Genealogist Helps Solve Mystery of 60-Year Old Plane Crash
It had all the makings of a Hollywood movie script: a plane rumoured to be loaded with gold, a crash in the wilds of Alaska, a mummy and a mystery that took 60 years to solve. Unfortunately, no gold was found, but from the remains of a 1948 plane crash researchers were able to extract the DNA and fingerprints from a 60-year old mummy to help locate living relatives.
Enter Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick, a forensic genealogist who according to USA today was able to find family members of 16 of the victims of the crash that occurred in 1948. Even in complex detective cases such as this one, it is nice to know genealogists played an important role.
Categories: [August 2008] [genetic testing] [research methods] [US]