2 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago Russian murder mystery solved at Umass Play video

(Danica Pecirep, NECN: Worcester, Mass.) - Research at UMass Medical School in Worcester may have broken open an unsolved murder that dates back more than a hundred years.

Evgeny Rogaev is a genetic researcher at UMass. He has been analyzing DNA that is believed to be connected to the murder of the last Russian Czar Nicholas Romanov the Second and his family. In 1918, Romanov and his wife and five children were murdered during the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1991, the bodies of the Czar, his wife and two of their children were found - but two of the childrens’ bodies were missing.

According to Rogaev, the last two bodies were found only feet from their parents - but because they had been burned and doused with acid - only small fragments remained. Rogaev says the first step in positively identifying the remains was to be sure they could work with the remains, which were not only small but also very old.

The findings now thought to be conclusive are monumental for Russia and its people.

Amy Adams is a Professor of Russian Studies at Holy Cross in Worcester who has long had an interest in the murders. She says closure is not only important for the country, but also for the Czar's descendants