Paternity cases when the alleged father is missing

New technologies of DNA analysis by STRs, LTRs and MHC genes, and the advance in statistical and mathematical calculations of complex paternity cases allowed paternity cases resolution when the alleged father is missing (AFM). Cases of civil state suppression during the dictatorial government (1976-1983) are investigated in our laboratory. In them, family groups are often incomplete in one or two generations. This study presents 31 cases of paternity testing with AFM carried out during 2001-2002 years. In these cases, only first grade relative of AFM and/or siblings or half siblings of the titular were available. In only 19 of them, alleged child's mother was available for the study. In all the 31 cases presented here, we could assign biological relationship between the alleged child and the alleged father's family members whose genetic information allowed us to reconstruct total or partially alleged father genotype. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.