‘This is our one shot’
Experts are hoping to ID 2 bodies from Hartford Circus Fire but face challenge of finding DNA samples
When the delicate process of exhuming the bodies of two unidentified women who died 75 years ago in the Hartford Circus Fire begins in coming weeks, the forensic anthropologist overseeing the dig will start by paying close attention to their teeth, one of the best sources for recovering DNA from decades-old remains.
Still, it could take months before investigators know whether viable DNA samples can be found and an enduring mystery from the fire that killed 168 people will be solved.
“This is our one shot so we will try and take multiple
DNA samples,” said state forensic anthropologist Kristen HartnettMcCann, who will oversee the circus fire dig. “Everything really depends on the condition on the caskets and the remains themselves.”
“We’d like to get multiple DNA samples, ideally from the teeth. Teeth have nice hard shell protecting the pulp chamber inside, so teeth are really good for getting DNA from older remains,” she said.
Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Susan Cobb ordered the exhumation of the two women known only as No. 2109 and No. 4512 based on a request from Chief State Medical Examiner James Gill, who is Hartnett-McCann’s boss. Gill testified at a hearing held by Cobb that he believed one of the unknown bodies may be Grace Fifield — a Vermont woman who is one of five people still listed as missing from the 1944 fire.
Gill said that he wants to extract DNA from the remains and compare it to the DNA of Sandra Sumrow, Fifield’s granddaughter, who has agreed to give a DNA sample for comparison. He started researching exhuming the bodies after The Courant asked whether it would be possible, given the advances in genetic testing, to identify the unidentified circus fire victims.
Rather than dig up all five unidentified bodies, Gill decided to target the two that could match the DNA of a surviving relative of a missing fire victim located by The Courant.
If the DNA of the unknown women isn’t a match with Sumrow, Gill said he will consider submitting the profiles to private genealogy database companies to see if some distant family member has tried to trace their family’s history. That technique, known as investigative genetic genealogy, has proved beneficial to law enforcement authorities helping them to solve old mysteries.
Learning from 9/11
Gill and Harnett-McCann worked together for the New York City Medical Examiner’s office when the 9/11 attack occurred. Many of those victims were badly burned as well.
“Sometimes we couldn’t get DNA at all out of 9/11 victims. Some were partially burned, so we tried and extracted DNA,” Hartnett-McCann said. “Most of the individuals who died in 9/11 had a DNA sample on file for them that we could compare the unknown remains to. In this case, we may not know who we are comparing DNA samples to.”
With the circus fire, HartnettMcCann said there are many unknown variables that will dictate what happens when the graves numbered 4512 and 2109 are opened. This ranges from what kind of caskets were they buried in — cheaper pine ones tend to disintegrate over time — to how high the water table is to how badly the victims were burned when the Ringling Brothers tent burned to the ground on July 6, 1944.
In addition to the 168 people who died when the tent caught fire, more than 600 others were injured in a fire considered the worst day in Hartford’s history. Since it was a matinee, many of the victims were children — 59 of the dead were 9 years old or younger.
In the end, there were six bodies that weren’t identified at the time. They were buried together in graves marked only by the numbers assigned by the coroner at the Northwood cemetery, following a funeral procession that started at city hall. In front of the small gravestones is a monument that reads: “Their identity known but to God.”
Hartnett-McCann said the plan will be to remove the caskets and possibly do a quick look at the remains at the cemetery before taking the bodies back the the medical examiner’s office to do a full analysis that will include everything from X-rays to dental exams.
“That day when we get the backhoe, hopefully, the caskets will be intact. If they are intact, it is easy to just remove them as a unit, but if they are breached or if there are remains outside of the casket, it would take a little longer to make sure any outside remains are related to the cases,” HartnettMcCann said.
“We’ll do a short inventory to make sure all the bones are there, and then, depending on condition, I’d like to get an idea of the biological profile of the person — age, sex, race — to see if they are consistent with who is supposed to be buried there.”
Walter Veselka, director of public works for the city of Hartford, which maintains Northwood Cemetery, said his crew will excavate the site with the medical examiner’s staff present and then secure the site after the caskets are disinterred.
Veselka said the crew will work slowly with a machine and hand shovels to ensure that the caskets aren’t damaged.
“Over the course of 75 years, the caskets may have moved somewhat from their original positions due to shifts in soil and seasonal impacts of the ground freezing and thawing,” he said.
