MN BCA Needs Your Help Identifying Recovered Human Remains

James Warden and Chris Steller created this post for Maple Grove Patch. 

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is asking for help from families of missing people in identifying dozens of sets of human remains found in Minnesota.   

The remains being tested were found in the 1970s to 1990s—many of them at a time when DNA testing was not available. The remains were often kept at a medical examiner’s office, but the latest testing capabilities allow BCA scientists to get DNA from old remains and remains in poor condition.   

DNA from the remains is being entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System so it can be compared with family member samples.   

The BCA is reaching out to family members across Minnesota in order to obtain samples. The samples will only be used to compare to the DNA from unidentified remains and will not be checked against any state or federal law enforcement databases.   

“The process takes seconds and is a simple swab of the inside of their cheek. But the information we’ll be able to learn from it could enable us to bring their loved ones back home,” a news release quoted BCA Forensic Science Laboratory Director Catherine Knutson.   

“At the time their loved ones went missing, DNA wasn’t an option,” Knutson told WCCO-TV. “We have the technology now to go back to those individuals to use the advancements we have been able to come up with the past few years and serve these unidentified individuals and give them back their names."

Maple Grove Police
One person in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), Amy Sue Pagnac, was last seen in Osseo on Aug. 5, 1989. She was 13 or 14 at the time and would be 36 years old now. Pagnac is described as a white female who is 5-feet to 5-feet-6-inches tall and about 100–130 pounds. Anyone with information about Pagnac should call the Maple Grove Police Department at 763-494-6100. 
Click here to search the NamUs database.   

If you have a family member who went missing, begin by contacting Minnesota Missing and Unidentified Persons Clearinghouse Manager Kris Rush at kris.rush@state.mn.us or 651-793-1118. Be sure to have the missing person’s name and date of birth. You will then be guided through the necessary steps, including: 

• Confirm that a missing person report is on file with the local law enforcement agency, and that the information was entered into the FBI’s NCIC missing person file.
• Provide a DNA sample (cheek swab) and sign a consent form.
• If available, provide dental records, photos and any items which may contain the missing person’s DNA (toothbrush).