KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox County will soon get thousands of dollars from the United States Department of Justice to fund forensic genealogical testing of human remains, with the hope that investigators will be able to find family members and identify victims in cold cases. The county commission accepted $117,000 in funding Monday.
Chris Thomas, the director of the Knox County Forensic Center, said the money would help it achieve its ultimate goal — giving people dignity at the end of their lives.
"It's dignity. Who are they? They deserve to have something with their name on it in a place, where they can have their final resting place," said Thomas. "Most of the cause of death in these cases is undetermined, just because they were already at skeletal nature by the time we found them."
He said the money would help the forensic center attempt to identify the remains of 10 people. It will use forensic genealogical testing to identify them. Federal policy said the technique is different from traditional DNA testing in both the type of technology used and the databases authorities use. Genealogy testing identifies shared blocks of DNA between forensic samples and possible relatives.
By comparing DNA to other people, investigators can find family members and ask them about victims in the hope of uncovering identities. Once a victim is established, authorities may be a step closer to identifying suspects and closing cold cases.
However, genealogical testing is not a certain way to cold cases.
"If I'm two years out and I still have other unidentified individuals that we've not made closure on, then I start looking at what other resources we have," said Thomas.
He said the testing could take hours of labor with sophisticated technology, but he said it's worth it to help people rest in peace.