Exhumation-identification project advances in county

The Clark County coroner's office is more than halfway through a long-term project to exhume and identify the unknown people who died and were buried here.

The 28th exhumation, which took place Wednesday, was done to recover DNA from a woman who died of natural causes in 1982. The woman was thought to be between 55 and 60 years old and was 5 feet 4 inches tall.

The exhumation at Palm Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave., near Warm Springs Road, was the latest in the Clark County forensic science project, which was made possible by a $400,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant the coroner's office received in October. The money will be used to pay the $4,000 to $6,000 cost of each exhumation.

The county estimates that enough grant money remain for 24 more exhumations.

The county has yet to identify any of the unknowns, but 10 DNA samples are ready to be entered into a nationwide database for missing persons.

There are more than 160 unknowns buried in Clark County. The cases most likely to glean a DNA match will be selected first.