Modern technology has helped identify the body of a man who died 36 years ago

Every day people disappear in the world. Most of them are found alive or, alas, dead, thanks to the efforts of the police, volunteers and just concerned citizens. But there are cases when a person disappears without a trace and his relatives do not know anything about his fate. This often happens because the bodies of the dead people could not be identified.

Modern DNA testing helps to establish a person's identity even decades later, as happened in Wales, Great Britain, where experts managed to determine the identity of a guy who died 36 years ago.

In 1983, the sea washed up on one of the beaches of the island of Anglesey, located off the coast of Wales, the body of a young man, seriously damaged by water. Despite all the efforts of the police, it was not possible to identify the corpse and he was buried as nameless at the Menai Bridge Cemetery, installing a plate with a number instead of a tombstone.

Angsley Island Beach

Years later, the Orchid program was launched in Ireland, the purpose of which is to find relatives and friends of people whose bodies have not been identified. To do this, modern DNA testing technologies are used to establish kinship relationships based on tissue samples taken from a corpse and from living people.

As part of the program, the body of an unidentified young man was exhumed in 2013 to take tissue samples. The obtained biological material was compared with the data of missing people, but then it was not possible to achieve a positive result.

Conor Wally

The family of Conor Whalley from County Wicklow, who went missing at the age of 24 in the early 80s of the last century, found out about the existence of such a program by chance from a TV program on the RTÉ channel. They decided to try to find out with her help the fate of their relative and turned to the headquarters of the "Orchid".

It is known that the family was relieved to learn that Conor Wally had been found, but decided not to disturb the remains that had already been disturbed by experts. The community of the island of Anglesey promised that they would take care of the boy's grave at the Menai Bridge Cemetery, which finally ceased to be nameless.

One of the officers of the Welsh Police, Detective Con Don Kenyon, expressed hope that this news will help other families whose relatives have gone missing. To get a great chance to find out about the fate of their loved ones, they only need to submit DNA samples for entry into the police database.

Modern technologies make it possible to extract accurate information about a person from DNA even many years after his death. Thus, for example, paternity and inheritance rights are established, as in the case of the great artist Salvador Dali, whose grave was disturbed because of the claims of a woman who claimed that she was the daughter of a surrealist genius.