Maui County Reaches Grim Milestone In Fire Victim Identification

The police forensic team has determined that nothing more can be done to separate and identify the last partial remains.

Long after officials had identified all 102 Lahaina fire victims, the Maui Police Department was left with a conundrum: What to do with remains so fragmented they could not be separated out with even the most advanced science.

The remains belonged to previously identified people who had died huddled closely together. Using DNA, fingerprints and anthropological markers, the medical examiner’s office had matched bones and put a name to each person who had died. But fragments and fine dust remained.

For more than a year after the last victim was named, the coroner’s office in Maui County continued its work to try to make sure families received as much of their loved ones