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DNA tests may solve mystery of Anastasia
Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 (CDT) by Thoth
 Answers to the mystery of what befell the heirs of the last czar of Russia nearly a century ago may rest behind locked laboratory doors in Moscow and New England. DNA test results to be announced within months on bone fragments found in Russia last year could prove that none of Czar Nicholas II's family escaped execution in the Bolshevik Revolution — not even Anastasia, the teenage princess whose identity various women have claimed over the decades.
Evgeny Rogaev, who heads a genetic research team working in Moscow and at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, is not immune to the effect his work could have on how his fellow Russian citizens view that turbulent chapter in their history. He keeps pictures of the royal family carefully tucked inside a folder near charts of DNA sequences, but does not display them. Likewise, he shields any sight of the remains from everyone except the other researchers, out of respect for whomever the remains represent.
"Murders occurred. Children were murdered," he said this week, choosing his words carefully. "I will not make a show of it. That is my ethics."
For Rogaev, a professor at UMass and Moscow State University, ensuring the accuracy of the DNA tests is paramount.
"In an expert work, it
cannot be about emotions. It must be about collection of scientific
evidences, and that is why this DNA is so powerful to study," he said.
Rogaev is reviewing the
genetic material at the request of the Russian Federation Prosecutor's
Office as part of its reopened investigation of the deaths of the royal
family.
Nicholas II, Empress
Alexandra, 13-year-old Crown Prince Alexei, the prince's four older
sisters and their four attendants were taken prisoner in 1917. Even
though the czar already had abdicated his throne, their captors fatally
shot all the prisoners on July 17, 1918, in a basement room of a house
in the city of Yekaterinburg.
DNA testing determined
skeletal remains unearthed from shallow graves in a nearby mining pit
in 1991 were most likely those of the couple and three of their four
daughters.
The daughters were believed
to be 22-year-old Olga, 21-year-old Tatiana and 17-year-old Anastasia,
although some people speculate the last set of remains belonged to the
similarly sized 19-year-old Maria.
Researchers suspect the
bone shards discovered last summer, burned and doused with acid, are
those of Alexei and Maria. They were found in the area where one of the
professed killers said their bodies had been destroyed.
The remains found in 1991
were reburied with honors in 1998 in the imperial-era capital of St.
Petersburg. It was shadowed by doubts at the time, including from the
Russian Orthodox Church and some Romanov relatives, over the
authenticity of the genetic results.
Nevertheless, the church canonized the royal family in 2000.
Rogaev, who was called to
help verify the remains' authenticity in 1997 and 1998, said he knows
many people with opinions on both sides. He compares it to the emotions
that Americans have about their legendary public figures and families,
such as the Kennedys, and says the DNA tests are the best way to be
certain about the Romanovs' fate.
"In science, what you
conclude to be true comes from the results you find. When I see the
results, I accept the results as the fact," he said.
No clear explanation exists
about why the suspected remains of the prince and one of his sisters
were destroyed with more violence than those of the czar, empress and
three of their daughters.
Some researchers think that
after shooting the family, the killers tried to destroy as much of
their remains as possible, but ran out of time after starting to
destroy two of the smallest bodies with fire and sulfuric acid. Some
have said the killers thought monarchists might try to memorialize the
burial place as a shrine if the bodies' locations were known.
The bone fragments were so
badly damaged that Rogaev and other researchers first had to determine
whether enough uncontaminated genetic material still existed for
testing.
The delicate work proved
that, indeed, useful DNA could be extracted from a very small amount of
the material — a critical fact, since they wanted to preserve as much
of the bone fragments as possible out of respect for the victims.
The researchers are
comparing DNA from the recently discovered remains with those of
Empress Alexandra, who was a granddaughter of Britain's Queen Victoria
and a distant relative of Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth
II. The prince, whose DNA might offer important points of reference for
comparison, has not provided DNA so far, but researchers are reviewing
published information related to the family, Evgeny said.
Renowned forensic scientist
Henry Lee endorsed Rogaev's approach and called the case a prime
example of science settling questions about the past.
"It's an interesting
project, and DNA is opening up a lot of new frontiers in solving crime
and answering questions of history," said Lee, a former Connecticut
public safety commissioner and founder of the forensic science program
at the University of New Haven.
A representative of the
Romanovs urged caution after the remains were found last summer. They
have tried without success for years to persuade Russian authorities to
declare Nicholas and his family victims of political repression.
"I will be deeply happy if
the remains of (Alexei) and Maria have really been found," Nikolai
Romanov, identified by Channel One as the head of the family, told the
station by telephone from Switzerland. "But it is always necessary to
treat such epochal events with caution."
Copyright: Yahoo! News
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