Published on June 16, 2025 2:40 pm
Last Updated on June 16, 2025 2:40 pm
The team trying to determine the identity of the remains of an unknown victim of the Tonti Train Crash in 1970 received a surprise Thursday when they began reviewing the contents of the body bag.
Case Management and Operations Director of the DNA Doe Project Jennifer Randolph says there were parts of two bodies inside.
“Two individuals are represented,” Randolph said. “There appears to be more of a juvenile who has some teeth and other parts represented that we weren’t expecting to see. We weren’t expecting to see a young child, and we have some other parts that are definitely more compatible with being an adult.”
Randolph says more research will now be needed to try and solve the new mystery. Tonti is a small community located north of Salem.
“We’re going to do some research on all of the known victims, because that will help us when we get to the genealogy phase. If we know the family trees of some of the known victims, we might see that some of these remains may have come from a known victim and somehow gotten comingled, which is understandable in this kind of a mass casualty event.”
But Randolph says there is also a possibility there is a second unknown child victim from the train crash.
Randolph and University of New Hampshire Anthropologist Amy Michael says the new twist makes this one of the most unusual cases they have handled.
“It’s hard to say what’s the most unusual, because I feel like every case has something surprising,” Michael said. “Certainly, this case throws some curveballs that we weren’t expecting. I was also surprised and encouraged by the preservation of the remains. I think that bodes well for the DNA extraction.”
Michael says samples were prepared Thursday to be sent to the lab to start the effort to identify the remains of the two individuals. She says there will be a long wait for answers. The lab analysis is likely to take six months to be completed when the DNA information can be matched against genetic genealogy databases.
Both Randolph and Michael were highly complimentary to the effort Salem college student Henry Morton put into the plan to exhume the body and try and learn the identity. They note he brought together those who needed to help in the community and built interest in Salem about the project.
The project began Thursday morning when Merz Vault Company and Salem Public Works employees worked to bring the casket out of the ground. The burial vault was later opened at Merz Vault Company before the body bag was taken to the Crouse Funeral Home where most of the work was done. A trip was also made to Salem Township Hospital to have x-rays completed on some of the remains.
