State program identifies remains of bodies found in Mahoning County

Ohio Attorney General DeWine announced late last week that remains found in Mahoning County nearly 17 years ago have been identified through DNA technology. The remains, discovered in December 1996, were identified as 35-year-old Jacqueline Rowe, of Youngstown. She disappeared from the city earlier that year. Her cause of death was ruled undetermined.

The identification was made through a free service offered by the Ohio attorney general's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, also known as BCI, for participation by police, coroners and families of missing individuals. The LINK Program, which stands for Linking Individuals Not Known, was established through the attorney general's office in 1999 to match DNA taken from family members of missing individuals to unidentified remains.

"The things that can be done with DNA technology today are absolutely amazing, and we urge those with a missing loved one to consider submitting a DNA sample," said DeWine. "There are hundreds of people missing in this state who, sadly, may have been killed and never identified, and this process could help provide some answers."

Samples of DNA submitted by family members for the LINK Program are compared only to DNA samples of unidentified remains submitted through similar programs nationwide. So far, family members of 128 missing people in Ohio have submitted their DNA, and law enforcement and coroners have submitted the DNA of 33 unidentified individuals who were found deceased.

The identification of Rowe's body marks the 23rd identification made through the LINK program since its inception. Officials with the Mahoning County coroner's office submitted DNA from Rowe's then-unidentified body in 2006. In August, Rowe's daughter, who was 18 when her mother disappeared, met with Youngstown Police to submit her DNA. Following DNA analysis, the match was made on Dec. 5.

Two other identifications made through the LINK Program in 2013 are Sharon Kedzierski and Diann Lynn Tatum.

Kedzierski's unidentified remains were located in April 1992 in Mahoning County. Her DNA was submitted to LINK by the Mahoning County coroner's office, and a match was made in January after family members in the state of Oregon submitted their DNA through a similar program. Kedzierski went missing in 1989 from Miami Lakes, Fla.

Tatum's unidentified remains were located in St. Clair, Mich., in 1994. She went missing from Jeffersonville in 1988. Family members submitted their DNA to LINK in 2005, and a match was made in March, when Michigan authorities submitted DNA from her remains to the system.

For more information on the LINK Program, residents and law enforcement can contact BCI at 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).

A full list of unidentified remains cases and missing persons cases submitted to BCI can be found on the Ohio attorney general's website at wwwohioattorneygeneral.gov.

Monday 30 December 2013

http://www.the-review.com/local%20sebring%20mahoning/2013/12/30/state-program-identifies-remains-of-bodies-found-in-mahoning-county