UNT Scientists Help Close Books On John Wayne Gacy Cold Case
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth has cracked a cold-case connected to Chiacgo-area murderer John Wayne Gacy
The school's DNA lab recently identified the remains of William George Bundy, a 19-year-old victim of Gacy's who went missing in 1976.
The lab, located near the Fort Worth Arts District, is quickly becoming recognized as one of the best in the country for identifying human remains. "We'll accept cases from all over the United States. And because we're federally funded we don't charge for our services. And that makes it very attractive to law enforcement and to families to bring their samples here," says Dixie Peters, who heads the missing persons unit at the lab.
MORE: Peters on CBS 11 News at 4 -
UNTHSC's lab handles nearly 1,000 cases a year, and along with the FBI's DNA lab identifies almost all of the human remains in the U.S. each year.
Bundy's remains were matched to DNA taken from his siblings. "We had a sister and a brother that donated their DNA. We processed that and compared it to the DNA that came from the remains," says Peters.
>>MORE: Read More about the Bundy case at CBSNews.com<<
The lab has also helped in Human Trafficking cases, and have recently started identifying 20-year-old remains of executed political prisoners from Chile.
