Blitz bid to solve 500 cases still unsolved

A MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR DNA testing blitz could solve hundreds of Australia’s most notorious missing persons and cold cases.

Human bones, some belonging to children or babies, found in back yards, bushland, washed up on beaches and even from the stomachs of sharks will be tested, with police hoping results will lead to criminal investigations.

On the first day of National Missing Persons Week, the Australian Federal Police announced the project that aims to collect DNA from every long-term missing person in Australia – or their relatives – to find matches with up to 500 sets of unclaimed remains.

Where a match can’t be found, the latest techniques will be used to determine a profile on the person.

The project will be run by DNA identification specialist Associate Professor Jodie Ward, who said it had the potential to not only identify human remains for grieving families, but could also provide fresh leads in cold case murder investigations.

“We know that there’s some remains that have never been tested at all,” she said.

“There’s this group in the middle that would have been tested using the available technology at the time. Then we’ve got the last category where some remains would have been tested with all of the routine testing methods but are still unidentified.

“For that group, this is where we want to apply these brand-new technologies – like forensic genetic genealogy – to see it we can either get an investigative lead or actually identify them.”