DNA tests may solve mystery of Anastasia

Russia's Czar Nicholas II, seated second from left, Czarina Alexandra, center rear, and their family are shown in this undated file photo. Bottom row left to right, Princess Olga, Czar Nicholas II, Princess Anastasia, Prince Alexei and Princess Tatiana. Top row left to right, Princess Maria and Princess Alexandra.

WORCESTER, Mass. Saturday (AP) - Answers to the mystery of what befell the heirs of the last czar of Russia nearly a century ago may rest behind locked laboratory doors in Moscow and New England. DNA test results to be announced within months on bone fragments found in Russia last year could prove that none of Czar Nicholas II's family escaped execution in the Bolshevik Revolution - not even Anastasia, the teenage princess whose identity various women have claimed over the decades.

Evgeny Rogaev, who heads a genetic research team working in Moscow and at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, is not immune to the effect his work could have on how his fellow Russian citizens view that turbulent chapter in their history.

He keeps pictures of the royal family carefully tucked inside a folder near charts of DNA sequences, but does not display them. Likewise, he shields any sight of the remains from everyone except the other researchers, out of respect for whomever the remains represent.

"Murders occurred. Children were murdered," he said this week, choosing his words carefully. "I will not make a show of it. That is my ethics." For Rogaev, a professor at UMass and Moscow State University, ensuring the accuracy of the DNA tests is paramount.

"In an expert work, it cannot be about emotions. It must be about collection of scientific evidences, and that is why this DNA is so powerful to study," he said.