0:00:00.264,0:00:09.873
[♫]
0:00:09.873,0:00:11.922
Narrator: An international[br]team of forensic experts
0:00:11.922,0:00:15.205
is flying in to the scene[br]of a 90 year old crime
0:00:15.205,0:00:18.285
in a far-flung Siberian forest,
0:00:18.285,0:00:20.618
including a leading[br]forensic anthropologist
0:00:20.618,0:00:23.101
and veteran of the 9/11 investigation,
0:00:23.101,0:00:25.085
Anthony Falsetti.
0:00:25.402,0:00:27.891
Anthony Falsetti: [br]It's really vast out here.
0:00:27.891,0:00:32.156
So desolate and so [br]far away from civilization,
0:00:32.156,0:00:34.770
but that's where two [br]bodies are supposed to be.
0:00:36.035,0:00:38.303
Narrator: It's another case [br]of huge significance,
0:00:38.303,0:00:39.910
especially for Russia.
0:00:41.161,0:00:43.475
The remains of long lost[br]members of its royal family
0:00:43.475,0:00:45.593
may have been found at last,
0:00:45.593,0:00:47.494
but nobody knows for sure.
0:00:50.061,0:00:51.608
The truth of what happened to the Romanovs
0:00:51.608,0:00:54.344
has long been blurred by myth and legend.
0:00:55.369,0:00:58.986
Did the royal line of Russia[br]end in a violent murder
0:00:58.986,0:01:02.808
or did an heir to the[br]throne escape and survive?
0:01:07.488,0:01:10.571
The investigation team [br]also includes Dr. Michael Coble,
0:01:10.571,0:01:12.319
a leading forensic DNA expert
0:01:12.319,0:01:13.919
who works for the Pentagon,
0:01:13.919,0:01:16.918
identifying the remains[br]of American soldiers.
0:01:18.619,0:01:21.635
With the American military's[br]laboratories at his full disposal,
0:01:21.635,0:01:25.488
he'll attempt to put names[br]to these mystery bones.
0:01:27.504,0:01:29.638
The team is headed into a remote forest,
0:01:29.638,0:01:33.502
20 kilometers outside the [br]Siberian city of Yekaterinburg.
0:01:34.620,0:01:40.252
[♫]
0:01:40.252,0:01:42.155
This far-flung industiral outpost
0:01:42.155,0:01:45.173
is where the fate of [br]Russia's royal family was written.
0:01:50.438,0:01:51.837
Five children,
0:01:51.837,0:01:54.022
born into royalty.
0:01:56.120,0:01:59.169
The grand duchesses Olga and Tatiana,
0:01:59.169,0:02:01.608
the flower of young womanhood.
0:02:02.541,0:02:05.969
Maria and Anastasia are[br]beguiling teenagers.
0:02:08.734,0:02:10.567
13 year old Crown Prince Alexei
0:02:10.567,0:02:12.944
is the boy born to be king.
0:02:12.944,0:02:15.073
Millions of loyal Russians revere them,
0:02:15.073,0:02:17.450
even worship them.
0:02:19.349,0:02:22.941
A divine family set on[br]Earth to rule the nation.
0:02:22.941,0:02:26.090
But the Romanov line would end with them.
0:02:29.902,0:02:32.602
1917, the Russian Revolution.
0:02:32.602,0:02:34.817
In its wake, a civil war raged,
0:02:34.817,0:02:37.981
the Bolsheviks against[br]the Czarist loyalists.
0:02:41.665,0:02:42.581
[explosions/gunshots]
0:02:43.429,0:02:45.147
The royal family was imprisoned,
0:02:45.147,0:02:46.663
exiled to Siberia,
0:02:46.663,0:02:49.234
under house arrest in Yekaterinburg.
0:02:51.151,0:02:52.700
But their popularity among the masses
0:02:52.700,0:02:56.456
presented a problem for[br]the fledgling Soviet administration.
0:02:58.689,0:03:00.756
The Bolshevik leadership [br]planned a show trial
0:03:00.756,0:03:03.437
and execution for the Czar.
0:03:04.419,0:03:06.420
Perhaps wary of a Populist backlash,
0:03:06.420,0:03:09.901
some accounts say Lenin[br]wanted the rest of the family kept alive
0:03:09.901,0:03:11.883
as political pawns.
0:03:13.617,0:03:16.221
From here, forensic [br]anthropologist Dr. Anthony Falsetti
0:03:16.221,0:03:17.821
and the investigative team
0:03:17.821,0:03:20.864
have to complete their journey on foot,
0:03:20.864,0:03:25.229
to meet the man who may [br]have made a stunning historical find.
0:03:25.229,0:03:28.119
[indistinct greetings]
0:03:28.119,0:03:30.687
Falsetti: So, what did you find?
0:03:30.687,0:03:32.206
Where did you find it?
0:03:32.206,0:03:35.362
[speaking Russian]
0:03:35.362,0:03:37.043
How deep was the burial?
0:03:37.043,0:03:40.443
Narrator: The remains have been [br]moved to a morgue for safekeeping.
0:03:40.443,0:03:43.043
Falsetti: What else did[br]you find with it, any artifcats?
0:03:43.043,0:03:45.209
[translating into Russian]
0:03:45.209,0:03:46.759
[speaking Russian]
0:03:46.759,0:03:48.840
Falsetti: What I'm hearing[br]from these archeologists
0:03:48.840,0:03:50.823
is they have bones,
0:03:50.823,0:03:53.272
maybe some projectiles.
0:03:53.272,0:03:56.021
What we don't have is any evidence
0:03:56.021,0:03:58.786
of a really controlled excavation,
0:03:58.786,0:04:01.782
and it's quite frankly making me nervous.
0:04:02.632,0:04:04.763
Narrator: So far, [br]there's not much to go on.
0:04:04.763,0:04:06.764
There's no evidence of the crime scene
0:04:06.764,0:04:09.488
and scant documentation[br]to support the find.
0:04:10.172,0:04:12.337
The Romanov case has [br]been plagued by hoaxes
0:04:12.337,0:04:14.421
and coverups over the years
0:04:14.421,0:04:17.585
and this latest find may be no different.
0:04:20.803,0:04:22.266
In the days after the murders,
0:04:22.266,0:04:25.491
newspapers reported only[br]that the Czar had been killed.
0:04:26.992,0:04:29.008
For eight years, the [br]Soviet state maintained
0:04:29.008,0:04:31.906
that the rest of the royal[br]family was alive and well,
0:04:31.906,0:04:34.127
but the coverup failed,
0:04:34.127,0:04:36.824
forcing the Russian[br]government to change its story
0:04:36.824,0:04:39.090
and make a shocking admission.
0:04:40.473,0:04:44.761
All 11 members of the royal [br]household had been executed.
0:04:45.994,0:04:48.893
Then came reported [br]sightings of Prince Alexei
0:04:48.893,0:04:51.655
and Princess Anastasia.
0:04:51.655,0:04:54.974
Were the children dead or alive?
0:04:54.974,0:04:57.875
Sensational rumors kept emerging.
0:05:00.725,0:05:01.784
In Mosow, there was unease
0:05:01.784,0:05:04.520
about the exact fate of the Romanovs.
0:05:05.585,0:05:06.923
An imposter claiming to be Alexei
0:05:06.923,0:05:09.047
was officially investigated.
0:05:09.780,0:05:11.913
Years pass.
