Sunday, 4 March 2012

Science coaxes clues to mystery frozen in time.(Main)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Nine years of sleuthing, advanced DNA science and cutting-edge forensic techniques have finally put a name to a mummified hand and arm found in an Alaska glacier.

The remains belong to Francis Joseph Van Zandt, a 36-year-old merchant marine from Roanoke, Va., who was on a plane rumored to contain a cargo of gold when it smashed into the side of a mountain 60 years ago. Thirty people died in the crash. "This is the oldest identification of fingerprints by post-mortem remains," said latent fingerprint expert Mike Grimm Sr. in a teleconference Friday, during which the two pilots who found the remains, genetic scientists and genealogists talked …

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