrick, the DNA Doe Project, incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation in 2017, of which she remains a board member. Press, Margaret L. Requiem for a Postman. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1992. Press, Margaret L, and Joan N. Pinkham. Counterpoint: A Murder in Massachusetts Bay. Omaha, Neb: Addicus Books, 1996. Press, Margaret L and Joan N. Pinkham. A Scream on the Water: A True Story of Murder in Salem. New York, NY: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1997.