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We describe a case of a fraudulent insurance claim. The family of an adult white male (DLF) notified the police of their son's disappearance. After a few weeks, a corpse that presented characteristics similar to those of the DLF was found in advanced stages of decay and was identified by the family as being DLF. The family then filed a claim for the life insurance that DLF had taken out just before he disappeared. Suspicions were raised about the identification of the corpse, because it had been done only visually, and because the insurance policy had been taken out just prior to DLF's disappearance. The insurance company requested a postmortem examination for identification. As the corpse had been cremated immediately after identification by the family, the biological material that was encrusted on the two projectiles removed from the body was used for analysis. The blood crusts provided enough genomic DNA for us to carry out PCR base typing of HLA-DQA1, D1S80, HUMCSF1PO, HUMTPOX, HUMTH01, D3S1744, D12S1090, D18S849, and amelogenin. Results from all loci typing from the corpse presumed to be that of DLF were then compared with that of his alleged biological parents, revealing genetic incompatibility.

Gene and genotype frequencies in relation to the D1S80 locus were determined in a sample of 197 unrelated individuals (144 Caucasians and 53 Mulattoes), living in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The Mulatto group was composed by mixed individuals who presented at least one negroid physical characteristic or declared themselves to be of mixed (Black-White) ancestry. Nineteen different alleles were detected in the Caucasian sample and 15 among Mulattoes. Alleles 18 and 24 were found to be the most common ones in the Caucasian population with frequencies of 0.173 and 0.357 respectively; the sample heterozygote frequency was estimated in 0.824. Alleles 18, 24, and 28 were found to be the most common alleles among Mulattoes with respective frequencies of 0.150, 0.349, and 0.113; the sample heterozygote frequency was 0.759. Fifty-five different genotypes were detected among Brazilian Caucasians whereas the respective figure among Mulattoes was 31. No significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found in both population samples.

Gene and genotype frequencies of the HLA-DQA1 locus were determined in a sample of 197 unrelated individuals (144 Caucasians and 53 Mulattoes), living in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The Mulatto group consisted of mixed individuals who presented at least one negroid physical characteristic or declared themselves to be of mixed ancestry. A total of six different alleles were identified with frequencies ranging from 0.087 to 0.316 in the Caucasian population and from 0.066 to 0.330 in the Mulatto population. We observed an increased frequency of allele 1.2 among Mulattoes in relation to Caucasians. The sample heterozygote frequency was 0.722 among Caucasians and 0.736 among Mullatoes. No significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found either in the Caucasian or in the Brazilian Mullato population samples.