HONOLULU (KHON2) — Skeletal remains found by Honolulu Police more than 10 years ago have finally been identified. Experts said with the advancement of science and DNA evidence, cold cases can now be moved off the back burner.
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The remains of Mary Sue Fink were found in June 2014 by Honolulu police and she was recently identified with DNA evidence by a lab in Texas.
“That one piece of the puzzle that was sent in is responsible in part for the resolution and identification of this Jane Doe baby,” said Dr. Robert Mann, Professor of Anatomy & Pathology at the University of Hawaii Medical School.
Scientists at Othram used “forensic grade genome sequencing” to develop a DNA profile. From that profile, they found a potential relative and made a positive identification after testing.
“And again, the biggest unknown, the biggest difficulty for everybody in the world is for a young child to be able to figure out what the sex of that child is,” said Mann. “Puberty hadn’t kicked in all these different sexual dimorphic features that make boys and girls different in their bones. They’re not there yet. So thank goodness they did the job that they did.”
Since only the skeletal remains of a young child were found, all authorities knew was the victim was a young female, approximately 33 to 35 inches tall and between two and six years old.
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Robert Mann said every small detail is examined.
“And this would be a model of a newborn, and you can see it’s very small,” said Mann. “So size and shape differences tell us something about the age and the sex of this individual. And if you looked at another one, a model, a teaching specimen here. So this is about a newborn. This is about a 15-year-old individual. And again, we’re looking at size and shape differences. There are growth differences between the two in this newborn versus a 15-year-old. So depending on how much you get, that’s really what is going to open the opportunity. What can you say about this individual?”
In the Dana Ireland case, DNA experts recently identified an “unknown male one,” showing just how much science has advanced.
“So what could not be done 50 years ago was being done 30 years ago, and what wasn’t being done 30 years ago is being done now,” said Mann. “And so this really it really what it shows us is that a cold case does not have to remain cold forever.”
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Today, Mary Sue Fink would’ve been 65 years old.
Honolulu Police have not released any circumstances behind her death and said an investigation remains ongoing.
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