Military experts examine child's fingers found in trash bin
A child's fingers were pulled from a trash bin at a Honolulu apartment complex.
March 14th, 2012
11:46 AM ET

Military experts examine child's fingers found in trash bin

Six fingers from a child found in a Hawaii trash bin have been examined by experts at the military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Pearl Harbor, but there are no new leads in the case, CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now reports.

Robert Mann, director of the forensics academy at the military unit, said the fingers give investigators only scant information on where to take an investigation.

"It's not a complete hand. It's not a complete body. And so the less you have of an individual to try to identify or to work with, the harder our job is," Mann told Hawaii News Now.

A woman searching for recyclables found the fingers sealed in a zippered plastic storage bag inside a trash bin at a Honolulu housing complex more than a month ago, according to Honolulu police.

She said she originally mistook them for ginger root before determining they were fingers and turning them over to police.

Police sources earlier said the fingers were from a young girl, but Mann said the military lab was unable to determine a sex from the remains.

The lab was able to estimate an age range, he said.

"If it is a young girl, this one would be between maybe 2 and a half to 4 years old. If it's a boy then it would be somewhere between 3 and 5 years old," Mann told Hawaii News Now.

He also described the fingers as dry, leathery and not well preserved, according to the Hawaii News Now report.

Honolulu police were doing DNA tests, Hawaii News Now reported.

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Filed under: Crime • Hawaii
soundoff (127 Responses)
  1. Dominick

    No one is curious on how clean the dumpster is in this photo?

    March 15, 2012 at 9:59 am | Report abuse |
  2. Melissa

    Nancy Grace is always for the victim regardless of race or ethinticity. How can anyone say she was the reason Casey Anthony walked? Nancy didn't try the case. That case was messed up from day one. Poor investigation and a sorry lawyer on the states behalf was the problem there. It's not what you know it's what you can PROVE...... Let's find another soap box shall we, what's done is done.

    March 15, 2012 at 10:38 am | Report abuse |
  3. Nimble

    If only they had some suspects to point the finger at.

    March 15, 2012 at 11:06 am | Report abuse |
  4. red1

    HI is not like America. They let the "BIG BEACH BOYS" run the islands. Just try going out of the tourist areas after dark and the tell me you feel like HI is part of America. Lived on Maui 4yrs. Islands are run by thieves and pirates. Aloha my a**.

    March 15, 2012 at 11:39 am | Report abuse |
  5. p-body

    ET Phone home. Not any more

    March 15, 2012 at 11:59 am | Report abuse |
  6. kimberly

    THAT IS MESSED UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    March 15, 2012 at 12:12 pm | Report abuse |
  7. micky

    keep joking,thats a really sick thing to joke about think about that being a child u love,or being family of a missing child,,its not a joking matter some people make my stomach sick.

    March 15, 2012 at 12:22 pm | Report abuse |
  8. kim

    Anyone think that maybe someone came back from overseas with a war trophy. Sick as it may seem?

    March 15, 2012 at 1:18 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Charlee

    Regardless of who is investigating, some child may not be alive and if the fingers were disposed of in the dumpster, who is to say that the rest of the body over the year wasn't disposed of the same way. Some family is missing a little one and they don't even know yet. That is so sad. Hope they gather more information soon.

    March 15, 2012 at 6:36 pm | Report abuse |
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