DATE: March 9, 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Crane, Senior Medical Legal Investigator
Office of the Medical Examiner and Trauma Services
PHONE: 954-357-5242
EMAIL: wcrane@broward.org
BROWARD COUNTY, FL - Persistence, patience, perseverance, and modern technology help identify the remains of a man whose body was found in March of 1984 near the Everglades. His family had lost contact with him in 1983 after he'd moved to Florida from Defiance, Ohio.
Back then, State Road 84 and NW 204th Avenue was a very remote location. Two fisherman stumbled upon the remains there, but no one was ever able to identify the victim.
That recently changed when the Broward Medical Examiner's Office got an email from the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) confirming a DNA match to a man whose family had reported him missing, but had never submitted familial DNA samples to enter into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). The family - a mother, brother, and sister - submitted DNA samples to the Defiance Police Department in 2014. DNA was extracted from skin cells obtained with buccal swabs - a process of swabbing inside the cheeks, using special kits. The information was entered into NamUs and the Combined DNA Access System (CODIS) and it matched a 2008 DNA entry taken from the unidentified victim's femur and submitted by the Broward Medical Examiner's Office. Defiance Police and the Broward Medical Examiner were notified of the match and were able to bring closure to Earl Blankenship's family.
Senior Medical Legal Investigator Wendy Crane with the Medical Examiner's office says the match was 584 million to 1 that the remains were those of Earl Blankenship. It's not known why it took the family so long to submit buccal DNA samples. Investigator Crane would like the public to know that if you have a family member who's missing, you should file a police report, and then go to your law enforcement agency or medical examiner's office and ask that they take buccal swabs from you, to be submitted into the national database. This service is free and confidential, and takes less than 10 minutes. The samples are sent to the University of North Texas and processed free of charge under a national grant program. And contrary to popular belief, your DNA samples are not entered into any criminal databases. The samples you submit are only for entry into NamUs and will only be cross-referenced with the DNA of unidentified remains.
Earl Blankenship's remains have been returned to his family in Defiance, Ohio. They had not yet been interred by the Medical Examiner, which made submission of DNA possible. It's against State law to cremate unidentified remains.
Blankenship's killer has never been found. The Broward Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the homicide. Anyone with information about his death is asked to contact the Homicide Unit at 954-321-4210.
About Medical Examiner and Trauma Services
The Broward County Office of the Medical Examiner and Trauma Services brings expert and independent medical evaluation to the investigation of deaths that are of concern to public health, safety and welfare of the community. The Office investigates cases of persons who die within its District 17 jurisdictional boundaries from criminal violence, by accident, by suicide, suddenly when in apparent good health, when not recently treated by a physician, while incarcerated or in any suspicious or unusual manner. The Office also approves the cremations of persons who die within Broward County or are transported to Broward County for the purpose of cremation after death in another state or country. For more information, call 954-357-5200 or visit here.
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