DNA results identify the body of 20-year-old Everett Ruess

After 75 years, National Geographic Adventure, solves mystery of lost explorer.

NEW YORK—In a joint announcement today with National Geographic ADVENTURE magazine, researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder released the results of a DNA test that positively identifies the remains of famed explorer and artist Everett Ruess, who disappeared in 1934, solving a mystery that has baffled law enforcement for more than 75 years.

Dr. Kenneth Krauter, professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, presented test results that compared the DNA of a femur found in the Utah desert to saliva samples taken from four of Ruess's nieces and nephews, the closest living relatives. The test examined the inheritance of some 600,000 markers using gene chips from the Affymetrix Corporation and found that the saliva samples and the DNA extracted from the femur share approximately 25 percent of those markers by inheritance. Nieces and nephews are expected to hold about one-quarter of their genetic markers in common with an aunt or uncle. The test provides essentially irrefutable evidence of a close blood relationship between the Ruess family DNA and the bone DNA. Subsequent tests comparing the bone DNA with 50 unrelated people confirmed the results, with considerably less than 1 percent of markers shared in this way.

http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/everett-ruess/dna-test-text?source=email_adventure_20090527&email=adventure