Another victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy’s has been identified using DNA

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This undated photo shows Francis Wayne Alexander. Authorities say Alexander was killed by John Wayne Gacy.





Cook County Sheriff’s Office via AP



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Cook County Sheriff’s Office via AP





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Authorities exhume a box with the remains of unidentified victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was convicted of killing 33 young men and boys in the Chicago area in the 1970s.





Cook County Sheriff’s Office via AP



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Cook County Sheriff’s Office via AP





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Cairenn Fullam-Binder, center, with the nonprofit organization called the DNA Doe Project, talks about the group’s involvement in helping authorities identify «Gacy Victim 5» as North Carolina native Francis Wayne Alexander. Joining Fullam-Binder are Cook County Sheriff’s Detective Lt. Jason Moran, left, and and Sheriff Tom Dart.





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Charles Rex Arbogast/AP




Cairenn Fullam-Binder, center, with the nonprofit organization called the DNA Doe Project, talks about the group’s involvement in helping authorities identify «Gacy Victim 5» as North Carolina native Francis Wayne Alexander. Joining Fullam-Binder are Cook County Sheriff’s Detective Lt. Jason Moran, left, and and Sheriff Tom Dart.


Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

The identification of Alexander came together when the sheriff’s department teamed up with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit that uses genetic information to locate relatives of dead people who have not been identified. The organization compared the DNA profile from the unidentified victim’s remains to profiles on a genealogy website to find potential relatives. That led it to Alexander’s family, and Alexander’s mother and half-brother provided their DNA for comparison.

Between the genetic testing, financial records, post-mortem reports and other information, investigators were able to confirm that the remains were Alexander’s. And determining when he was killed largely stemmed from knowing when the victim who was buried on top of him went missing.

Dart and Lt. Jason Moran, who headed the investigation, said the department might be able to use the method used to identify Alexander to identify scores of other people in the county who died and were buried anonymously.

«This is one of the newest investigative tools for investigations of missing and unidentified persons,» Moran said.

Dart said Alexander’s family wasn’t ready to speak publicly about the identification and his office declined to give Alexander’s hometown. But in its news release, the sheriff’s office did thank the police department in Erwin, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Raleigh, for its help.

The submission of DNA from people who suspected Gacy might have killed their loved ones has helped police solve at least 11 cold cases of homicides that had nothing to do with Gacy, who was executed in 1994. It has also helped families find loved ones who while missing, were alive, including a man in Oregon who had no idea his family was looking for him.