FBI Special Agents work with local authorities to identify flood victims

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — After recent flooding in the Tri-Cities area and Western North Carolina, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) joined local authorities to help identify victims.

Special Agents from the FBI’s Johnson City Resident Agency are working with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and the Northeast Regional Medical Examiner’s Office at East Tennessee State University, a release from the FBI stated.

Typically known for connecting crime scenes to criminals, the FBI’s fingerprint expertise is being used differently in the area by reuniting families with loved ones and providing them closure.

“When you’re doing this, you still take extra care because that was a human and that was somebody’s loved one, it was somebody’s mother, brother, sister,” Special Agent Paul Durant, who has been with the FBI for five years, said in a news release. “It’s tough, but it’s rewarding to know that we can provide some answers to families who are suffering.”

Agents often had to work with severely compromised remains, the FBI said, and some victims were swept across state lines from North Carolina into Tennessee.

FBI files only have fingerprints that are lawfully collected, according to the release. Agents reportedly had to use advanced forensic techniques to obtain usable prints. “This method, often seen as a last resort in forensic work, is both unsettling and necessary for precise identification, the FBI said.

The FBI said Durant and Special Agent Reanna O’Hare, who has served as the senior team leader on the Knoxville FBI’s Evidence Response Team, used electronic fingerprint devices to collect prints from victims. The fingerprints were sent directly to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, using smartphone technology.

Durant and O’Hare both relied on the Mobile Biometrics Application (MBA) and Special Processing Center (SPC) teams to expedite victim identifications.

The FBI stated that the special units operated out of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services in West Virginia and provided agents with real-time support.

The process for agents, as well as many first responders and victims, has been emotionally and physically taxing.

Durant said he was hit with a sense of disbelief the first time he walked into the morgue.

“I had never been to a medical examiner’s office before, so it was surreal,” Durant said in the release. “You know what your job is, but it doesn’t fully sink in until you’re standing there, face-to-face with the victims. That’s when it becomes real, and you switch into work mode. There were days when it was overwhelming—seeing the destruction and hearing the stories. But at the end of the day, knowing we can help identify these victims and bring some comfort to their families makes it all worth it.”

“And just seeing the pictures and knowing that people have lost everything, including their family members, it’s devastating,” O’Hare said.

“I joined the FBI to help people,” O’Hare said. “In situations like this, that’s why I am doing my very small part to try to provide some closure for the families of the victims.”

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