0:05:12.849,0:05:14.615
Under Stalin's iron rule,
0:05:14.615,0:05:17.973
it was forbidden to[br]even mention the royal family.
0:05:19.607,0:05:22.040
In the 1950s, a member [br]of the original firing squad
0:05:22.040,0:05:24.305
surfaced in the United States.
0:05:24.305,0:05:25.836
Austrian Rudolf Lacher
0:05:25.836,0:05:27.568
claimed he had been left to guard a truck
0:05:27.568,0:05:29.727
carrying the royal bodies.
0:05:29.727,0:05:32.044
When it got stuck in the [br]mud in the middle of a forest,
0:05:32.044,0:05:35.784
he said he helped a[br]wounded Anastasia escape.
0:05:37.038,0:05:42.041
[pained breathing]
0:05:42.041,0:05:44.923
The Romanov legend and [br]rumors of a surviving heir
0:05:44.923,0:05:47.047
were revived.
0:05:51.292,0:05:54.322
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991,
0:05:54.322,0:05:57.222
local academics armed with [br]shovels and vital information
0:05:57.222,0:06:00.306
ventured into the [br]Koptyaki Forest to dig.
0:06:04.521,0:06:07.103
Although the Romanovs [br]executioners were long dead,
0:06:07.103,0:06:10.002
papers handed down by[br]the commander, Yakov Yurovsky,
0:06:10.002,0:06:13.685
held clues as to where the bodies[br]of the royal household might lie.
0:06:17.613,0:06:19.844
The dig revealed a shallow grave,
0:06:19.844,0:06:22.577
skulls, bones, full skeletons,
0:06:22.577,0:06:24.593
but something was missing.
0:06:29.682,0:06:33.679
Peter Sarandinaki: In 1991, [br]nine sets of remains were found.
0:06:33.679,0:06:36.669
There were 11 people that were killed
0:06:36.669,0:06:39.434
in Yekaterinburg that night.
0:06:39.434,0:06:42.454
Two sets of remains were still missing.
0:06:43.436,0:06:44.631
Narrator: The Czar and Czarina,
0:06:44.631,0:06:45.623
three of their daughters,
0:06:45.623,0:06:48.073
and four attendants are identified,
0:06:48.073,0:06:49.827
but two of the youngest royal children
0:06:49.827,0:06:52.527
aren't among the dead.
0:06:56.575,0:06:59.592
Now, little more than[br]60 meters from the first grave,
0:06:59.592,0:07:01.574
a second find is being investigated
0:07:01.574,0:07:04.590
by leading American forensic experts.
0:07:06.757,0:07:09.457
Locked away in a [br]Yekaterinburg city morgue,
0:07:09.457,0:07:10.767
the newly uncovered bones
0:07:10.767,0:07:12.851
will be subject to the most intensive
0:07:12.851,0:07:17.034
21st century forensic analysis.
0:07:17.034,0:07:27.137
[♫]
0:07:27.137,0:07:29.987
Did all of the Russian[br]royals come to a violent end
0:07:29.987,0:07:32.787
at the hands of Bolshevik executioners?
0:07:33.990,0:07:35.970
Or could the legends be true?
0:07:37.505,0:07:41.394
Did two of Czar [br]Nicholas's children survive?
0:07:42.568,0:07:44.536
Forensic anthropologist Anthony Falsetti
0:07:44.536,0:07:46.619
and DNA expert Michael Coble
0:07:46.619,0:07:48.496
are about to get their [br]first look at the bones
0:07:48.496,0:07:50.513
that may answer these intriuging questions
0:07:50.513,0:07:52.647
once and for all.
0:07:53.713,0:07:56.080
Under lock and key[br]in the Yekaterinburg morgue,
0:07:56.080,0:07:58.328
access to these potentially royal remains
0:07:58.328,0:08:00.327
is tightly controlled.
0:08:02.293,0:08:05.375
In the year 2000, the Romanovs [br]were canonized as martyrs
0:08:05.375,0:08:07.531
by the Russian Orthodox Church.
0:08:07.531,0:08:11.964
If authenticated, these [br]bones could become holy relics.
0:08:17.512,0:08:20.649
Anthony Falsetti is on[br]stranger to these halls.
0:08:20.649,0:08:21.999
He was part of the original team
0:08:21.999,0:08:23.496
assembled in the 1990s
0:08:23.496,0:08:26.631
to investigate the first [br]set of Romanov bones.
0:08:29.946,0:08:33.528
The investigation and its findings [br]proved highly controversial,
0:08:33.528,0:08:36.079
sparking a very public row.
0:08:36.894,0:08:42.513
[indistinct speech]
0:08:42.513,0:08:45.612
Russian scientists used[br]facial reconstruction techniques
0:08:45.612,0:08:48.912
to claim that one of the [br]bodes was that of Anastasia,
0:08:48.912,0:08:51.406
but others were unconvinced.
0:08:51.406,0:08:54.196
Still more troubling was[br]the body count discrepancy.
0:08:54.196,0:08:55.891
Man: Two bodies are still missing
0:08:55.891,0:08:57.397
and it is a mystery.
0:08:57.397,0:08:58.747
Narrator: If two bodies were missing,
0:08:58.747,0:09:02.070
was the entire grave[br]unrelated to the Romanovs?
0:09:02.070,0:09:04.782
There were accusations[br]of political interference
0:09:04.782,0:09:07.331
and rushed, rash conclusions.
0:09:08.681,0:09:10.230
In the end, the Russian Orthodox Church
0:09:10.230,0:09:12.979
rejected the DNA evidence as tainted
0:09:12.979,0:09:14.791
and refused to [br]acknowledge that the remains
0:09:14.791,0:09:17.074
were in fact the Romanovs.
0:09:21.305,0:09:24.489
But now this new find[br]could change all that,
0:09:24.489,0:09:27.637
and this time the team wants [br]to avoid the storm of publicity
0:09:27.637,0:09:31.068
that engulfed investigations in 1991.
0:09:31.068,0:09:34.296
But the Romanov mystery[br]is an enduring fascination.
0:09:34.296,0:09:38.551
[♫]
0:09:38.551,0:09:42.789
Man: We arrive into the lab[br]and there's a massive number of cameras
0:09:42.789,0:09:45.289
and people doing interviews
0:09:45.289,0:09:48.709
while we're trying to look at the remains.
0:09:48.709,0:09:51.794
Narrator: The start of the latest [br]investigation makes the evening news.
0:09:51.794,0:09:55.610
[speaking Russian]
0:09:55.610,0:09:57.307
But once the cameras have gone,
0:09:57.307,0:09:59.575
a critical story emerges.
0:10:01.656,0:10:03.030
Falsetti: Once the cameras were gone,
0:10:03.030,0:10:04.963
we get down to work
0:10:04.963,0:10:07.080
and what I discover is that
0:10:07.080,0:10:09.128
these 44 fragments,
0:10:09.128,0:10:13.290
many we're not going to[br]be able to identify as being human.
0:10:13.290,0:10:15.394
Perhaps they're not.
0:10:15.394,0:10:18.316
There's just not enough material here.
0:10:19.016,0:10:19.931
Narrator: These shattered remains
0:10:19.931,0:10:22.015
look nothing like [br]the nearly complete skeletons
0:10:22.015,0:10:24.072
found in 1991.
0:10:24.072,0:10:26.980
Broken, almost unrecognizable.
