well thank you for being with us today uh from the very beginning at the Forefront of this search have been the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre while this search is important for many reasons at the most human level for all of us who've worked on this search we just wanted to find these victims and reunite them with their families I committed the city from the outset to follow the truth wherever it led us and at each step we have followed the guidance of the best technical experts in the whole world to determine what we should do and those steps have been many they began with historical research back in the late 1990s and early 2000s to identify potential locations where these Graves may be located later on geophysical work was done at those sites to try and narrow down within those sites potential areas uh that should be looked at uh more recently core sampling was done at each of these sites again continuing to narrow that down then test excavations uh to see what might be underground in those spaces then full boore excavations which were carried out uh with painstaking Care by the teams doing the work uh with with respect for the remains both of victims and non-victims uh that were found along the way then after remains were found there was forensic analysis in the field to determine if those remains should be exhumed and if they were then there was further forensic analysis in a lab and if we were really fortunate DNA was extracted and analyzed and the last time that we held one of these press conferences we were announcing uh that for the first time that we're aware of in human history DNA profiles were able to be constructed of uh remains that had potentially been underground for over a century to try and work between DNA and genealogical Records to identify uh who the remains in the ground were for the remains that we knew as burial number three that long line of testing and refining evidence LED researchers to this letter written in 1936 by an attorney on behalf of his client who was seeking veterans benefits and I want to read part of this February 11th 1936 to the veterans administration in Atlanta Georgia gentlemen a negro woman Amanda W Daniel has appealed to me for help in securing any benefits that may be du her or which she may secure under present regulations she is in destitute circumstances she had a son CL Daniel who served in the army during the late War she has no discharge and is going to have difficulty in establishing his death CL was killed in a race riot in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921 according to the best information that she has furnished to me and it goes on today because of the efforts of so many people I can stand before you to announce that we've identified the first 1921 tuls race Massacre victim since we began our search for them five years ago CL L Daniel was a veteran who served our country in World War I who was killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and whose family did not know where he had been buried for the last 103 years until this week when I read that letter as a parent I can't help but think about his mom Mrs Daniel who knew her brave son had been killed but never knew what became of his remains identifying Mr Daniel's remains has been candidly an emotionally powerful experience for every person on our team it makes every challenging day of this search worth it but it's also important in the larger context of this search his remains show no signs of gunshot wounds they were identified purely due to the expertise of our team of experts and give us hope that other remains found in similar circumstances could be those of other victims we also have documented evidence that there are at least 17 other victims buried in oaklan Cemetery so this identification affirms our need to continue this search with the knowledge that identification and reunification is possible I want to express as their elected spokesperson Tulsa's profound gratitude to everyone who brought us to this day from the local historians and leaders who developed the 2001 State commission report to our team of experts s who are pouring their hearts and Minds into this search today I want to thank my colleagues on the Tulsa city council and the citizens of Tulsa for continuing to fund this search there have been many times as I've said where it felt like we were searching for a needle in a pile of needles but today I hope that this generation of tulson can appreciate that you've helped this family find their relative after he was missing for 103 years