The Truth Behind the Romanov Mystery The Questions Behind the "Romanov" Bones Linger Shay McNeal questions the provenance of the bones which are claimed to be the remains of the Imperial Family but which were discovered in ground that had already been thoroughly searched. The chain of custody of the putative remains is dubious. So dubious it would be difficult to ever get it admitted in a legitimate court of law. She argues that the DNA analysis of the supposed remains is inconclusive. Moreover she questions why, contrary to standard scientific practice, the working notes of the DNA process have not been released for review by any independent group, such as the Russian Expert Commission Abroad - among others. Interestingly, even the Russian Orthodox Church refuses to recognise the remains as those of the Romanovs and during the 1998 funeral in St. Petersburg, the bones were simply referred to as "Christian Victims of the Revolution." The Mystery of the DNA Lives On The book analyzes the controversy surrounding the DNA of the putative Romanovs. The Russian Orthodox Church and numerous leading DNA scientists, not only in Russia but here in the US as well, refute the official DNA conclusions released in Moscow. The western press failed to report that the Russian Orthodox Church refused to allow the bones, upon which the DNA testing was conducted, to be buried as Romanovs. In fact, the patriarch instructed the priest who officiated at the burial to simply call them "Christian Victims of the Revolution." Renowned scientists like Dr. Lev Zhivotovsky, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in Moscow (the home of the leading intellectuals in all of Russia) presented to the Duma, the Russian Parliament, his non-acceptance of the DNA findings. In the US, Dr. William Shields, a consultant to the families of the MIAs in the Viet Nam War, also states his non-acceptance of the official DNA conclusions. New DNA testing that was recently performed by Dr. Alec Knight, the Department of Genetics, Stanford University, is said - in a recent article picked up by ITAR-TASS, with a date line of December 2, 2004 - to have cast additional doubt on the DNA of the putative Romanovs.  Directions to links relating to the studies conducted by Dr. Knight and his colleagues will appear shortly on the New Evidence page. The citations will enable readers to search for the stories that appeared in Annals of Human Biology and in Science Magazine in February 2004 on the work that is being conducted by Dr. Alec Knight and Dr. Lev Zhivotovsky of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Riddles within Riddles... Can the whole truth ever be known about the last days the Romanovs spent in prison in Ekaterinburg? Is it likely we can develope a better understanding of the events in 1918 if we accept that most of what we have come to acknowledge as the historical record is incomplete and contradictory? Is there ever a final chapter to any historical event or do we not have an obligation to examine any new evidence we are fortunate enough to gain? Comments on any material on the web site are welcome: First Name Last Name E-mail Address Comments Click here to read about additional new evidence Back to Top