Scientist identify Tulsa Race Massacre victim

TULSA, Okla. (KFOR) — There is a huge breakthrough in the search for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The first remains found belong to World War I veteran CL Daniels. With the help of his family, they were able to identify him after being buried in Tulsa's Oaklawn Cemetery more than 100 years ago.

"Today, because of the efforts of so many people, I stand before you to announce we have identified the first 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victim since we began our search for them five years ago," G.T. Bynum, Mayor of Tulsa said.

The long search for identifying victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has it's first breakthrough, largely thanks to a 1936 letter from his mother's attorney seeking veteran benefits.

"She had a son, CL Daniel, who served in the army in the late war," Mayor Bynum said. "She has no discharge and she is having difficulty establishing his death. CL was killed in a race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921."

Using DNA from descendants of his brothers, the remains of Daniels were identified by Intermountain Forensics.

"I was confident that genetic genealogy could provide identifications, but today we know the efforts of the community, the anthropology team, the archeology team, they found the victims," Alison Wilde, Forensic scientist at Intermountain Forensics said.

More than 120 graves were found during the searches going back to 2020.

Daniels remains are the first from those graves to be directly linked to the massacre, where around 300 Black people were killed.

Mayor Bynum says they will continue to do everything they can to identify more victims and reunite them with their families.

"We also have documented evidence that there are at least 17 other victims buried in Oaklawn Cemetery, so this identification affirms our need to continue this search," Mayor Bynum said.

For 103 years, Mayor Bynum says Daniels' family never knew where he was buried. They are now working with Daniels' family to arrange a proper burial.