In February 1992, US Secretary of State, James A. Baker III visited Ekaterinburg and was asked by Governor Rossel to send help from the West in order to receive an endorsement of the skeletal remains by Western forensic experts.  A team of forensic specialists under the direction of Dr. William Maples from the University of Florida went to Ekaterinburg in July of 1992 and quickly determined that indeed they were the remains of the Imperial Family.

But confirmationary DNA analysis needed to be followed up to support that assessment.  Russian scientists using computer modeling, by comparing old imperial photos, announced that they were successfully able to superimpose the sets of photographs, and thus were able to prove with certainty that the remains belonged to the Imperial Family and their retainers. Dr. Sergey Abramov claimed that the missing daughter was Grand Duchess Maria, and not Grand Duchess Anastasia.