Director of Crime Laboratory
Mary Beth Karr joined the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Crime Laboratory in November 1996.
Hired for her expertise in the “new” forensic tool of performing DNA analysis, Mary Beth progressed through the Laboratory starting as a Criminalist promoting to DNA Technical Leader and FBI’s Local CODIS Administrator by 1998. Mary Beth applied her knowledge gained as a research scientist to expand the forensic laboratory’s DNA Section to Multi-Plex PCR science, still in use today. During her tenure in the DNA Section, Mary Beth was responsible for securing millions in Federal grant funding and working with the Board of Police Commissioners in expanding the DNA Section from a staff of three to its current staff of twelve.
In 2010, Mary Beth was promoted to Assistant Director/Scientific Director, managing all the forensic disciplines in the laboratory. Today, Mary Beth is the Director, responsible for sixty-nine staff members, providing forensic support and analyses in the disciplines of Firearms, DNA Analysis, Controlled Substance Identification, Latent Print Identification and Crime Scene Investigations.
Mary Beth holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Saint Louis University and a Master’s Degree in Biology, Emphasis in Molecular Biology, from Washington University.
Mary Beth is invested in St. Louis, and her singular goal is to make St. Louis a safe place to live and visit.
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