A forensic breakthrough has helped a family lay to rest a World War I veteran nearly a century after he disappeared.
On Christmas Day in 2017, a human skull was found by a snorkeler on a remote beach near Wilsons Prom on Victoria’s south Gippsland coast.
Under the water, the police soon found a nearly intact skeleton.
But despite a coronial inquest, the bodies, later dubbed the ‘Sandy Point skeletons’, could not be identified – apart from they belonged to a Caucasian man aged between 21 and 37.
This year, the inquest reopened after investigators from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM), Dr. Dadna Hartman, tries to use “new and emerging forensic tools.”
A forensic breakthrough has helped a family lay to rest a World War I veteran nearly a century after he disappeared. Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
“At a time when the famous Golden State Killer case was making headlines for its use of forensics/investigative genetic genealogy (F/IGG) to identify suspects, the lesser-known Buckskin Girl case was also solved using the same method,” he said. writes in an article published by Monash University.
“This was a real light bulb moment for me.
“How can we use this … especially where we have exhausted all current methods of investigation?”
Dr. Hartman’s team was able to extract DNA from the remains, which were then sent to a Texas laboratory that produced a DNA profile.
Using two genealogical databases, the skeleton’s DNA profile was matched to existing records before a surviving family member, Kathryn Hogan, was contacted in Victoria.
Giving a DNA sample to police, the skeleton was identified as Ms Hogan’s uncle, Christopher Luke Moore (left), 29, who disappeared while swimming with his brother 95 years ago. Ancestry.com
Giving a DNA sample to police, the skeleton was identified as Ms Hogan’s uncle, Christopher Luke Moore, 29, who disappeared while swimming with his brother 95 years ago.
A 1929 coronial inquest found that Mr Moore had drowned shortly after 5pm on December 30, 1928, in rough conditions.
Walter Clarke, a witness at the time, said he saw Mr Moore “in the big breaker” before he “quickly disappeared” under the waves.
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The Gippsland farmer and young father enlisted at 18 and served as a gunner in the 10th Field Artillery Brigade between 1917 and 1919.
Dr Hartman described identifying Mr Moore as a “historic event” for everyone who has worked tirelessly since 2017 to name the Sandy Point skeleton.
“Although this is an unusual case of a man being identified some 95 years after he drowned, every case of UHR (unidentified human remains) is worth exploring every avenue to help identify them,” he wrote.
“The F/IGG method will now open up avenues of inquiry for many of these things – and that’s why I love the work I do.”
He said this may be the first time the technology has been used to link unidentified human remains in a coronial inquest.
Ms Hogan, her niece’s granddaughter, told ABC Radio Melbourne that she was approached by a detective this year for a sample of the “historic” case.
“I was surprised,” he said.
“We don’t know the real story … they solved the family mystery for us.”
Dr Dadna Hartman, from the Victoria Institute of Forensic Medicine, and her team were able to extract DNA from the bodies, which were then sent to a Texas laboratory that produced a DNA profile. Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
Distributing the latest findings that the skeleton was indeed Christopher Moore, State Coroner Judge John Cain said it was the “first time” forensic genetic genealogy had been used to assist in a coroner’s discovery in Victoria.
“Mr. Moore’s identity can only be determined because of the work of the highly skilled staff at VIFM,” he said.
“Their extensive expertise in DNA matching and the use of forensic genetic genealogy is exceptional.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
