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Old Graves To Be Exhumed In Effort To ID Homicide Victims

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Working with state police, an anthropologist will lead a team exhuming the bodies of four unidentified homicide victims in northeastern Pennsylvania, including a woman who'd been doused in sulfuric acid and a newborn boy.

The hope is that scientists will be able to give the victims a name — and lead police to their killers.

The exhumations are scheduled to take place Monday at two cemeteries near Wilkes-Barre.

Pennsylvania State Police cold case investigators are working with forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle of the University of South Florida, who previously led an effort to exhume more than 50 old graves at a shuttered reform school in Florida.

The team hopes to do facial reconstructions, perform chemical isotope testing and collect DNA samples that will be sent to a national database.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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