Investigator: DNA could identify 2 Tulsa massacre victims

FILE - This photo provided by the Department of Special Collections, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa shows the ruins of Dunbar Elementary School and the Masonic Hall in the aftermath of the June 1, 1921, Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Okla. (Department of Special Collections, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa via AP, File)

TULSA, OKLAHOMA (AP) — Investigators seeking to identify victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre have found enough usable DNA for testing on two of the 14 sets of remains removed from a local cemetery a year ago.

Danny Hellwig is a forensic scientist with Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City, which is examining the remains. He told The Associated Press that it’s a promising step toward identifying the people whose remains were removed from Oaklawn Cemetery. The key, Hellwig says, is having descendants of those individuals provide DNA to a database so a match can be made when DNA sequencing is complete.