PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The unidentified remains of eight homicide victims buried in a Northeast Philadelphia potter’s field are at the center of a multi-agency operation this week aimed at identifying them.
Off of Dunks Ferry Road is a city-owned plot of land where unknown, unclaimed and indigent people have been buried. In a taped-off area, investigators from the Philadelphia Police Department, the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office and the FBI are working all week to exhume the remains and collect samples.
“Some of these remains have been in there for 20, 30 years, so there’s varying levels of remains, varying levels of their condition,” said Ryan Gallagher, assistant director of the Police Department’s Office of Forensic Science.
Gallagher explains, after collecting samples, the team will extract DNA and use genealogy to trace the deceased to a close relative. From there, investigators can investigate their identity and interview family members, with the hope of one day closing the investigation of what led to their death.
“Part of the reason to identify these people is because they are victims of homicides. So it furthers the investigation once we know the victim,” said Lt. Tom Walsh with the Police Department’s Homicide Division…