MALTON, England, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Investigators in northern England have exhumed the body of a woman found along a road 30 years ago to determine whether she can finally be identified.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Raw of the North Yorkshire Police said the exhumation began at midnight and was completed by 7 a.m. Tuesday, the Yorkshire Post reported. The remains were taken to a lab to extract material from a thigh bone for DNA testing and to examine the remains.
"There is nothing in law which says we have to do it at night, but there is a tradition that exhumations are done that way," Raw said. "It is a very emotional event and doing it overnight allows it to be done with some dignity and in some peace."
Detectives said at least five families have come forward to say the woman might be a missing relative.
While police believe the woman was a homicide victim, they do not have a cause of death. The body was naked and already skeletal when it was found.
The remains were to be reinterred with a religious service Wednesday.
