Slashdot Mirror
Billy the Kid Faces The Law... Again
Jason Raddin writes "MSNBC.com has an interesting story about a new showdown in the Old West. It seems as if Billy the Kid can still cause problems for the law-men of New Mexico, even as he rests in his grave. Several small New Mexico towns claim to possess the "true" grave of Billy the Kid (a.k.a. William H. Bonney, Henry McCarty, Kid Antrim). Two sheriffs in Capitan, New Mexico have proposed that this mystery be solved using modern DNA testing. The proposal was made in June to exhume the remains of Bonney's mother and the two reported graves of Bonney. This has spurred a hot legal debate raising an interesting question: which is more important, tourist dollars or the truth?"
DNA tends to decay with time, making positive identification of corpses using this technique infeasible after around 20 years time. There are, however, other methods which are routinely used by special forensics units in PD's across the country. This book was written by a former forensics detective and gives a good insight into ID techniques after traditional techniques have failed (as well as just being an interesting read on other forensics topics).