{"id":12382,"date":"2025-06-16T14:40:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T19:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=12382"},"modified":"2025-06-16T14:40:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T19:40:57","slug":"remains-of-two-bodies-found-inside-body-bag-from-1970-tonti-train-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/12382-remains-of-two-bodies-found-inside-body-bag-from-1970-tonti-train-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Remains of Two Bodies Found Inside Body Bag from 1970 Tonti Train Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Case Management and Operations Director of the DNA Doe Project Jennifer Randolph says there were parts of two bodies inside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo individuals are represented,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cThere appears to be more of a juvenile who has some teeth and other parts represented that we weren\u2019t expecting to see. We weren\u2019t expecting to see a young child, and we have some other parts that are definitely more compatible with being an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Randolph says more research will now be needed to try and solve the new mystery. Tonti is a small community located north of Salem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Randolph says there is also a possibility there is a second unknown child victim from the train crash.<\/p>\n<p>Randolph and University of New Hampshire Anthropologist Amy Michael says the new twist makes this one of the most unusual cases they have handled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say what\u2019s the most unusual, because I feel like every case has something surprising,\u201d Michael said. \u201cCertainly, this case throws some curveballs that we weren\u2019t expecting. I was also surprised and encouraged by the preservation of the remains. I think that bodes well for the DNA extraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael says samples were prepared Thursday to be sent to the lab to start the effort to identify the remains of the two individuals.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She says there will be a long wait for answers.\u00a0 The lab analysis is likely to take six months to be completed when the DNA information can be matched against genetic genealogy databases.<\/p>\n<p>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.\u00a0\u00a0 They note he brought together those who needed to help in the community and built interest in Salem about the project.<\/p>\n<p>The project began Thursday morning when Merz Vault Company and Salem Public Works employees worked to bring the casket out of the ground.\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0 A trip was also made to Salem Township Hospital to have x-rays completed on some of the remains.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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