April 25, 1995
From CNN Correspondent Andrew Holtz
(CNN) -- In Oklahoma City, many families of victims of the bombing are waiting for final word of the fate of their loved ones.
There are piles and piles of broken concrete, steel, and glass. They don't look much like the offices they were before the bomb. And, so too, some of the bodies found in the rubble bear little resemblence to the people they were before the bomb.
It is the job of medical examiners to attach a name to each body. Ray Blakeney: "We are using all of the conventional methods of dental, the x-rays, the medical records, to fingerprints, clothing, valuables, personal effects, jewelry, tattoos, all of those methods are being utitlized with the state of the art equipment and the best people in place that we can find."
Dr. Nizam Perrwani is a medical examiner for Tarrant County Texas. He knows what the job is like. He identified the bodies in Waco. Eighty-five bodies were found in the Branch Davidian compound. Many of them were burned. And as in Oklahoma City, many bodies began to decompose by the time they were removed. Often, routine identification methods, such as fingerprints, were not enough. In Waco, almost half the victims were identified by their D.N.A.
Peerwani says, "We get samples from parents and compared them to children." D.N.A. tests or bone structure can be used to distinguish bodies that are jumbled together in the rubble. Holtz explains, "It's human nature to resist accepting the loss of a loved one, to say, 'It can't be true.' Viewing a recognizable body can erase such doubts, but for many families here, that won't be possible. They will receive only a piece of paper, with a scientific report."
Peerwani says that sometimes families hang on so strongly, proof is hard to face. "In disasters, (they think) there might be a mix-up. In Waco, some took a long time to accept."
Despite the difficulty of the task, medical examiners are confident that they will identify each body. "I think we will. I really think that we will. That is our goal and we're gonna do everything in our power to do that," Blakeney says, very much determined.
Then, the families can complete their journey of grief.
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