2018/07/31

Forensic Magazine July 30, 2018: DNA to X-ray: Military Has Variety of Tools to ID Remains

The U.S. military remains released by North Korea on Friday will be sent to a military lab in Hawaii, where they’ll enter a system that routinely identifies service members from decades-old conflicts.

Identifications depend on combining multiple lines of evidence, and they can take time: Even after decades, some cases remain unresolved.

Dog tags found with the remains can help, and even scraps of clothing can be traced to the material used in uniforms. Teeth can be matched with dental records. Bones can be used to estimate height. And the distinctive shape of a clavicle bone can be matched to records of X-rays taken decades ago to look for tuberculosis, said Charles Prichard, a spokesman for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

If a DNA analysis is called for, samples are sent to a military DNA lab at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Tiny samples of bone or teeth, no bigger than the amount of bone in the last joint of the pinkie finger, are enough to yield usable DNA, said Timothy McMahon, who oversees the Dover lab as director of Defense Department DNA Operations. more