September 19, 2008
ANCHORAGE, AL - Some mysteries take a little longer to solve than others. Just ask Ted Robinson, assistant professor of Forensic Science at George Washington University. For the past nine years, Robinson has been working to identify the remains of a victim from Flight 4422, which crashed on March 12, 1948.
The flight was a DC-4 charter carrying 6 crew members and 24 U.S. Navy personnel, almost all of whom were WWII veterans. The crew had just sailed from Pennsylvania to Shanghai, and was scheduled to fly back to New York City. After departing from Shanghai, Flight 4422 was scheduled for stops in Tokyo, Anchorage, Edmonton, and Minneapolis before arriving at its final destination of La Guardia Airport.
One hour after leaving Anchorage, Flight 4422 disappeared into the night. According to the Civil Aeronautics Board (the preceding organization to the FAA), the pilot was temporarily blinded by the unusually bright Aurora Borealis (northern lights). The plane veered off course and crashed into a glacier near 16,200-ft Mount Sanford, leaving no survivors and only unidentifiable remains of its victims. Within days, the wreckage was covered with snow and ice, and remained buried and untouched for half a century.
Grueling terrain and extreme weather conditions made investigating the crash site a daunting task. Beginning in 1994, efforts to find and identify the wreckage were spearheaded by two volunteer airline pilots. To combat the elements, their search efforts were limited to summer months and were intermittent at best. After several years of disheartening effort, the search came to fruition. In 1998, a dozen pieces of plane wreckage were recovered and led to positive identification of the crash site. Along with the debris, the pilots also discovered remains of crash victims. The most unsettling discovery came in 1999, when a human forearm with hand intact was found incased in the glacier. State officials recovered the unidentifiable remains, and called upon Ted Robinson, a forensics expert specializing in fingerprint identification.
During a forensic science convention in San Diego, Robinson met Dean Bertram, a forensics professor at the University of Southern Mississippi. The two began discussing their research, and Bertram mentioned a fingerprint rehydration product he developed with Kimberly Wright, a histology technician at Forrest General Hospital. After perfecting the technology, Bertram and Wright formed KDL Solutions LLC and entered into a license agreement with Southern Miss to commercialize their new product.
Bertram gave a sample to Robinson, which proved to be the key unlocking the mystery. Using the specialized solution, Robinson made a striking discovery. The rehydrated fingertips were nearly flawless and yielded such quality fingerprints that the victim was clearly identifiable. The remains belong to belong to Francis Joseph Van Zandt, a 36-year-old merchant marine from Roanoke, Va.
The technology, which works by rehydrating the skin’s ridges to rejuvenate fingerprints, is used in helping identify human remains for the forensics industry. It is manufactured by KDL Solutions LLC and distributed exclusively by Evident Crime Scene Products. It was originally developed for crime scene investigations, and has also proved effective in a variety of roles including helping identify the remains of Hurricane Katrina victims.
The implications of this discovery cannot be overstated. With the help of cutting edge forensic technology, human remains are able to still be identified sixty years after death. “This is the oldest post-mortem identification of human remains by fingerprints in history”, explained Bertram. “KDL Solutions is proud to be part of the process that enabled this crash victim to be identified and bring closure to the family after decades of mystery.”
About KDL Solutions:
KDL Solutions LLC is a Hattiesburg, MS company specializing in forensic science. With technology licensed from The University of Southern Mississippi, KDL provides a diverse range of products and services for forensic science professionals.
On the web:
www.kdlsolutions.biz
www.evidentcrimescene.com
Link to Washington Post News Article
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