Reburying quickly
The death certificates for No. 4512 and No. 2109 give brief descriptions of each, and while No. 4512 refers to being buried with her teeth, No. 2109’s doesn’t mention teeth. She was wearing a Spencer corset and pink pants, while No. 4512 has a stocky build and was wearing a silver ring.
Both of them suffered third and fourth degree burns and were burned beyond recognition.
In addition to the teeth, Hartnett-McCann said they also will take samples from the femur, the largest bone in the body, if possible.
“If the individual has burns on their legs, it would be difficult to get samples from there because the DNA could be compromised,” Hartnett-McCann said. “If bone itself is burned or charred, then it does damage the DNA. It’s likely all of the soft tissue was burned away, but hard bone would still remain.”
The teeth and bones will be sent to the State Police Forensic Laboratory to try and extract DNA from the samples. Gill also has been in touch with a laboratory in Texas that specializes in extracting DNA from older bones if needed.
Hartnett-McCann estimates it will take at least six weeks, likely longer, to get the results back. The plan will be to rebury the bodies as quickly as possible.
“Once we get them out of the ground, we will do all of the analysis all in one day. There’s no reason for us to keep them out of their final resting place longer than they need to be,” HartnettMcCann said.
Hartnett-McCann said she has done other exhumations, but usually they are cold cases where DNA wasn’t extracted from a victim. She said the oldest body she ever exhumed, until now, was someone buried around 1950 in Arizona.
Mary Ann Hawthorne, the executive director of the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, said a key question will be whether the circus fire victims were buried in cement vaults. She said checking her cemetery’s records back in 1944, all people buried there were in vaults, which would protect the caskets from water damage.
The only one of the six unidentified circus fire victims to be exhumed was Little Miss 1565. Officials disinterred her grave in the early 1990s, and then-state Medical Examiner Wayne Carver changed her death certificate to identify her as Eleanor Cook. Her body was taken by her brother back to Southbridge, Mass., to be buried with other family members.
Records from the Taylor and Modeen Funeral Home of West Hartford, which covered the burial of Little Miss 1565 in 1944, show that she wasn’t buried in a cement vault, which means the others likely weren’t as well. Her burial cost $169 — the majority of which was for a casket that cost $108, records show.
Victims misidentified
Sandra Sumrow never met her grandmother Grace, but she said her mother Beverly Fifield, who has since passed away, was always haunted that she was never found.
“My mom wondered if, silly me, she had found another life elsewhere and was still alive, but I’m sure that’s not the case. It was very difficult for her because she had no closure,” Sumrow said.
Sumrow said her grandmother, who lived in Newport, Vt., was visiting relatives in Wethersfield and attended the circus with two of her children — Ivan and his twin sister Barbara, who both survived the fire. Sandra’s mother Beverly was her third child.
Grace Fifield was 5 feet 4 and 145 pounds, and had dark blond hair. She was believed to be wearing a brown and white flowered dress, gray or white shoes, no hat or jewelry, and a black handbag with about $40 in cash on the day of the circus.
Fifield is one of five people still listed as missing from the circus fire. There are two children on the list, Raymond Erickson and Judy Norris, who were both 6 years old. Norris attended the circus with her twin sister Agnes and her parents — all of whom died. There are two other women on the list of missing — Edith Budrick, 38, from East Hartford, and Lucille Woodward, 55.
In the chaotic scene at the State Armory following the fire, it is likely victims were misidentified. One possibility investigators will confront is that the unidentified bodies are the relatives of people who thought they’d made an accurate identification back in 1944. In that scenario, it is possible that some victims thought of as “missing” may have been wrongly claimed by another family.
Sumrow said she is willing to give her DNA for testing to try and answer the question of what happened to her grandmother once and for all.
Harnett-McCann said solving the mystery of the unidentified circus fire victims will be a big challenge, but for someone in her field it is a rare opportunity.
“Normally, I do modern medical legal cases, but there’s always these cases of historical importance that come up that require our modern forensic anthropology expertise,” Hartnett-McCann said. “I love doing these cases. They are the most fascinating and interesting cases.”
She said the fact the case is 75 years old makes it easier to deal with.
“Because they are slightly removed in time, it’s not as traumatic as if the circus fire happened now and we had all of these remains. It would be very upsetting and difficult to do,” she said.
“I really want to be able to help figure out the identities of these people after all of this time. It’s a really big challenge,” HartnettMcCann said. “I love that we now have DNA technology that has improved so much that can help us, and genetic studies that can figure out who a person might be related to can help identify them.”
Dave Altimari can be reached at daltimari@courant.com.