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Genealogists release image in attempt to identify child’s skull found in N.H. store in the 1990s
Investigators say the remains, seized from a Seabrook tattoo shop in 1994, likely belonged to a young girl with ancestral ties to Greece.
Investigative genetic genealogists are asking for the public’s help to identify a child whose skull was seized from a Seabrook, N.H., business more than 30 years ago.
The DNA Doe Project, a California-based nonprofit that builds DNA profiles from unidentified human remains, released a new facial reconstruction on Monday. The group also announced that the skull — believed to belong to a girl between the ages of 7 and 9 — has ancestral roots on the Greek island of Chios.
The skull was recovered in 1994 from Gallery Tattoos, a tattoo parlor that once operated at 178 Lafayette Road in Seabrook, according to records from the Seabrook Police Department. The business has since closed, and authorities have never determined how the remains came to be there.
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“It’s bizarre, not only to have a skull, but to have a child’s skull, and that of a child who died not that long ago,” Matthew Waterfield, the group’s director of communications, told The Boston Globe.
DNA Doe Project began investigating the case in 2023 — nearly three decades after the skull was recovered, Waterfield said.
Researchers are now attempting to link the girl’s genetic profile to living relatives. Members of the public with ancestry from Chios are being encouraged to upload their DNA profiles to GEDmatch, DNAJustice, or FamilyTreeDNA.
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Family surnames of interest include Kaitis, Kladia, Fafalios, Mathioudis, Palios, Stamoulis, Menis, Antokas, and Sideratos. Anyone with potentially relevant family information is also urged to contact the DNA Doe Project at [email protected].
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