Northern Michigan University's Center for Forensic Science Director Jane Harris has elevated her professional reputation, the center's profile and student hands-on learning opportunities by contributing her expertise to Operation UNITED, an effort by the FBI and law enforcement agencies in Detroit and Philadelphia to exhume the remains of unidentified victims of decades-old homicide cases. The hope is that advanced DNA testing can provide names and answers for their respective families. She was highly commended for her most recent work in letters from the former FBI director and the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD).
Harris played a major role this past fall in recovering bone samples from seven homicide victims—including two infants and a child—buried in a Potter's Field in Philadelphia. Ryan Gallagher, assistant director of the PPD's Office of Forensic Science, said it was critical to have an experienced anthropologist like Harris involved in the project.
“While we had over 50 team members participating in this dig, none of them was more valuable than Dr. Harris. … Her professionalism and wealth of knowledge were amazing, and her willingness to teach was apparent,” he wrote in the letter. “Dr. Harris' knowledge of the bones of infants and children proved more valuable than we knew, as she was able to help our team members discern small bones samples from debris. I am sure that without her expertise, several of the recoveries would not have been possible.”
Gallagher also acknowledged NMU for allowing Harris to join the week-long project in Philadelphia. He said there were three active recoveries progressing at any one time, so her ability to transition between gravesites was invaluable.
Christopher Wray, who served as FBI director until the presidential transition this month, also submitted the following letter praising Harris to NMU President Brock Tessman:
“Dr. Harris's tremendous efforts while working onsite with the FBI and local law enforcement in Detroit and Philadelphia were critical in identifying the exhumed remains of previously unidentified murder victims, including a juvenile. She also shared her knowledge of grave excavation and bone identification with Bureau personnel. Her unwavering commitment throughout this operation has brought closure to many of the victims' families. Dr. Harris's collaboration and expertise were instrumental in the success of this case, and I am grateful for her exceptional partnership.”
Operation UNITED stands for Unknown Names Identified Through Exhumation and DNA. It began in the Detroit area, where some of the unnamed cold cases originated in the 1950s, before DNA analysis was available. Others occurred decades later, but still before it became standard procedure to obtain DNA from unidentified victims. All of these individuals were buried in “paupers' graves” by medical examiners' offices.
The Michigan State Police had started exhuming individual victims while Harris was employed with the agency as the unidentified remains coordinator in the Missing Persons Coordination Unit. But because there were more than 200 gravesites in Wayne County alone, many of which are Detroit Police Department cases. She said a Detroit homicide detective took the initiative to reach out to the FBI. Backed by funding from the FBI, the two agencies—along with NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) agreed to collaborate on a multi-year project to name as many victims as possible.
Operation UNITED was established in Wayne County, Michigan and continued until 2023, with a break during the pandemic. In her NMU capacity, Harris assisted in the effort for one or two weeks each year, involving as many as eight NMU students annually. She also recruited Malorie Albee, assistant professor in NMU's Sociology and Anthropology Department, to get involved in the final two years of the project.
“My role was to help hone in on the correct unmarked graves to ensure only the desired samples were being collected, because some sites held remains of individuals that had been identified, but were unclaimed by families and turned over to the state,” she said. “I did this by applying some methods of a biological profile analysis to confirm sex and approximate age. I also determined which bones to take for testing based on their structural integrity and quality. The team exhumed over 200 individuals, and as far as I know, there are just over 20 positive identifications that have come out of it. A couple have even led to the prosecutions of the offenders, which is pretty rewarding.”
Harris was one several forensic anthropologists to assist with the project. Others came from Eastern, Madonna and Michigan State Universities. All were allowed to bring students.
“Northern students not only got to interact with their peers from the other institutions, but they were each put on an interdisciplinary dig team of about 10 people, including FBI agents, local law enforcement personnel and first responders. Our students had taken an osteology class, so they were able to help identify bones, but the final call had to be made by me or others with the required Ph.D.”
Harris said the FBI agent in charge of the evidence recovery teams in Detroit was recruited to assist the Philadelphia Field Office in an extension of Operation UNITED, though that project was much smaller in scope. There were initially eight unnamed victims. One was identified shortly before Harris arrived as the only anthropologist onsite at the Potter's Field, a nondescript grassy area bounded by some trees. These graves were marked, unlike Detroit's, but Harris still had to confirm that the biological profiles of the individuals buried matched the written records. She said a few updates were required, such as adding surgical hardware found in one of the victims to the medical examiner's report and correcting the age and sex of a couple others.
“It's kind of humbling to contribute in some way to missions like these, but it's also exciting for me to be able to give our students that kind of opportunity to make a difference,” Harris added. “That's literally why I do what I do. One of my passions is forensic anthropology, which can help identify missing persons or those who were victims of homicide. There are so many people with long-term, open-ended questions about family members. It's nice to be part of the solution to provide them with answers and have a positive effect.”
The NMU Center for Forensic Science includes the Forensic Research Outdoor Station (FROST)—one of only 13 facilities in the world that human body decomposition in an outdoor environment—along with the Forensic Anthropology Research Laboratory and the Body Donation Program. Learn more here.
