Close Family

Taylor Anne Clarke tells strangers what their families will do to them. Then her family does it to her.

She warns Kinfold customers whose DNA tests break families open: “Your family’s going to tell you the lab made a mistake.” In her hometown of Harlan Ferry, Ohio, six women were murdered, and nobody was charged. When one victim’s sister starts a DNA drive to catch the killer, Taylor Anne stands beside her. Soon that warning comes home.

Her father, who has never cried in front of her, weeps and begs her to stay out of it. “If you ever loved me.” That Saturday, in a school gym, she looks her father in the eye and uploads her DNA.

At Easter, in front of her children, Alaurah-Lee and Thomas, her grandmother draws a pen through Taylor Anne’s name in the family Bible. Her father’s booking photo, pillow crease still on his cheek, spreads through the school parents’ group. Even her sister tells the evening news, “My sister did this.” Yet her family is hiding something older than Taylor Anne.