A partially buried human skeleton was found on Sunday 2 January by a citizen walking with his dog near a canal on the seafront of Bari, South Italy. The association of missing persons Penelope Puglia promptly offered his support to the two medical examiners appointed by the Penal Court, professors Francesco Introna and Biagio Solarino.
Forensic odontologist Emilio Nuzzolese, head of the personal identification and forensic odontology laboratory at the University of Turin and member of Penelope, was appointed by the Association to assist pro bono in the identification process by collecting ante mortem data of missing persons in the Region.
The collaboration with the volunteering Penelope association could be crucial in the collection of medical and dental information of missing persons in the province of Bari to narrow down the search of the investigation of the unknown recovered person and achieve a positive identification.
In addition to DNA, the comparison of dental data of missing persons will also be applied in order to include or exclude biological profile of the missing persons.