Romanov murder mystery solved

INTRO: Human remains found in Russia last year are confirmed as the son and daughter of Tsar Nicholas II.

MOREINFO: The Tsar, his wife and five children, their doctor and three attendants were shot in 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries who attempted to destroy the bodies before they were dumped in pits in Yekatarinburg.

SCRIPT:

Russia's Tsar Nicholas II and his family were wiped out when the Bolsheviks seized power nearly a century ago.

The Tsar, his wife and all five of his children were shot dead in the dismal basement of a house in Yekaterinburg.

The remains of most of the family were found and reburied a decade ago.

Now officials say remains found last year have been confirmed to be those of 13-year-old Prince Alexei and his sister Maria.

SOUNDBITE: Eduard Rossel, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region, saying (Russian):

"We really have found the children and all the experts we have asked to examine the remains have confirmed it - the Genetic Laboratory in the United States has confirmed it as well as our own laboratory."

The victims were shot at this house shortly before the clock struck midnight on July 17th, 1918.

The remains of the last two children were found close to where the other family members were discovered.

The bullets that ended the children's lives were found with them.

Confirmation that the remains are those of the Tsar's last two children could lay to rest decades of speculation that they might have survived and carried on their lives in secret elsewhere.

Paul Chapman, Reuters

wipe out

1. To destroy or be destroyed completely.

2. Slang To murder.

3. Sports To lose one's balance and fall, as when skiing or surfing.
seize - take hold of
dismal Adjective - gloomy and depressing
basement - the lowermost portion of a structure partly or wholly below ground level; often used for storage

struck v. Past tense and a past participle of strike.

lay to rest - place in a grave or tomb; "Stalin was buried behind the Kremlin wall on Red Square"; "The pharaohs were entombed in the pyramids"; "My grandfather was laid to rest last Sunday"