Pitfalls in the Genetic Identification of Human Remains

DNA technology is an irreplaceable tool for the identification of human remains, but the reliability of the ante mortem reference data remains a serious concern. We present here two cases where misleading conclusions could be achieved by using only the genetic profile of the missing person’s father such as reference sample. Nevertheless, when appropriate reference DNA samples (e.g., the maternal samples) became available, certain identifications were achieved as shown by the probability of maternity (> 99.999%). Thus, all these data together show that extra-pair paternity was found by the way, in both cases. Precautions to avoid misleading conclusions are addressed.