2 victims of 1944 circus fire exhumed in ID attempt
By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press
Oct 7, 2019 11:21 AM CDT
2 victims of 1944 circus fire exhumed in ID attempt
Patricia Congelosi talks with reporters in her backyard as authorities in the abutting Northwood Cemetery, rear, exhume the remains of two unidentified victims of the 1944 Hartford circus fire, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, in Windsor, Conn. Congelosi, 82, said she was supposed to go to the circus on the day...   (Associated Press)

WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) — Authorities have exhumed the bodies of two victims of the 1944 Hartford circus fire in hopes of identifying a Vermont woman who has been missing since then.

The exhumations occurred Monday at the Northwood Cemetery in Windsor, Connecticut.

The fire in the big top of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus on July 6, 1944, killed 168 people and injured 682 others. The cause was never conclusively determined.

Newport, Vermont, resident Grace Fifield was never seen again after attending the circus.

Officials will compare DNA samples from the remains of the two unknown women with a sample from Fifield's granddaughter.

Chief Medical Examiner James Gill says the DNA testing could take weeks to months, depending on the condition of the DNA from the remains.

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