0:10:31.696,0:10:33.579
But careful inspection by expert eyes
0:10:33.579,0:10:37.329
reveals the fragmentary remains are human.
0:10:39.445,0:10:41.554
Man: Two people.
0:10:41.554,0:10:44.188
Narrator: But exactly who[br]are they the remains of?
0:10:44.188,0:10:48.635
Could these be the bones[br]of Alexei, Maria, or Anastasia,
0:10:48.635,0:10:51.251
or do they belong[br]to someone else entirely?
0:10:54.819,0:10:55.881
Falsetti: The mystery within the mystery
0:10:55.881,0:10:58.281
is what happened to Anastasia?
0:10:58.281,0:10:59.281
Did she escape?
0:10:59.281,0:11:01.686
Or, is she here?
0:11:03.318,0:11:06.934
Right now, I can't tell[br]whether I've two females
0:11:06.934,0:11:09.881
or a male and a female,
0:11:09.881,0:11:11.798
or whether these fragments
0:11:11.798,0:11:16.002
are part of the other bones[br]that were already recovered.
0:11:19.633,0:11:22.482
Narrator: Handling and photographing[br]what may be the bones of saints
0:11:22.482,0:11:24.259
is a delicate matter.
0:11:24.259,0:11:25.692
Each fragment must be handled
0:11:25.692,0:11:28.742
with the greatest respect and sensitivity.
0:11:28.742,0:11:35.069
[♫]
0:11:35.069,0:11:38.069
Then, after intricate examination,
0:11:38.069,0:11:39.784
a breakthrough.
0:11:40.353,0:11:42.047
Falsetti: It doesn't look like much.
0:11:42.047,0:11:45.414
It is a portion of the pelvis.
0:11:45.414,0:11:47.696
It is our os-cox.
0:11:47.696,0:11:49.313
And, as it turns out,
0:11:49.313,0:11:51.199
it is from a female.
0:11:51.199,0:11:55.165
We can deduce that by the sciatic notch.
0:11:55.165,0:11:57.647
In males, it would be more narrow.
0:11:57.647,0:11:59.730
In females,
0:11:59.730,0:12:01.495
it is quite wide.
0:12:01.495,0:12:02.631
That is critical.
0:12:02.631,0:12:04.766
We know we have two people.
0:12:04.766,0:12:08.065
Now we know that one of them is female.
0:12:08.353,0:12:11.347
Narrator: A male and a female.
0:12:11.347,0:12:13.613
Body parts from two individuals.
0:12:13.613,0:12:16.703
But are they the missing Romanov children?
0:12:17.303,0:12:19.542
Anthony Falsetti and [br]the forensic anthropologists
0:12:19.542,0:12:22.009
will have to dig deeper.
0:12:24.491,0:12:26.275
For Mike Coble and the DNA team,
0:12:26.275,0:12:27.934
there's another problem.
0:12:27.934,0:12:30.831
These bones show evidence of burning.
0:12:32.699,0:12:34.730
Michael Coble: Looking at the remains,
0:12:34.730,0:12:35.929
I'm beginning to think
0:12:35.929,0:12:38.329
this is going to be a very difficult case.
0:12:38.329,0:12:39.930
When, when the bone is burned,
0:12:39.930,0:12:41.611
there's a lot of heat generated
0:12:41.611,0:12:43.617
which is not very good for DNA.
0:12:43.617,0:12:46.466
Take our sample from down here.
0:12:46.466,0:12:48.671
2.5, 3 centimeter cut.
0:12:48.671,0:12:50.172
Narrator: Michael Coble selects fragments
0:12:50.172,0:12:53.304
most likely to yield readable DNA.
0:12:54.273,0:12:57.888
Minute pieces will be cut off[br]and sent to his lab in America
0:12:57.888,0:13:00.030
and to other researchers around the world
0:13:00.030,0:13:01.606
for independent analysis.
0:13:01.606,0:13:03.118
Coble: These are the [br]fragments that we think...
0:13:03.118,0:13:04.873
Narrator: But teasing [br]out the 90 year old genes
0:13:04.873,0:13:06.584
that may lie dormant in the fragments
0:13:06.584,0:13:08.166
will take weeks
0:13:08.166,0:13:10.783
and the chances that [br]the DNA has survived intact
0:13:10.783,0:13:12.616
are slim.
0:13:12.616,0:13:19.651
[♫]
0:13:19.651,0:13:20.665
For the forensic team,
0:13:20.665,0:13:22.579
a few pieces of badly damaged bone
0:13:22.579,0:13:24.921
isn't much to go on.
0:13:26.421,0:13:29.004
But, in the town where the[br]Romanov family met their end,
0:13:29.004,0:13:31.554
there are more leads to pursue.
0:13:31.554,0:13:38.402
[♫]
0:13:38.402,0:13:40.551
Local archeologist Sergei Prokofiev
0:13:40.551,0:13:41.635
was one of the excavators
0:13:41.635,0:13:44.863
who found the second lot of bones in 2007.
0:13:46.377,0:13:48.260
He has kept and carefully stored evidence
0:13:48.260,0:13:50.399
taken from the grave in the forest.
0:13:51.051,0:13:52.630
Among the artifacts he's preserved
0:13:52.630,0:13:55.332
are fragments of a wooden crate,
0:13:55.332,0:13:56.782
quantities of ash,
0:13:56.782,0:13:58.846
and some pieces of pottery.
0:13:59.580,0:14:01.329
Each is a clue to what might have happened
0:14:01.329,0:14:03.137
when the remains were buried.
0:14:03.137,0:14:09.619
[♫]
0:14:09.619,0:14:11.501
The ash corroborates with burn marks
0:14:11.501,0:14:13.391
found on the bones.
0:14:14.757,0:14:17.587
A grim picture is [br]beginning to materialize.
0:14:17.587,0:14:19.086
Falsetti: What kind of container...
0:14:22.352,0:14:23.012
[Grunt]
0:14:23.012,0:14:26.590
Narrator: The pottery shards are[br]perhaps the most compelling evidence.
0:14:26.590,0:14:29.125
They match similar fragments [br]found in the nearby grave
0:14:29.125,0:14:31.715
uncovered in 1991.
0:14:31.715,0:14:32.996
Falsetti: These are the ones from 1991?
0:14:32.996,0:14:36.045
Sergei Prokofiev:[br]Da [continues in Russian]
0:14:36.045,0:14:37.362
Narrator: Other pieces of the puzzle
0:14:37.362,0:14:39.962
will have to be found [br]and put together correctly
0:14:39.962,0:14:42.376
before a true picture can emerge
0:14:42.376,0:14:44.278
of exactly what happened in the forest
0:14:44.278,0:14:48.059
outside Yekaterinburg[br]more than 90 years ago.
0:14:48.059,0:14:52.099
[indistinct speech]
0:14:52.099,0:14:55.309
The most important pieces to that puzzle:
0:14:56.925,0:14:58.825
three bullets.
0:14:59.791,0:15:01.037
Exhumed from the grave,
0:15:01.037,0:15:02.836
these projectiles may be the very bullets
0:15:02.836,0:15:06.190
that killed the heir[br]to the Romanov throne.
0:15:06.190,0:15:07.640
[gunshot]
0:15:08.313,0:15:11.963
If they match the bullets [br]found in the nearby grave in 1991,
0:15:11.963,0:15:14.478
a conclusive forensic [br]connection could be made
0:15:14.478,0:15:17.277
between the two graves.
