Honolulu hopes to unravel mysteries of long-unclaimed bodies using advanced DNA testing
CBSN
Some may have been lost hikers, runaway children, or wanderers.
One thing connects the 58 or so remains at the Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office found with no identification card and no next of kin to claim them: They remain nameless.
Forensic pathologists hope advanced DNA testing technology will enable them to attach names to all of the agency's unidentified people. But for now, five cases - all children and teens - have been sent for additional testing thanks to a $50,000 grant from Texas-based cold case resolution company Othram.
A group of House Democrats Tuesday called for action from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, days after CBS News published an investigation which found dozens of law enforcement officials illegally sold firearms, even weapons of war, across 23 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.