Last John Doe exhumed in Dapuhin County

The Spark

A team from the University of South Florida and Pennsylvania State Police has exhumed the body of Dauphin County’s last John Doe in hopes to identify him through DNA samples. Dr. Erin Kimmerle is an Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida.

Dr. Kimmerle began working with Pennsylvania State Police to exhume John Doe and John Cases in the state. Just last week, Dr. Kimmerle was in Dauphin County at Potter’s field where the last John Doe was buried.

“We use heavy equipment to get it started, to take off the top layer of soil and grass, and then the rest is done by hand and excavation, just to make sure, everything is complete, and you just see a big range of in terms of, you know, preservation what’s there based on each case, “said Dr. Kimmerle.

Dr. Kimmerle said the exhumation process was very smooth, and state officials had marked the location prior to getting to the field, and that saved a lot of time. She says DNA has come a long way since the 1980’s.

“We have so many success stories now with DNA testing and specifically genetic genealogy, that I’m just very, very hopeful that we will all be able to figure out who he is and what happened to him, “said Dr. Kimmerle.

Dr. Kimmerle and her team from the University of South Florida is also traveling around the state to help other agencies with solving cases similar to this one.

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