0:15:17.277,0:15:25.710
[♫]
0:15:25.710,0:15:28.700
The bullets are taken for expert analysis.
0:15:30.633,0:15:32.083
When fired from a gun,
0:15:32.083,0:15:33.982
a bullet is scored [br]with distinctive scratches
0:15:33.982,0:15:36.429
as it travels through the barrel.
0:15:38.578,0:15:42.148
These so-called ball [br]markings are like fingerprints.
0:15:45.915,0:15:49.496
The first of the three bullets found [br]in the 2007 grave excavation
0:15:49.496,0:15:52.760
is too damaged for analysis,
0:15:53.794,0:15:56.976
but the other two have survived intact.
0:15:59.176,0:16:03.791
Initial tests show the other two bullets[br]have nearly identical ball marks,
0:16:03.791,0:16:07.140
implying that the same [br]kind of gun was used.
0:16:08.025,0:16:09.449
Tech [interpreted from Russian]: [br]We can determine that the bullets
0:16:09.449,0:16:13.154
were shot from the same weapon, [br]a browning pistol.
0:16:13.154,0:16:15.837
Narrator: The type of weapon may [br]have been identified,
0:16:15.837,0:16:20.797
but the results have exposed [br]yet another twist in the tale.
0:16:20.797,0:16:22.530
Tech [interpreted from Russian]: [br]These bullets are different in caliber
0:16:22.530,0:16:25.137
than the ones found in 1991.
0:16:26.286,0:16:29.935
Narrator: The bullets don't match those [br]found in the earlier grave,
0:16:29.935,0:16:32.284
meaning a different gun[br]had to have been used
0:16:32.284,0:16:35.694
to kill those buried in[br]the other grave nearby.
0:16:36.494,0:16:39.427
Falsetti: We know that this gun[br]is from the same time period,
0:16:39.427,0:16:44.025
but we don't have[br]a direct tie to the '91 finds.
0:16:45.940,0:16:47.399
Narrator: No link.
0:16:47.399,0:16:50.862
A new and previously unknown weapon.
0:16:53.811,0:16:57.428
If there's no hard evidence linking[br]the graves to the same crime,
0:16:57.428,0:17:01.727
then perhaps the remains in the[br]latest grave belong to nameless victims
0:17:01.727,0:17:05.092
and have nothing to do with the[br]slaughter of the Romanov family.
0:17:05.092,0:17:10.625
[♫]
0:17:10.625,0:17:14.522
So far, forensic investigations[br]haven't been able to link the graves
0:17:14.522,0:17:17.286
or the remains found inside them.
0:17:18.918,0:17:24.750
In Russia, the forensic investigator[br]Anthony Falsetti's trail is running cold.
0:17:29.916,0:17:32.015
But the answer to [br]the lost bones' identity
0:17:32.015,0:17:33.947
and to what really[br]happened to Anastasia
0:17:33.947,0:17:35.980
and the rest of the Romanov children
0:17:35.980,0:17:38.563
may be inside this box.
0:17:41.529,0:17:43.946
These are the samples[br]DNA expert Michael Coble
0:17:43.946,0:17:47.127
selected back at the Yekaterinburg Morgue.
0:17:47.127,0:17:50.027
They've made the journey halfway[br]around the world to the United States,
0:17:50.027,0:17:53.452
sealed in contamination-proof containers.
0:17:54.284,0:17:58.982
Other samples are on their way to [br]Austria and other labs around the world.
0:17:58.982,0:18:02.780
[♫]
0:18:02.780,0:18:05.540
The package is brought[br]into a sterile room.
0:18:07.157,0:18:09.107
At each stage, proper [br]procedures are followed
0:18:09.107,0:18:12.788
to make sure that the samples[br]aren't damaged or contaminated.
0:18:17.906,0:18:21.857
The tiny samples inside [br]weigh just a few grams each.
0:18:21.857,0:18:26.298
Are these the remains of Alexei,[br]Maria, or Anastasia Romanov?
0:18:35.562,0:18:39.044
To find out, viable DNA[br]will have to be extracted,
0:18:39.044,0:18:40.895
then traced back through the generations
0:18:40.895,0:18:44.477
to genetic markers shared [br]by a select group of people:
0:18:44.477,0:18:48.077
the intermarried households [br]of European royalty.
0:18:48.077,0:18:50.360
[♫]
0:18:50.360,0:18:52.841
The Romanov children, [br]like the British royal family,
0:18:52.841,0:18:55.521
were descended from Queen Victoria.
0:18:55.521,0:18:57.421
The DNA in this royal bloodline
0:18:57.421,0:19:01.260
bears unique identifying[br]genetic characteristics.
0:19:01.260,0:19:07.329
[♫]
0:19:07.329,0:19:11.358
Michael Coble and his team are more[br]used to dealing with modern remains.
0:19:12.157,0:19:14.674
These bone fragments [br]are nearly a century old,
0:19:14.674,0:19:18.274
and teasing viable DNA[br]out of them won't be easy.
0:19:20.139,0:19:25.138
DNA is fragile and easily [br]damaged by the ravages of time.
0:19:27.005,0:19:29.188
They've endured almost[br]a century below ground
0:19:29.188,0:19:32.721
in a climate of extremes,[br]well below freezing in winter
0:19:32.721,0:19:35.653
and swelteringly hot in summer.
0:19:35.653,0:19:43.435
[♫]
0:19:43.435,0:19:45.384
To extract and test the DNA,
0:19:45.384,0:19:48.135
most of the powdered[br]sample will be used up.
0:19:48.852,0:19:51.186
If this first attempt fails,
0:19:51.186,0:19:53.085
there might not be [br]enough material left over
0:19:53.085,0:19:56.318
for a second definitive DNA analysis,
0:19:58.367,0:20:03.661
and the mystery of Russia's [br]royal grave may never be solved.
0:20:13.809,0:20:15.359
An international effort is underway
0:20:15.359,0:20:20.163
to solve the 90 year old murder [br]mystery of the Russian royal family.
0:20:21.795,0:20:25.195
American forensic anthropologist, [br]Anthony Falsetti, has a lead
0:20:25.195,0:20:27.812
that may help him piece together[br]separate shreds of evidence
0:20:27.812,0:20:29.897
recovered from the crime scene.
0:20:30.713,0:20:34.213
It's a testimony from a long dead witness.
0:20:37.495,0:20:39.861
Years ago, it would [br]have been unthinkable,
0:20:39.861,0:20:41.777
but now an American investigator
0:20:41.777,0:20:45.826
has high level access[br]to Moscow's state archive.
0:20:46.576,0:20:50.175
Falsetti: Here I am, an American [br]scientist, two floors below ground,
0:20:50.175,0:20:53.224
a hundred years worth[br]of communist secrets.
0:20:53.224,0:20:56.368
Narrator: The keeper of those [br]secrets is Dr. Ludmila Levkova.
0:20:59.733,0:21:03.764
Giant blast doors designed to protect [br]the Kremlin's most precious records
0:21:03.764,0:21:06.704
from nuclear attacks swing open.
0:21:08.587,0:21:09.303
Falsetti: We're down here.
0:21:09.303,0:21:13.869
It's 30 feet, walls are two feet[br]thick, and this is Lenin's archive.
0:21:13.869,0:21:17.602
Narrator: If Soviet archives hold [br]the missing pieces to the Romanov puzzle,
0:21:17.602,0:21:19.589
this is where they'll be.
