Joseph Augustus Zarelli, the 4-year-old boy who was murdered in 1957, was identified 65 years later thanks to advances in DNA analysis, but researching vital records also played a big role, writes Paula Fomby for seattlepi.com.

Linking his genetic profile to his identity still required finding his name found alongside his mother’s on a 70-year-old birth record stored with the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s vital records system.

The revolutionary science of genetic genealogy has gotten the limelight attention for solving this long-time mystery, but the role of the vital records system went mostly unnoticed.

Vital records track life’s milestone events: birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, and death.

A certificate of birth in the U.S. includes nearly 60 questions about the parents, the pregnancy, and the newborn. 

U.S. vital records contain hundreds of millions of events dating back to the beginning of the 20^th century, but there’s no central records system.

Instead, state and local entities are tasked with vital record keeping, a scattershot approach when trying to assemble someone’s life.

Thanks to the durability of the local vital records system in Philadelphia, a certificate of live birth registered in 1953 was able to answer the question of Joseph Zarelli’s identity.

Read more about the role of vital records research at seattlepi.com.

Learn more about vital records..