NCJ Number
212059
Journal
Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2005 Pages: 165-169
Date Published
September 2005
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes a case in which skeletal remains were identified by matching a DNA sample from the skull with the DNA from cytological samples collected from the suspected victim prior to her death.
Abstract
An adult skull found in 1999 in a swampy area near Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, was tentatively identified as that of a 35-year-old woman who apparently drowned in 1978 without the recovery of her body. Although the dental records of the woman were located, they were incomplete and badly faded, making it impossible to include or exclude the remains as those of the woman who disappeared in 1978. A search of the decedent's medical records revealed that a cervical test had been conducted several months prior to her disappearance. Investigators obtained a cytological smear stained with Papanicolaou (PAP). The cervical smear was sent to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) in Rockville, MD, which was successful in extracting DNA from it. This was used as a reference sample for comparison with the DNA recovered from the skull. The comparison resulted in a positive identification of the remains of the woman who had disappeared in 1978. Dental and radiographic records, when available and complete, are valuable sources that have the high degree of specificity needed for comparison with features of skeletal remains; however, in the case reported, advances in DNA technology provided an alternative means of identification which uses DNA from stained cervical smears that may have been archived for decades. 9 references