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