PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A program in Delaware County is asking for the public’s help as they work to reconnect dead missing persons with their families.
Most of the work the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office does is with new cases, but that does not mean they’ve forgotten about the past.
Nicolette Sambucci is a forensic investigator at the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office.
She said the office is doing what it can to help families find peace.
“We have a few unidentified descendants and skeletal remains. They range back all the way from like 1981 until now, and we’re just trying to find their names and find their family and give them a home and put them to their final resting spot,” Sambucci said.
The investigator said they’re encouraging people with missing loved ones to come and get their cheeks swabbed.
“We are looking to get anybody who’s willingly wanting to submit their DNA to help so that it’s able to assist in missing persons or unidentified decedents at either the Delaware County medical examiner’s office or other coroners or medical examiner’s office,” she said.
Sambucci said the five-minute process could help bring the closure that people have wanted for years.
“You would be able to schedule an appointment to meet us at our office and we would be able to swab you there,” she said.
She said the DNA information they collect remains confidential.
