Coroner gets $400,000 grant to set up program to solve missing persons cases with DNA testing

The Clark County coroner's office received a $400,000 federal grant to create a program for using DNA testing to help solve missing persons cases.

The county will use the Department of Justice grant to set up an 18-month program to exhume, sample and test DNA in about 50 missing persons cases. Samples will be culled from more than 160 unidentified bodies. The first exhumation will be in about 60 days.

"Our ultimate goal is to positively identify decedents and return them to their loved ones," Coroner Michael Murphy said in a written statement. "Some of these cases also involve victims of homicide, and proper identification is paramount in solving homicide investigations."

The coroner's office has identified 32 missing persons since 2002 when it launched its Las Vegas Unidentified Web pages, which post details and photos of people who have disappeared.