* Revenue figures are market-based estimates only and are not guarantees of income. Actual results will vary based on execution, market conditions, and individual effort. This is not financial or investment advice.
How the agent runs it
The agent team receives case intake from county medical examiner offices via a secure web portal, then autonomously runs multi-database genealogical searches, cross-references vital records and DNA phenotyping reports, drafts formal next-of-kin location reports, and delivers billable case files — all without human involvement. The CEO orchestrator agent assigns priority tiers to incoming cases, monitors SLA deadlines, and routes work across specialist agents in parallel. Completed cases trigger automated invoice generation and delivery to the contracting county office.
Who this is for
The ideal owner has a background in forensic science, genetic genealogy, or government contracting — someone who understands CJIS compliance and public agency procurement. They likely have an existing network inside county government or the death-care industry and want to build a high-margin, recurring-revenue business without managing a team of human researchers. This suits a founder who is comfortable with a longer sales cycle but wants near-total autonomy once contracts are signed.
Market opportunity
There are over 3,100 county medical examiner and coroner offices in the United States, and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NaMUS) lists over 14,000 active unidentified decedent cases at any given time. Forensic genetic genealogy has exploded since the 2018 Golden State Killer break — demand for professional genealogical research services from public agencies now far exceeds the supply of trained human researchers. No scaled, technology-native bureau currently serves this market systematically.
Boss agent: CORVIN (Case Orchestration and Revenue Velocity Intelligence Node)
CORVIN monitors all active case queues, assigns urgency tiers based on SLA deadlines and decomposition risk flags supplied by county clients, routes sub-tasks to specialist agents, and halts delivery of any report that falls below a 92% confidence threshold pending human genealogist review.
- ■ No next-of-kin contact information may be released to a county office until the Verification Agent has cross-confirmed identity through at least three independent record sources.
- ■ All case files must be delivered within the contracted SLA window; CORVIN auto-escalates to the human owner if any case is at risk of breaching its deadline.
- ■ Invoice generation is triggered only after DocuSign confirmation of case acceptance by the contracting ME office — no revenue is recognized on unaccepted deliverables.
The agent team
Human touchpoints
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- 👤 Signing government master service agreements and county procurement contracts, which legally require an authorized human signatory.
- 👤 Reviewing and releasing case reports that fall below the 92% confidence threshold flagged by CORVIN — a licensed forensic genealogist must manually audit the source chain before delivery.
- 👤 Responding to media inquiries or public records requests about a high-profile unidentified decedent case that carries reputational or legal sensitivity.
- 👤 Authorizing any new enterprise API licensing agreements or data-sharing MOUs with state agencies, which require a human counterpart for negotiation and execution.
Tech stack
Monetization
The bureau charges county medical examiner offices a per-case fee of $1,200–$3,500 depending on complexity tier (unidentified remains vs. known decedent with missing heirs), plus a $4,500/month retainer for high-volume counties with guaranteed SLA response times. Volume discounts apply at 20+ cases per month, driving stickiness.
Key risks
- → Medical examiner offices operate on annual government budget cycles, creating lumpy revenue and slow procurement timelines that can stall onboarding for months.
- → DNA phenotyping and genealogy database APIs may restrict commercial forensic use, requiring negotiated enterprise licensing that adds legal complexity and cost.
Getting started
- 1 Obtain CJIS compliance certification and legal opinionEngage a criminal justice information compliance attorney to confirm your data-handling architecture meets CJIS Security Policy requirements, which most county agencies will require before signing. This is the single biggest procurement gatekeeper and must be resolved before any sales outreach.
- 2 Negotiate enterprise API access for genealogy databasesContact Ancestry ProGenealogists and FamilySearch institutional licensing teams to secure API access agreements explicitly permitting forensic next-of-kin location work. Without licensed access, the core research pipeline cannot operate legally at scale.
- 3 Build and test the five-agent pipeline on cold casesUse the NaMUS public database to select 10 historical closed cases as ground-truth test data, then run the full agent pipeline end-to-end to validate accuracy rates before pitching live clients. Document precision and recall metrics to use as proof-of-concept in RFP responses.
- 4 Sign first two county ME offices as pilot clientsTarget mid-size counties (population 200K–800K) where the ME office has a documented backlog of unidentified cases but no staff genealogist — these are the fastest to close and most likely to become reference accounts. Offer a 3-case pilot at 50% fee in exchange for a written case study.
- 5 File a DUNS number and register on SAM.gov for government contractingMost county procurement offices require vendors to hold a SAM.gov registration before issuing a purchase order, and having a DUNS/UEI number unlocks eligibility for sole-source awards under simplified acquisition thresholds. Complete this in parallel with pilot outreach to avoid a 6-week delay when your first contract is ready to execute.
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