MARQUETTE, MI— NMU’s director of the Center for Forensic Science has received accolades for her help in trying to solve homicide cold cases in Philadelphia last fall.
Jane Harris contributed her expertise during Operation UNITED—an effort by the FBI and Detroit and Philadelphia law enforcement to locate the unmarked graves of homicide victims and collect bone samples. Officials perform DNA analysis in hopes of identifying them.
NMU students helped out in the project. Harris says it was helpful for them to realize that they were engaging in a team effort.
“It’s about the guy who operates the backhoe; it’s about the person going through the records; it’s about the police officer who made sure that all of the interviews and things were correct. So, there’s this team aspect.”
Harris says it was incredible to receive praise from former FBI Director Christopher Wray and assistant director of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Office of Forensic Science, Ryan Gallagher.
“Knowing how passionate their department was about their mission, and then receiving a letter from him acknowledging how important I was to their mission—that’s the part that’s just like, ah! It doesn’t get better than that.”
Harris says over the past five years, just over 200 individuals have been exhumed. Nearly 30 of them have been identified.