0:21:19.589,0:21:22.721
Falsetti: So, these are Lenin's [br]documents? These originals?
0:21:22.721,0:21:26.114
Ludmila Levkova: Telegrama. [br][speaking indistinctly]
0:21:26.114,0:21:27.782
Falsetti: This one's[br]from Copenhagen, correct?
0:21:27.782,0:21:28.314
Ludmila Levkova: Yeah.
0:21:28.314,0:21:29.062
Falsetti: Okay.
0:21:29.062,0:21:31.410
Rumor here going that the Czar[br]has been murdered.
0:21:31.410,0:21:33.822
Kindly wire facts.
0:21:33.822,0:21:36.004
Narrator: This inquiry was [br]one of many sent to Lenin
0:21:36.004,0:21:38.604
in the weeks and days before the killing.
0:21:38.604,0:21:39.918
This was his reply.
0:21:39.918,0:21:42.050
Falsetti: "Rumor not true. Czar safe.
0:21:42.050,0:21:45.250
All rumors are[br]only lie of capitalist press."
0:21:45.250,0:21:47.615
And it's signed Lenin.
0:21:51.047,0:21:52.381
Narrator: When Lenin wrote this reply,
0:21:52.381,0:21:56.265
the royal family was alive, asleep.
0:21:56.265,0:21:58.593
But they had only hours left to live.
0:21:59.022,0:22:01.546
By daybreak on the 17th of July,
0:22:01.546,0:22:04.273
the deed had been done.
0:22:04.273,0:22:07.881
But exactly what happened in the[br]cellar is still open to question.
0:22:08.632,0:22:10.896
Only the executioners knew,
0:22:10.896,0:22:14.370
and their statements are [br]on file in another basement.
0:22:15.488,0:22:19.204
The report filed by the head[br]executioner, Commander Yakov Yurovsky,
0:22:19.204,0:22:21.985
is regarded as the most accurate account,
0:22:21.985,0:22:24.000
and makes chilling reading.
0:22:24.000,0:22:26.286
Likova [interpreted from Russian]: [br]Yurovsky said this about
0:22:26.286,0:22:28.649
the execution [br]of the emperor's family.
0:22:29.781,0:22:31.731
They stood along the wall,
0:22:31.731,0:22:34.913
and here he said the[br]following words to them:
0:22:34.913,0:22:38.145
"The Reign of the Romanovs[br]has reached its end.
0:22:38.145,0:22:40.411
Despite the fact that relatives both outside
0:22:40.411,0:22:43.526
and inside the country[br]are trying to liberate them,
0:22:43.526,0:22:48.359
the Euro-Soviet of the workers' [br]deputies has decreed they must be shot."
0:22:48.359,0:22:51.906
[♫]
0:22:51.906,0:22:54.472
Gregg King: When the executioners[br]opened fire,
0:22:54.472,0:22:56.338
there were a number of problems.
0:22:56.338,0:23:00.105
Amongst them, they were in a[br]basement room with stone walls,
0:23:00.105,0:23:04.124
which sent the bullets sort [br]of ricocheting around the room.
0:23:05.375,0:23:07.641
Likova [interpreted from Russian]: [br]The firing, Yurovsky says,
0:23:07.641,0:23:10.140
becomes ever so confused,
0:23:10.140,0:23:12.174
and when this confused fire ended,
0:23:12.174,0:23:15.407
the shooters saw the[br]daughters were still alive.
0:23:16.073,0:23:18.474
They shot the girls, but nothing happened.
0:23:18.474,0:23:20.900
They weren't able to kill them.
0:23:20.900,0:23:23.216
Narrator: Incredibly, [br]eyewitness accounts agree
0:23:23.216,0:23:25.113
that the duchesses seemed to be protected
0:23:25.113,0:23:29.771
by jewel-filled corsets that[br]acted like bulletproof vests.
0:23:33.521,0:23:35.795
Statements by surviving [br]firing squad members
0:23:35.795,0:23:39.195
recorded in the 1960s confirmed this.
0:23:41.578,0:23:44.736
[Recording] It appeared they'd [br]sewn diamonds into their bras,
0:23:44.736,0:23:47.481
a variety of necklaces, pearls, etc. etc.
0:23:47.481,0:23:48.712
Bullets were bouncing off.
0:23:48.712,0:23:50.962
There was somebody, well, so to say,
0:23:50.962,0:23:53.196
as if they are not finally killed.
0:23:53.196,0:23:56.299
This woman, Anastasia.
0:23:56.982,0:23:58.880
Narrator: A botched execution.
0:23:58.880,0:24:01.866
Anastasia may have [br]survived the initial gunfire.
0:24:01.866,0:24:03.415
Could she really have cheated death
0:24:03.415,0:24:05.938
with a gem-laden corset?
0:24:08.221,0:24:09.727
And if that was true,
0:24:09.727,0:24:11.927
then what else might be possible?
0:24:11.927,0:24:14.027
Falsetti: All the accounts [br]go on to say that
0:24:14.027,0:24:18.595
everyone was finally killed with [br]a gunshot wound to the head.
0:24:18.595,0:24:20.329
But what if that's a lie?
0:24:20.329,0:24:22.965
What if there were co-conspirators?
0:24:24.197,0:24:27.213
Narrator: Co-conspirators[br]that could've helped her escape.
0:24:27.213,0:24:30.063
It's another unsubstantiated story.
0:24:30.063,0:24:32.696
[girl crying]
0:24:32.696,0:24:35.396
The forensic investigator decides[br]to stage an experiment,
0:24:35.396,0:24:38.533
to put the first part [br]of the story to the test.
0:24:39.699,0:24:43.146
Falsetti: Could jewels stop a bullet?
0:24:45.312,0:24:46.457
Narrator: Diamonds are the hardest
0:24:46.457,0:24:49.189
naturally occurring[br]substance known to man,
0:24:49.189,0:24:50.438
but aren't practical
0:24:50.438,0:24:52.825
or within the budget of this experiment.
0:24:53.525,0:24:55.347
Scoring a respectable 8 out of 10
0:24:55.347,0:24:57.215
on the gem hardness scale,
0:24:57.215,0:25:00.730
zirconias are [br]a more realistic alternative.
0:25:01.546,0:25:02.690
The replica corset is finished
0:25:02.690,0:25:05.754
with rose quartz and carnelian.
0:25:06.370,0:25:10.052
Bullets will smash into it [br]at 1,000 feet per second.
0:25:10.052,0:25:12.402
Will they be deflected?
0:25:17.951,0:25:20.216
Interior Ministry [br]Colonel Vladimir Solovyov,
0:25:20.216,0:25:23.011
is the leader of[br]the Romanov investigation.
0:25:23.011,0:25:24.343
He's got special permission
0:25:24.343,0:25:29.123
to handle the actual guns fired [br]by Yurovsky and his execution squad.
0:25:31.390,0:25:35.272
Col Solovyov [interpreted from Russian]: [br]Czar Nicholas II was killed with this pistol.
0:25:35.272,0:25:38.754
This second pistol was also [br]in the basement of the Ipatiev House
0:25:38.754,0:25:43.086
and it may have been used to kill [br]other members of the Czar's family.
0:25:43.086,0:25:48.636
This pistol was also used in[br]all the events in the Ipatiev House.
