SANFORD — It took just minutes for Sanford High School AP biology students to determine who on a family chart stretching back eight generations might carry a specific type of DNA. They were looking for a link that could determine, once testing is complete, the identity of the individual whose skeletal remains were found by a construction crew in a former cemetery last month.

The students have studied DNA — in fact, they tested their own in a project with Jackson Laboratories, their teacher, Beth Marass, said. 

And while Monday’s exercise in itself doesn’t shed any specific light on whose remains were found, it could help with the next step.

The skeletal remains were found in April on the Main Street lot being developed as a Cumberland Farms. The property had once housed the former Emerson School and its adjacent playground — and the playground had once been the location of Woodlawn Cemetery, until 1931, when the remains of those buried there were removed to Oakdale Cemetery.

The 1931 removals were organized by Lowell Fogg, who in city (town, then) correspondence, said 77 sets of remains had been transferred. Since Woodlawn Cemetery had been in disrepair, some stones were broken and missing. Name plates on some of the coffins helped in the identification process, said local historian Paul Auger.

But it appears someone was left behind. The remains were discovered when the construction firm was digging for a water line and struck wood.

Measurements taken of the skeletal remains indicate the individual was a child.

The request to determine the child’s identity remains.

Auger said there may be a clue or two.

“A woman called the city and said there was a story in her family that someone had been left behind,” he said.

So members of the Sanford Historical Committee met with the woman and a family tree chart was created.

The students became involved to to determine if there was anyone who might be eligible for a specific type of DNA testing.

As it turns out, the last three generations of the family possess DNA that could establish relationship. They’re the ones who carry mitochondrial DNA, passed on only by the mother. Men carry mitochondrial DNA but cannot pass it on. 

“I think its really interesting how knowledge can actually be used,” said Jocelyn Korpaczewski, one of the students looking at the family chart.

“The (genealogical) link had to go back two generations through England in the early 1800s, then back down four generations to a resident living in southern Maine,” said Auger in an update. “The potential relative was contacted and has graciously agreed to provide a DNA sample for a test.”

Auger said no names will be revealed unless a DNA test comes in with a match. It is possible the remains are those of someone else.

Sanford High School students have been involved in other aspects of the mystery. One student was tasked with taking metal coffin handle braces to a local jeweler to determine the type of metal used. As it turns out, it was white metal, in common use in the late 1800s, according to the folks at the Jeweler’s Outlet in Sanford, who tested the metal.

Now, those engaged in solving the mystery are speaking with  companies who perform DNA tests —  securing DNA from skeletal remains is an intricate forensic process, Auger said.

He, along with the others., are hoping for a definite answer.

“For me, it’s the hunt, and trying to help whoever this person is,” said Auger. “I just want to chase this thing down.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].