Inferring distinctive traits from DNA, especially those relating to externally visible characteristics, can speed up the process of human identification. While biogeographic ancestry can provide insights into physical appearance, the most comprehensive and accurate description of an unknown individual can be achieved through the DNA-based prediction of physical traits. 

Basic research studies have made significant progress in explaining the heritability of many appearance traits, and growing datasets are providing an increasing insight into the role of rare DNA variants in predicting phenotypes. The most anticipated, yet also the most challenging, is the prediction of distinctive facial morphology traits. 

Progress in the field of forensic epigenetic profiling has delivered robust new tools for accurate age estimation across various tissues and cell types and is developing towards maximal accuracy, also in legal age estimation cases. However, the potential of epigenetic profiling is much greater. DNA methylation patterns contain complementary information for predicting appearance, but more broadly, they can be used to create a complete profile of an individual, which may include information about their lifestyle and environmental exposures. The methylome is also being investigated as a potential source of markers to differentiate between monozygotic twins. 

Methods of forensic DNA intelligence that rely on phenotyping and epigenetic profiling can make a significant contribution to solving criminal and DVI cases. Ultimately, optimal sequencing technology is essential for examining various types of markers to a high standard in typical forensic scenarios.