0:25:50.377,0:25:51.829
Falsetti: It's a grotesque feeling,
0:25:51.829,0:25:54.838
to be in the presence, [br]to hold the weapons,
0:25:54.838,0:25:56.967
that killed this family.
0:25:59.150,0:26:01.965
Narrator: The original guns [br]can't be used in the experiment,
0:26:01.965,0:26:04.164
but the investigation [br]has provided duplicates,
0:26:04.164,0:26:05.764
guns from the same era
0:26:05.764,0:26:08.365
but with less iconic value.
0:26:09.431,0:26:11.046
The reconstructed jewel corsets
0:26:11.046,0:26:14.059
are placed on a mannequin.
0:26:15.391,0:26:19.543
For safety, only the shooter[br]is allowed in the room.
0:26:23.191,0:26:25.155
[gunshot]
0:26:28.755,0:26:29.629
[gunshot]
0:26:29.629,0:26:32.021
Could a diamond corset[br]have shielded Anastasia
0:26:32.021,0:26:34.749
from a hail of bullets?
0:26:39.597,0:26:42.113
Falsetti: We had different [br]powered weapons.
0:26:42.113,0:26:44.181
They were fired sequentially,
0:26:44.181,0:26:47.028
and what we have on the first two
0:26:47.028,0:26:48.472
is clearly some fragmentation.
0:26:48.472,0:26:50.622
There was, these projectiles
0:26:50.622,0:26:52.900
did not pass through on these first two.
0:26:52.900,0:26:56.415
There's an impact site [br]here from the second.
0:26:56.415,0:26:58.632
But none of these were [br]what we would consider
0:26:58.632,0:27:01.597
penetrating gunshot wounds.
0:27:01.597,0:27:04.710
This acts like a bulletproof vest.
0:27:06.726,0:27:09.605
Maybe the legend is true.
0:27:11.872,0:27:13.689
Narrator: Perhaps the bones [br]found in the forest
0:27:13.689,0:27:17.454
aren't from people killed[br]in the basement that night after all.
0:27:17.454,0:27:19.586
A gunshot aimed at the heart,
0:27:19.586,0:27:23.452
deflected by jewels sewn [br]beneath the clothes.
0:27:25.052,0:27:27.202
The accounts that bullets ricocheted,
0:27:27.202,0:27:29.116
that Maria or Anastasia and Alexei
0:27:29.116,0:27:31.547
perhaps survived the initial gunfire
0:27:31.547,0:27:33.851
are becoming plausible.
0:27:34.434,0:27:35.858
For almost a century, [br]these accounts have been
0:27:35.858,0:27:40.196
the basis for many spurious claims [br]to the Russian throne.
0:27:47.662,0:27:50.861
Anna Anderson's claim was the most famous.
0:27:50.861,0:27:54.786
She went to her grave claiming [br]to be the last Grand Duchess Anastasia.
0:27:55.702,0:27:57.534
She convinced many people,
0:27:57.534,0:28:00.232
including the family of Peter Sarandinaki
0:28:00.232,0:28:03.383
whose ancestors were part [br]of the Czar's inner circle.
0:28:03.383,0:28:08.382
[♫]
0:28:08.382,0:28:11.465
Peter Sarandinaki: [br]My mother-in-law, to her dying day,
0:28:11.465,0:28:17.534
to her last day believed[br]that Anna Anderson was Anastasia.
0:28:18.268,0:28:22.266
For instance, she had [br]a triangular injury on her foot
0:28:22.266,0:28:25.501
which was probably a bayonet stab.
0:28:25.501,0:28:27.782
She also had the same
0:28:27.782,0:28:30.969
stubbed toe problem as Anastasia.
0:28:32.101,0:28:36.396
She had the same ear as Anastasia.
0:28:37.178,0:28:40.214
There were a lot of [br]similarities between the two.
0:28:42.530,0:28:44.857
Narrator: Despite her persuasive story,
0:28:44.857,0:28:46.573
DNA testing after her death
0:28:46.573,0:28:48.878
revealed her true identity.
0:28:49.677,0:28:51.263
She was not a royal,
0:28:51.263,0:28:54.246
but a former factory worker from Poland.
0:28:58.626,0:29:00.459
But determining whether the latest remains
0:29:00.459,0:29:02.259
are those of the Romanov family
0:29:02.259,0:29:04.942
or simply another case [br]of mistaken identity
0:29:04.942,0:29:07.142
will take time.
0:29:07.142,0:29:08.641
The DNA is so degraded
0:29:08.641,0:29:10.960
that it must be copied or amplified
0:29:10.960,0:29:13.300
to recover and identify[br]any surviving fragments
0:29:13.300,0:29:15.850
of genetic information that remain.
0:29:19.465,0:29:21.800
At his lab outside Washington D.C.,
0:29:21.800,0:29:23.898
DNA expert Michael Coble and his team
0:29:23.898,0:29:26.564
are using a process called PCR,
0:29:26.564,0:29:29.710
or Polymerase Chain Reaction.
0:29:30.056,0:29:32.665
By exposing the faint traces [br]of DNA that remain
0:29:32.665,0:29:34.527
to a bacterial enzyme,
0:29:34.527,0:29:36.891
a single piece of DNA can be multiplied,
0:29:36.891,0:29:39.384
generating millions of copies.
0:29:43.340,0:29:45.125
But even after amplification,
0:29:45.125,0:29:47.439
there are no guarantees[br]that any readable DNA
0:29:47.439,0:29:50.819
will emerge to[br]make identification possible.
0:29:50.819,0:29:53.935
For now, the identity of [br]the two individuals in the grave
0:29:53.935,0:29:56.249
remains a mystery.
0:29:56.249,0:30:03.400
[♫]
0:30:03.400,0:30:06.066
While the search for viable [br]DNA continues in America,
0:30:06.066,0:30:09.081
in Russia the search for clues[br]has come to an end.
0:30:16.821,0:30:18.668
Forensic expert Anthony Falsetti
0:30:18.690,0:30:20.689
is going back with [br]more questions than answers
0:30:20.689,0:30:22.206
about the most recent grave.
0:30:23.134,0:30:25.160
In the 1991 excavation,
0:30:25.377,0:30:27.745
nearly intact, full skeletons were found.
0:30:29.062,0:30:30.660
But in the grave uncovered in 2007,
0:30:30.660,0:30:32.410
only fragments were unearthed.
0:30:33.510,0:30:35.176
Why were there so few bones?
0:30:35.176,0:30:38.956
Less than 10% of [br]a full skeleton was found.
0:30:41.489,0:30:42.805
But even these scant remains
0:30:42.805,0:30:44.839
can reveal more than DNA.
0:30:53.381,0:30:56.666
The degraded condition [br]of the most recently discovered bones
0:30:56.666,0:30:58.563
might actually be a clue in itself.
0:31:00.883,0:31:02.928
Anthony Falsetti is about[br]to take another look
0:31:02.937,0:31:04.260
at the information he's collected
0:31:04.260,0:31:06.957
at his laboratory at [br]the University of Florida.
0:31:06.957,0:31:11.508
[♫]
0:31:11.508,0:31:12.575
Drawing on his long experience
0:31:12.575,0:31:14.456
of bringing stories of [br]the dead back to life,
0:31:14.456,0:31:16.606
he's looking for any patterns
0:31:16.606,0:31:18.555
or links with other evidence.
0:31:25.865,0:31:28.435
He'll come through[br]the accounts of the executioners
0:31:28.435,0:31:31.830
and see if the history [br]and bones tell a common story.
