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American Morning
How Military Might Go About DNA Testing
Aired July 23, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You heard Barbara talk about the former presidential personal secretary now in custody, said to have helped I.D. the bodies yesterday. DNA testing now also planned to ensure a positive identification.
Dr. Victor Weedn, the former director of the Armed Forces DNA I.D. Lab, is in St. Louis to tell us how the military might go about the testing process.
Doctor, good morning to you.
Thanks for your time here on CNN.
DR. VICTOR WEEDN, FORMER MILITARY DNA EXPERT: Good morning.
HEMMER: You say the military has a remarkable lab known internationally. How good?
WEEDN: Yes, sir, AFDIL, Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, really is responsible for many of the stories that have made the front pages, things like the Branch Davidian victims; the Flight 800 crash, the last of those remains in Long Island Sound; the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; Czar Nicholas of Russia. Those are some of the examples.
They have great capability. It is really the lab that has specialized on remains identification as opposed to more traditional criminalistic type DNA testing.
HEMMER: Now, is this DNA testing even necessary now if you have so many characteristics that Barbara was alluding to at the Pentagon about this metal plate in the leg of one of the two sons? Do you need the DNA if you have something like that?
WEEDN: Well, often people do rely upon visual identification. We just heard that there were at least two visual I.D.s of these bodies. And that is reasonably reliable. However, the appearance of bodies at death does change. Blood drains from the body and it leaves some elements that don't look quite right to people. Mistakes have been made.
So people like to go to positive means of identification such as dental identification, fingerprint identification or DNA. And, of course, these days we have that as a true capability.
HEMMER: Doctor, there's a report yesterday that said the bodies were flown to Dubai. If true, does that tell you anything? Do they have capabilities there that we're not aware of?
WEEDN: Well, I know that Dubai itself, the government, has a very significant DNA lab. They have a significant crime lab with DNA testing capabilities. They could have used those local resources. Or it's possible that they pre set up a laboratory in anticipation of just this type of eventuality.
HEMMER: A final question here. You talked about dental identification. I also understand you can take an imprint of an ear to help give you confirmation.
Where else do you go about in someone's home to collect that DNA? Oftentimes we hear about hair fibers. What else?
WEEDN: Yes. So if we want to collect DNA samples of these individuals themselves, we might go to the bed to look at hairs that are collected from the sheeting. We might go to the bathroom to look at toothbrushes, razors. We'll go to the closet to look for clothes. The ring on the hat, the band of an under, of underwear, shoes are all very good sources of DNA.
Of course, we would like to know that those are truly authentic reference specimens. We may want to go for several reference specimens to give us greater confidence that they, in fact, are from the person that we think that they are from.
HEMMER: Thank you, doctor.
Live in St. Louis, Dr. Victor Weedn.
And, again, 20 minutes away we should learn more in Baghdad when the briefing gets under way.
Doctor, thanks to you there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 23, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You heard Barbara talk about the former presidential personal secretary now in custody, said to have helped I.D. the bodies yesterday. DNA testing now also planned to ensure a positive identification.
Dr. Victor Weedn, the former director of the Armed Forces DNA I.D. Lab, is in St. Louis to tell us how the military might go about the testing process.
Doctor, good morning to you.
Thanks for your time here on CNN.
DR. VICTOR WEEDN, FORMER MILITARY DNA EXPERT: Good morning.
HEMMER: You say the military has a remarkable lab known internationally. How good?
WEEDN: Yes, sir, AFDIL, Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, really is responsible for many of the stories that have made the front pages, things like the Branch Davidian victims; the Flight 800 crash, the last of those remains in Long Island Sound; the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; Czar Nicholas of Russia. Those are some of the examples.
They have great capability. It is really the lab that has specialized on remains identification as opposed to more traditional criminalistic type DNA testing.
HEMMER: Now, is this DNA testing even necessary now if you have so many characteristics that Barbara was alluding to at the Pentagon about this metal plate in the leg of one of the two sons? Do you need the DNA if you have something like that?
WEEDN: Well, often people do rely upon visual identification. We just heard that there were at least two visual I.D.s of these bodies. And that is reasonably reliable. However, the appearance of bodies at death does change. Blood drains from the body and it leaves some elements that don't look quite right to people. Mistakes have been made.
So people like to go to positive means of identification such as dental identification, fingerprint identification or DNA. And, of course, these days we have that as a true capability.
HEMMER: Doctor, there's a report yesterday that said the bodies were flown to Dubai. If true, does that tell you anything? Do they have capabilities there that we're not aware of?
WEEDN: Well, I know that Dubai itself, the government, has a very significant DNA lab. They have a significant crime lab with DNA testing capabilities. They could have used those local resources. Or it's possible that they pre set up a laboratory in anticipation of just this type of eventuality.
HEMMER: A final question here. You talked about dental identification. I also understand you can take an imprint of an ear to help give you confirmation.
Where else do you go about in someone's home to collect that DNA? Oftentimes we hear about hair fibers. What else?
WEEDN: Yes. So if we want to collect DNA samples of these individuals themselves, we might go to the bed to look at hairs that are collected from the sheeting. We might go to the bathroom to look at toothbrushes, razors. We'll go to the closet to look for clothes. The ring on the hat, the band of an under, of underwear, shoes are all very good sources of DNA.
Of course, we would like to know that those are truly authentic reference specimens. We may want to go for several reference specimens to give us greater confidence that they, in fact, are from the person that we think that they are from.
HEMMER: Thank you, doctor.
Live in St. Louis, Dr. Victor Weedn.
And, again, 20 minutes away we should learn more in Baghdad when the briefing gets under way.
Doctor, thanks to you there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
