The following excerpt is from an article written by Michael Paluska published in the November 3 edition of abcactionnews.com:
TAMPA — The disappearance of Gabby Petito shone a spotlight on missing persons cases. But forensic anthropologists at the University of South Florida have fought to get funding and solve these types of cases for more than a decade…. “I hope that it will propel the discussion to keep going and to focus on where some of those gaps are,” Dr. Erin Kimmerle said….
Kimmerle is a forensic anthropologist at USF and Director of the Florida Institute for Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science. Kimmerle gained notoriety for her work at the Dozier School for Boys, a reform school for boys in Jackson County, shut down in 2011 after decades of sexual and physical abuse claims. USF researchers discovered more than 40 unidentified remains at the school the following year and more unmarked graves could still be on the former campus.
The science behind identifying unidentified remains continues to improve. Kimmerle and her team have brought more than 140 cases up to today’s standards through the Florida Institute for Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science.
“We look at the skeleton. We use skeletal biology to help come up with a description of who the person was; biologically speaking, we use that information to make a facial reconstruction. That’s important to get the face and the story out because we need the public’s help to solve these cases,” Kimmerle said.
If law enforcement can’t identify the remains, it is nearly impossible to investigate because they don’t know where to start. However, Kimmerle says advancements in genealogical testing are the future.
“There’s the most potential in the genealogical DNA testing. It requires a new sample. So having a DNA sample on file already, it’s different. So it does mean resampling. And then having a genealogist put together that family tree, and then you start to work down and work backward by finding extended family and figuring out who this person is. But it works,” Kimmerle said….