0:31:35.869,0:31:38.664
He already knows that [br]this will be a harrowing tale.
0:31:39.846,0:31:40.829
The savagery did not end
0:31:40.829,0:31:42.564
when the shooting stopped.
0:31:49.681,0:31:51.945
Firing squad leader Yakov Yurovsky wrote
0:31:51.945,0:31:53.375
that after the killing was done,
0:31:53.375,0:31:56.809
he feared that Loyalist troops [br]might catch them red-handed.
0:31:56.809,0:32:01.524
The plan was for a quick[br]and clean disposal.
0:32:01.524,0:32:04.356
But as the bodies were [br]being loaded into a truck,
0:32:04.356,0:32:06.241
the plan unraveled.
0:32:06.241,0:32:10.255
King: As they were lifting up [br]one of the bodies,
0:32:10.255,0:32:12.304
she sat up and screamed.
0:32:12.304,0:32:14.205
It was either Maria or Anastasia.
0:32:14.205,0:32:16.754
We know that two of the grand duchesses
0:32:16.754,0:32:18.312
left that room alive.
0:32:20.257,0:32:22.916
Ermakov grabbed a nearby rifle
0:32:22.916,0:32:26.025
and ended up smashing them [br]repeatedly in the face
0:32:26.025,0:32:27.608
until they stopped screaming.
0:32:36.498,0:32:37.978
Narrator: The bodies were then transported
0:32:37.978,0:32:40.123
a dozen miles outside Yekaterinburg,
0:32:40.123,0:32:41.888
to the Koptyaki Forest,
0:32:41.888,0:32:44.870
to an area of abandoned mineworks.
0:32:46.168,0:32:48.452
Falsetti: So here's what we know.
0:32:48.452,0:32:50.902
The bodies were taken into the forest.
0:32:50.902,0:32:55.283
They were thrown down a mineshaft.
0:32:55.283,0:32:58.400
Grenades were thrown after them
0:32:58.400,0:33:00.181
in an attempt to collapse the walls.
0:33:02.801,0:33:05.349
[explosion]
0:33:08.129,0:33:10.073
Narrator: The bodies were [br]only partially hidden.
0:33:10.073,0:33:14.591
As dawn approached, [br]Yurovsky returned to Yekaterinburg
0:33:14.591,0:33:16.224
to report to his superiors.
0:33:19.204,0:33:21.098
Misfortune struck again.
0:33:21.098,0:33:24.339
Yurovsky's men got drunk [br]and bragged to locals,
0:33:24.339,0:33:26.621
telling them how they killed the royals
0:33:26.621,0:33:29.053
and the location of the bodies.
0:33:29.869,0:33:32.085
Their commander insisted [br]on keeping the burial secret.
0:33:32.085,0:33:34.702
The corpses had to be moved.
0:33:38.702,0:33:40.502
Falsetti: The next day, [br]the bodies were retrieved
0:33:40.502,0:33:42.351
and Yurovsky has his men
0:33:42.351,0:33:44.534
looking for a new location.
0:33:46.754,0:33:48.140
Narrator: But after the bodies[br]were exhumed,
0:33:48.140,0:33:50.973
summer rain turned [br]the ground to a gluey mud.
0:33:52.391,0:33:53.922
The truck got stuck.
0:33:53.922,0:33:55.440
The corpses had to be offloaded.
0:34:00.240,0:34:01.819
Commander Yurovsky was exhausted
0:34:01.819,0:34:03.637
and his men became mutinous.
0:34:04.578,0:34:07.409
He decided to try burning[br]two of the bodies.
0:34:07.409,0:34:09.275
To make the process easier,
0:34:09.275,0:34:12.307
his men were ordered [br]to dismember the corpses.
0:34:16.807,0:34:19.289
Physical damage to fragment #147
0:34:19.289,0:34:21.164
supports the dismemberment story.
0:34:22.313,0:34:23.997
The royal remains were allegedly subject
0:34:23.997,0:34:25.295
to another indignity,
0:34:25.295,0:34:27.728
but the evidence wouldn't be visible.
0:34:36.396,0:34:39.343
Yurovsky claimed that his men [br]poured acid over the corpses,
0:34:39.343,0:34:41.708
to disfigure them beyond recognition.
0:34:47.998,0:34:50.746
Chemical composition tests [br]on the bones conducted in Russia
0:34:50.746,0:34:53.592
revealed faint traces of sulfuric acid.
0:34:55.158,0:34:58.441
According to Yurovsky, [br]it was then that his men
0:34:58.441,0:35:00.608
burned what was left of the two bodies.
0:35:22.518,0:35:24.070
It's another element of the story
0:35:24.070,0:35:26.356
that can be put to a forensic test.
0:35:27.296,0:35:29.378
As an alternative to human flesh,
0:35:29.378,0:35:31.729
pork is a good substitute.
0:35:33.162,0:35:34.578
The composition and structure of the meat
0:35:34.578,0:35:36.111
is similar to its human equivalent
0:35:36.111,0:35:39.511
and pigs are often used[br]in forensic comparisons.
0:35:45.381,0:35:46.715
Falsetti: We know that they had
0:35:46.715,0:35:48.397
between and hour [br]and a half and three hours
0:35:48.397,0:35:51.063
to completely consume two human bodies.
0:35:51.063,0:35:54.345
Narrator: Three hours later,
0:35:54.345,0:35:57.279
the pig carcass is charred [br]but still intact.
0:35:57.279,0:35:59.194
Falsetti: What we've demonstrated here
0:35:59.194,0:36:01.511
is it's not possible to consume[br]a body in a fire,
0:36:01.511,0:36:03.327
certainly not one for three hours,
0:36:03.327,0:36:05.227
relatively low temperatures.
0:36:08.837,0:36:10.985
Narrator: Yurovsky's plan[br]to incinerate the corpses
0:36:10.985,0:36:12.243
was more than a failure.
0:36:12.243,0:36:13.876
It was a fiasco.
0:36:15.326,0:36:18.793
Dawn was breaking and there[br]were still nine bodies in the truck.
0:36:18.793,0:36:22.123
A drastic change in tactics was in order.
0:36:22.123,0:36:25.023
He claimed his men dug a second pit,
0:36:25.023,0:36:26.338
further to the west.
0:36:26.338,0:36:29.738
That they threw the remaining[br]nine bodies into the pit,
0:36:29.738,0:36:31.271
poured acid on them,
0:36:31.271,0:36:34.387
and then covered them [br]with planks and soil.
0:36:38.877,0:36:40.140
Falsetti: What we know about history
0:36:40.140,0:36:42.276
is being reflected by the evidence.
0:36:45.644,0:36:48.168
Narrator: But circumstantial [br]evidence will not be enough
0:36:48.168,0:36:50.505
to put the legend of[br]Anastasia's escape to rest.
0:36:52.239,0:36:57.687
To prove that the remains[br]are not part of some elaborate hoax,
0:36:57.687,0:37:01.720
historical accounts must be [br]corroborated by the irrefutable:
0:37:01.720,0:37:04.134
DNA.
0:37:06.237,0:37:10.219
Do these new bodies belong[br]to Russia's royal bloodline?
0:37:13.606,0:37:16.886
By most accounts, Czar Nicholas II [br]and his royal family
0:37:16.886,0:37:18.794
were a close, tight-knit group,
0:37:18.794,0:37:20.347
frequently seen together,
0:37:20.347,0:37:27.230
filmed here on a cruise when [br]the children were still very young.
