Identifying unclaimed ashes at N.S. funeral home through DNA ‘very challenging,’ says expert

While some families in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley grapple with uncertainty after discovering they may not have buried the actual ashes of their loved ones, an expert in DNA testing says the technology only offers a faint hope of positively identifying the remains.

Several families who used the services of the former Serenity Funeral Home were informed by the home’s new owners earlier this month that ashes belonging to their dead loved ones were found in storage.

Michelle Carey had used Serenity when her father, Hendrik (Hank) Sabean, died in 2018. Sabean had specific instructions for his funeral arrangements, including dealing with the funeral home.

Now, having to go through the burial process all over again and being unsure whose remains the family actually buried, Carey said she’s skeptical that they’ll ever be sure of the identity of the remains.

“Well, my sister and I talked and did a little bit of research and it would be very, very difficult to do any sort of DNA testing,” said Carey. “How do we know for sure that what we’re going to get is, in fact, our father’s remains this time?”

Dean Hildebrand, who manages the Forensic DNA Laboratory at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, said it’s very challenging to get enough DNA from ashes to make an identification.

“It’s not to say that some people or some scientists have reported that you can still find trace amounts of DNA,” he said. “But finding trace amounts of DNA is different from being able to use that [DNA].”

Hildebrand said that DNA is surprisingly robust, noting that labs very often get full DNA profiles from human remains that were in car or building fires, despite the damage done.

But the conditions of a crematorium, 900 C for up to three hours, result in a total breakdown of all organic matter.

“[It’s] kind of a worst-case scenario for isolating,” said Hildebrand.

He said throughout his career he’s dealt with identifying remains from ashes mixed up involving other funeral homes. But in this case there are a significant number of remains, according to the new owners of Serenity funeral homes, East Coast Memorial.

While the odds of making an identification are low, Hildebrand said he wouldn’t say it’s impossible.

He said that it’s worth testing in case a fragment of bone could yield useful DNA.

“I think it’s worth the effort,” he said. “But of course, you have to set expectations.”

Carey said she was told the ashes the family buried may contain a small metal disc with an ID number on it, which could lead to identifying the remains.

But the presence of that ID number may be the only way to find out who they originally buried back in 2018.

“I want to believe that what they’re telling me is true, that they do in fact have our father’s remains,” said Carey. “But it will be very difficult to find out who is the person that was buried.”

The province and Nova Scotia’s regulator of funeral directors are investigating.

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