The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is partnering with a group dedicated to identifying human remains in North Carolina. Lieutenant Bryan Crum says there are 130 unidentified cases in the state, including 11 in Mecklenburg County.
"These cases reach back to 1975 and there’s quite a bit of time on these cases," Crum said. "DNA technology didn’t exist then and that makes it all the more challenging. It’s not like we would routinely collect samples from folks at that time."
CMPD is working with the North Carolina Unidentified Project in hopes of getting closure for families.
Project scientists use DNA samples to build a genetic profile that leads to a family match, a process known as forensic genealogy. The project has identified remains in seven of the 13 cases it has investigated.
