AUGUSTA – The Maine State Crime Laboratory will receive more than a quarter-million dollars to reopen “cold cases,” hoping to use DNA evidence to help break missing-persons cases that have been dormant for up to 30 years.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the award Thursday at its first-ever conference on the missing and unidentified dead, titled, “National Strategy Meeting: Identifying the Missing.”

The grants, totaling $14.2 million for 38 jurisdictions across the county, are part of President Bush’s DNA initiative, “Advancing Justice Through DNA,” a five-year, $1 billion effort to eliminate casework, improve crime lab capacity, provide DNA training and conduct testing to identify missing persons.

“This initiative offers the opportunity for Maine to resolve approximately 100 violent cold cases spanning a period of 30 years, thereby bringing closure to the victims of those crimes and their families,” U.S. Attorney Paula D. Silsby said in a statement.

On average, more than 100,000 missing persons are listed in the National Crime Information Center, and more than 45,000 of those have a last-known contact of more than a year ago.

Only 50 of the missing people in the NCIC have DNA information listed.