I should add that the absence of two bodies from the mass grave in Ekaterinburg containing Russia's last Imperial Family does not validate a survival hypothesis for either the Grand Duchess Anastasia (alternatively Maria) or Tsarevich Alexis. The solution to the mystery is much simpler. There is little reason to doubt chief executioner Yakov Yurovsky's account of the disposal of the Imperial Family's remains, as his report detailing their disposal led investigators a generation later directly to the site of the mass grave, and he never attempted to hide anything. It's simply logical that when the funeral pyre had been lit using gasoline as an accelerant, Yurovsky would have started with the two smallest bodies to see how long it took to reduce them to ash. However, time being of the essence and damp conditions hindering the process, a communal grave was dug for the other victims, Alexis and Anastasia's smoldering, charred remains consigned to a separate grave by their pyre as detailed by Yurovsky. There were simply too many witnesses to the murder and disposal of the Imperial Family, for a cover-up to have occurred or been sustained 80 odd years. Forensic and historic records continue to uphold the accuracy of Yakov Yurovsky's account of those hideous events in 1918 which still haunt the world.
Sophie
