By: WHIO Staff
Published: Feb 25, 2025
MONTGOMERY COUNTY — The Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab has installed new equipment they believe will help grieving families.
“It can take several weeks at a major lab to do what this machine can do in one day,” Michelle Welch said.
Welch and Kaitlyn Nicholson are two of the three people at the crime lab who are qualified to use the ANDE machine.
It is a rapid DNA comparison and identification machine.
“Then we will have a sample from the descendant and then we’ll put it in the machine it will run for about an hour and a half,” Welch said.
“We’re holding onto their loved ones to make sure that we have the scientific ID,” Nicholson explained.
Nicholson is the quality control director at the lab.
She said since November they’ve been calibrating the machine to make sure its results are 100 percent accurate.
It’s a big help for families.
“A lot of times they’ll put funeral services on hold because of that so they can start their grieving process properly,” Nicholson said.
The crime lab is now in the process of letting law enforcement agencies across our area know they have this capability.
Estimated costs for the machine come in around $200,000.
The lab used American Rescue Plan dollars from the state to make it happen.
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