An analysis of data curated from 5 years of identifying human remains
Allen, R.W. et al. (2023) An analysis of data curated from 5 years of identifying human remains. J. Forensic Sci. 00, 1–7. DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.15195
Unidentified human remains (UHR) cases pose a global challenge for investigators and forensic analysts. In the US alone, over 14,000 UHR cases were open as of November 2022, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS). While newer technology, such as massively parallel sequencing, has enabled some improvements in identifying UHRs, short tandem repeat (STR) methods remain the most popular and widely used analytical techniques.
The current study examined data from 121 UHR cases using manual DNA extraction: digestion with proteinase K/SDS, followed by extraction with organic solvents and DNA capture on silica spin columns. The extracted DNA was subjected to STR amplification using the PowerPlex® 21 System. The researchers compared various sample types, including blood spots, long bones, skull bones and teeth, other bones, and tissues. Overall, the researchers reported an 89.2% success rate in identifying the UHRs using kinship analysis. Blood spot samples yielded the highest success rates with no failures among the samples tested. The researchers noted that, with skull/teeth samples, supplemental testing will likely be helpful in resolving identification challenges from the STR profile.
Keywords: DNA extraction, human remains, kinship testing, skeletal elements, STR typing
