Establishing accurate biological relationships in mass fatality kinship identification through a sample collection form.

摘要

Kinship DNA identification has proven itself a critical tool for identifying victims of mass fatalities. Experience from the 9/11 World Trade Center attack DNA identification efforts, showed that forms used to record biological relationships are critical and that inaccurately documented information may hamper the kinship analysis and DNA identification process. In the identification efforts following Hurricane Katrina, a Family and/or Donor Reference Collection (FDRC) form was implemented as a means to document the reported relationship between the reference DNA donor and the purported missing individual. This FDRC form was developed based upon lessons learned from 9/11 and the Tsunami identification efforts. This paper reviews the use of the FDRC form in the Hurricane Katrina kinship identification efforts by analyzing and reviewing 724 completed FDRC forms. The data presented is being used to develop an improved modality for documenting accurate biological relationships in kinship DNA identification.