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'It can take months': Identifying human remains isn't like the movies

Three sets of remains have been found in the Valley within the past month.

PHOENIX — Multiple gruesome discoveries have been made on Valley hiking trails recently, including human skulls and bones.

Two sets of remains were found on South Mountain within two weeks, Phoenix police said. Around the same time, a human skull was found in a remote Buckeye desert.

All three were sent to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office to be identified. Which, unlike what you see in the movies, takes time.

"It doesn't take five minutes," said Adriana Sartorio, an assistant teaching professor for the Forensic Science Program at Arizona State University.

Sartorio and Sree Kanthaswamy a DNA Scientist and professor in the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences said it takes a lot of information to be able to identify remains.

"Scientists cannot really hurry up the process," Sartorio said.

DNA analysis is the most powerful tool scientists use to identify a set of remains.

"You can get DNA from tissues, bone, teeth, personal artifacts," Kanthaswamy said. "Even remnants of a skull."

However, it's not like once DNA is pulled they know the name of the person they belong to. Scientists like Kanthaswamy need what's called a reference sample, which could be DNA belonging to a family member, dental records of the victim, or even an item that belonged to them. 

Sartorio gave the example of a comb that has hair from the victim on it.

This may explain why just days after the remains found in Buckeye were said not to have belonged to Daniel Robinson. The local geologist was reported missing in 2021 after leaving work in that area. His reference sample did not match the remains. 

If scientists don't have a reference sample, their job becomes much more difficult. Oftentimes they have to turn to national databases for potential matches.

"It's like a Google search ... you're looking for profiles that match," Kanthaswamy said. "If you don't have a profile that matches, it remains in this database."

"It can take weeks, it can take months," Sartorio said.

While results may not show up right away, that can change with time.

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