Jan. 23, 2023 “I took a sample of a cookie and carrots that I left for Santa … and was wondering if you could take a sample of DNA and see if Santa is real?” a girl wrote to the Cumberland Police Department.
By Jackson Cote Source masslive.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
One young investigator in New England is trying to get to the bottom of a mystery that dates back centuries: the existence of Santa Claus.
In an effort to seek evidence proving the jolly old man with the big beard and belly is real, a girl in Cumberland, Rhode Island sent a letter to her town’s police department earlier this month requesting a partially eaten cookie and carrot remains be analyzed for DNA signatures of Kris Kringle and/or one of his nine reindeer.
“I took a sample of a cookie and carrots that I left for Santa and the [reindeer] on [C]hristmas [E]ve and was wondering if you could take a sample of DNA and see if Santa is real?,” the girl wrote in her letter, which the Cumberland Police Department posted to Facebook on Friday.
According to the department’s post, Cumberland Police Chief Matthew Benson immediately instructed investigators to forward the evidence to the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Center for Forensic Sciences for analysis.
“This young lady obviously has a keen sense for truth and the investigative process and did a tremendous job packaging her evidence for submission,” Benson said in a statement. “We will do our very best to provide answers for her.”
While the department awaits the testing results, Cumberland police have been in contact with the “future-CPD Detective” and provided her with some already uncovered evidence in support of Santa’s presence in the neighborhood on Dec. 24 of last year, including a photograph of what looks like a deer or reindeer, the Facebook post stated.