In order to help with the search for unidentified perpetrators who cannot be found using forensic STR profiling, Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP) predicts a person's externally visible characteristics, such as appearance, biogeographic ancestry, and age, from DNA of crime scene samples. All three of FDP's components have made significant recent advancements, which we summarise in this review article. The ability to predict appearance from DNA now includes qualities other than only eye, hair, and skin colour, such as eyebrow colour, freckles, hair structure, male pattern baldness, and tall stature. From determining continental ancestry to detecting sub-continental ancestry and resolving co-ancestry patterns in genetically admixed individuals, biogeographic ancestry inference from DNA has advanced. Beyond blood, various somatic tissues like saliva and bones, as well as new markers and techniques for semen, can now be used to estimate age from DNA. With targeted Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS), technological advancements have made it possible to use forensically appropriate DNA technology with greatly increased multiplex capacity for the simultaneous analysis of hundreds of DNA predictors. Several appearance traits, multi-regional ancestry, several appearance traits combined with multi-regional ancestry, and age from various tissue types can all be predicted from crime scene DNA using forensically validated MPS based FDP tools. Despite recent developments that will probably increase the impact of FDP in criminal casework in the near future, it will take more funding, technical advancements, and intensified scientific research to move reliable appearance, ancestry, and age prediction from crime scene DNA to the level of detail and accuracy police investigators may desire.
