HONOLULU (KHON2) — The case of a child’s remains brought to the Maui Police Department after his own family found him isn’t the only time we’ve heard of families finding their own loved ones dead. But some relatives who hold the genetic keys to identifying other remains are reluctant to submit DNA. Always Investigating digs deeper into this issue.
Remains recovered from Ground Zero continue to make their way to the Overflow District morgue awaiting identification, but lack DNA from living relatives that would be needed for the work. Official estimates are that up to 1,100 people are still missing, but there are still only 115 official fatalities.
“It’s hard to believe that the people who were originally at ground zero saw hundreds of bodies on Front Street,” said Councilor Tamara Paltin, who represents West Maui on Maui County Council. “I had heard from people that there were some along the coast as well. When they looked down (into the water) they saw things.”
KHON2 sat down with FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill to ask why there was still a large gap between the missing and missing counts, the traumatized dead count, and the official count. The FBI supports a joint initiative of the county police.
“We really want to get to the bottom of this,” Merrill said. “We want to know what happened. We want to know if our family members and friends are safe.”
Merrill was among federal and county officials who urged the public to come forward for DNA swabs at a news conference on Tuesday. Three-quarters of the remains recovered provided searchable DNA, but only 104 donors submitted samples. Officials say that’s a small percentage compared to the amount of remains found so far.
So why the family’s reluctance to come forward?
“I think part of the hesitation is just because of different groups that may have been marginalized in the past or that have concerns about immigration,” explained Ellie Erickson, one of the founders of the Maui Fires People Locator database, in the something lists more than 600 people who have not been marginalized -as of today, “and the story with a distrust of the government that is justified in many ways, they don’t want to go.”
Federal and county officials say the DNA is only used to identify the dead and the rights of the living are protected by consent forms they obtain before any swabs are taken. But there is more to the resistance than that.
“There’s this collective anger against everything from the government, the way the first four or so days have been handling it,” Paltin said.
KHON2 asked Merrill: How do you overcome all of these legitimate concerns?
“Everyone has a concern, and the irony is that I think everyone wants the same thing,” he said, “of course[to]give closure to family members.”
Many say they already know that a loved one has passed away without the need for a test.
“They’ve seen the remains of people, whether it’s in their house or in their car, and there’s so much grief for them right now,” Erickson said, “and they’re not going to go out of their way to the Hyatt (in Kaanapali, West Maui) to go for a swab.”
“Aloha aku, aloha mai,” Paltin said. “If you want us to help you, you have to help us where we are right now. Don’t just come in and ask traumatized people to fill a need you have when their needs aren’t being met.”
But officials say they need the match from even the living who already know the fate of their loved ones so they can help narrow the matches that still need to be made for those unknown.
“The more information we have, the better we can combine and gather new information every day,” Merrill said. “It helps us find other ways to find out who’s in the area and who’s safe.”
Full interview with FBI Special Agent in charge Steve Merrill
Some remains are unidentifiable due to the high heat, because no DNA is available from the remains or there is no DNA from a willing surviving relative. Eventually they will be declared dead.
“That will ultimately be the coroner, in this case Chief John Pelletier of the Maui Police Department,” Merrill said. “And we’re doing our best as a team to get that information into his hands as soon as possible.”
DNA samples may be provided at the Family Assistance Center in the Monarch Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency in Kaanapali. Anyone who needs to report a missing person can call the FBI at (808) 566-4300.
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