Smithsonian Analysis May Help ID Remains Held By Will County Coroner
Smithsonian Lends An Isotope To Will County Coroner
(CBS) -- With the help of the Smithsonian Institution, the Will County Coroner's office is a step closer to identifying three sets of human remains -- some of them a mystery for more than 45 years.
"We're real excited. This is something relatively new," says Gene Sullivan, deputy chief of the Will County Coroner's Office.
Officials sent samples from three sets of unidentified human remains to the Smithsonian, where they used something called "stable isotope testing" to learn more about the remains.
With one case, for instance, Will County authorities thought they were dealing with the remains of a man who had lived in Poland, based partly on items found with the remains.
"According to the stable isotope analysis, he was not. He never came from Poland. He may have ancestry in Eastern Europe, but he didn't grow up there. He didn't live there. He didn't come from there," Sullivan says.
"He came from the United States, more across the northern United States and northeastern United States."
Another set of remains they thought were those of a female murder victim who had lived in the Philippines. But the Smithsonian told them, no, it was more likely someone who had lived in Canada.
