In 1992, DNA evidence was used to identify Josef Mengele from skeletal remains. Bone DNA analysis was therefore conducted in an attempt to provide independent evidence of identity. Trace amounts of highly degraded human DNA were successfully extracted from the shaft of the femur.

Comparison of the femur DNA with DNA from Josef Mengele’s son and wife revealed a bone genotype across 10 different loci fully compatible with paternity of Mengele’s son. Less than 1 in 1800 Caucasian individuals unrelated to Mengele’s son would by chance show full paternal inclusion.

DNA analysis therefore provided very strong independent evidence that the remains exhumed from Brazil were indeed those of Josef Mengele.