0:37:33.101,0:37:36.011
Then, playing tennis while [br]on holiday a few years later.
0:37:39.769,0:37:43.300
And, parading together [br]in this 1913 celebration
0:37:43.300,0:37:45.449
of 300 years of Romanov rule,
0:37:45.449,0:37:49.049
starring the nine year old [br]Crown Prince Alexei
0:37:49.049,0:37:56.731
and the four daughters about [br]to bloom into womanhood.
0:37:58.333,0:38:00.563
But were the Romanovs[br]as inseparable in death
0:38:00.563,0:38:02.029
as they were in life?
0:38:03.030,0:38:04.795
DNA evidence gathered from the second
0:38:04.795,0:38:06.527
and most recent grave attributed to them
0:38:06.527,0:38:07.928
will tell the story.
0:38:12.414,0:38:15.112
Five months after first selecting[br]the bone samples for analysis,
0:38:15.112,0:38:18.762
DNA expert Mike Coble is now [br]ready to share his findings.
0:38:19.522,0:38:20.728
Falsetti: Let's see what you've got.
0:38:20.971,0:38:23.328
Coble: The first thing that [br]we should look at is here.
0:38:23.328,0:38:25.593
This is the marker that determines sex.
0:38:26.290,0:38:27.473
And, sample 146,
0:38:27.473,0:38:29.389
there's an XY,
0:38:29.389,0:38:32.003
which means this is a male sample.
0:38:32.003,0:38:32.752
Falsetti: Right.
0:38:32.752,0:38:35.649
Coble: And then 147 has one X peak
0:38:35.649,0:38:38.116
and this is what we see with females.
0:38:40.527,0:38:42.487
Narrator: So far, the DNA[br]only demonstrates
0:38:42.487,0:38:44.515
that there were two bodies in the grave,
0:38:44.515,0:38:46.731
one male, one female.
0:38:52.057,0:38:53.688
Mike Coble's next step
0:38:53.688,0:38:55.171
was to compare the male sample
0:38:55.171,0:38:57.970
with DNA from Czar Nicholas [br]and his wife, Alexandra.
0:38:59.271,0:39:01.520
Coble: So, what we have here on top,
0:39:01.520,0:39:03.686
this is a profile from the Czar.
0:39:03.686,0:39:07.801
And this on the bottom[br]is a profile from the Czarina.
0:39:07.801,0:39:12.084
And here is the male sample [br]from the second grave.
0:39:12.733,0:39:16.250
We expect that this particular profile
0:39:16.250,0:39:20.949
is going to be a combination [br]of the Czar and the Czarina
0:39:20.949,0:39:23.181
if this is truly Alexei.
0:39:24.006,0:39:29.288
This male, got this 25 [br]repeat peak from the Czar
0:39:29.872,0:39:33.853
and this 23 peak was passed to him
0:39:33.853,0:39:35.788
from the Czarina.
0:39:36.604,0:39:38.921
And here is the male sample...
0:39:39.166,0:39:42.085
Narrator: That makes 17 [br]out of 17 possible matches.
0:39:42.399,0:39:43.786
Coble: The evidence is overwhelming.
0:39:43.786,0:39:45.168
Falsetti: Yeah, absolutely.
0:39:45.168,0:39:46.700
That's their son.[br]Coble: Exactly.
0:39:46.700,0:39:48.035
Falsetti: And they had one son,
0:39:48.035,0:39:49.734
and that's Alexei.[br]Coble: Exactly.
0:39:49.734,0:39:50.667
Falsetti: Right.
0:39:50.667,0:39:53.250
Narrator: Finally there's compelling [br]forensic evidence
0:39:53.250,0:39:55.489
that 13 year old Crown Prince Alexei
0:39:55.489,0:39:56.634
was executed,
0:39:56.634,0:39:58.132
along with the rest of his family,
0:39:58.132,0:40:00.332
though not buried with them.
0:40:05.098,0:40:07.464
But what about the female [br]found in the second grave?
0:40:07.464,0:40:10.729
Mike Coble compared Alexei's[br]DNA with hers.
0:40:11.046,0:40:12.845
Coble: What's interesting though
0:40:12.845,0:40:16.329
is that notice, they both share 23.
0:40:16.983,0:40:19.012
They both share this marker,
0:40:19.012,0:40:21.927
which is a 33.2 repeat.
0:40:21.927,0:40:25.710
Narrator: Once again, one genetic marker [br]after another is shared.
0:40:25.710,0:40:28.426
Coble: ...147 has 17 repeats,
0:40:28.426,0:40:30.608
23 repeats...
0:40:30.608,0:40:35.107
Narrator: Leading to another [br]overwhelming statistical probability.
0:40:35.107,0:40:37.205
Coble: It's over a million times [br]more likely
0:40:37.205,0:40:39.889
that these remains are siblings
0:40:39.889,0:40:43.187
than if they were completely unrelated.[br]Falsetti: Okay.
0:40:43.187,0:40:44.587
Coble: Very strong evidence here
0:40:44.587,0:40:46.570
that we have a brother and a sister.
0:40:47.650,0:40:49.369
Yeah.
0:40:53.084,0:40:55.186
Narrator: That sister was either Maria
0:40:55.186,0:40:56.551
or Anastasia.
0:40:57.586,0:41:00.567
But beyond that, the DNA evidence [br]has nothing else to suggest.
0:41:02.058,0:41:03.766
Coble: Of course, [br]there is a limitation here.
0:41:03.766,0:41:04.998
The DNA can't tell us
0:41:04.998,0:41:08.115
exactly which child is Anastasia
0:41:08.115,0:41:09.815
and which child is Maria.
0:41:09.815,0:41:12.080
Falsetti: The bottom line is really [br]it doesn't matter anymore
0:41:12.080,0:41:15.112
because they're all [br]present and accounted for.
0:41:15.112,0:41:15.911
Coble: Yeah.
0:41:20.581,0:41:22.864
Narrator: After almost an entire century,
0:41:22.864,0:41:25.497
the final chapter of the Romanov dynasty
0:41:25.497,0:41:26.813
can be written at last.
0:41:28.380,0:41:31.281
Anastasia, the youngest Romanov daughter,
0:41:31.281,0:41:33.513
did not escape the firing squad.
0:41:35.036,0:41:36.462
Like her mother,
0:41:38.902,0:41:40.412
her father,
0:41:42.342,0:41:43.727
her baby brother,
0:41:46.857,0:41:48.671
and her three older sisters,
0:41:49.361,0:41:52.457
Anastasia was shot to death in July 1918,
0:41:52.457,0:41:55.641
one month after her 17th birthday.
0:41:57.973,0:42:00.406
She was buried along with the others
0:42:00.406,0:42:02.289
among the towering birch trees.
0:42:07.999,0:42:10.821
It was surely not the end [br]any of them expected
0:42:11.976,0:42:13.275
or des--
0:42:16.240,0:42:17.890
But the DNA evidence makes it clear,
0:42:17.890,0:42:19.591
that's what really happened.
0:42:19.591,0:42:22.739
On the night when Russia's[br]longest lived dynasty
0:42:22.739,0:42:24.023
came to its abrupt
0:42:24.023,0:42:26.756
and bloody end.
0:42:26.756,0:42:47.341
[♫]