Project to Identify Cold Case Decedents

The HCIFS FAD proposes a project to obtain DNA samples and metadata from buried unidentified decedents. Experienced FAD anthropologists will exhume the remains of 20 unidentified decedents, select suitable specimens from the exhumed remains for DNA analysis, and submit them to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, an accredited laboratory dedicated to entering DNA data from unidentified individuals into COD IS v7 .0 databases. Full dental and anthropological examinations will be performed and a facial approximation image for each decedent obtained through collaboration with the Texas Rangers forensic artists. The FAD will compile all metadata and enter the information into NamUs. Thirty-four decedents have been positively identified through a similar HCIFS FAD project funded by the 2010 NIJ Using DNA to Identify the Missing grant program.

ca/ncf