The body of the little girl holding intact roses in the coffin for 140 years

The girl's body was discovered in a 19th-century metal coffin beneath a house in San Francisco, USA, eventually identified nearly 141 years after she died.

The remains of the coffin belong to Edith Howard Cook, 2 years old. She died on October 13, 1876, only 6 weeks before her birthday, according to KTVU.

During the gardening, the group of workers discovered a one-meter long lead and copper coffin buried under a concrete garage on May 8, 2016. The burial place of the coffin is in the precinct of Ericka Karner's home in San Francisco, California, USA.

The girl buried in a white long skirt outfit, wearing high-heeled pillows and lavender flowers in her hair. The girl's skin and blonde hair were perfectly preserved and the red rose that the girl in her hand could still see clearly through the glass frame on the coffin. The anonymous tomb is covered with purple velvet fabric.

The 140-year-old coffin keeps the body of a baby girl.(Photo: Elissa Davey).

Researchers quickly embarked on the task of determining the identity of the corpse. Elissa Davey, the geneticist and founder of the Garden of Innocence Project, shared that they achieved a breakthrough when they found the old cemetery map at the University of California, Berkeley library.

Thanks to the map, they could find the land where the parents of the girls Horatio Cook and Edith Scooffy were buried. After discovering the girls' surname, the team looked for surviving descendants and one of them volunteered to test DNA. Peter Cook, a resident of Marin County, nephew of Edith, has DNA that matches the curls from the remains.

Professor Jelmer Eerkens of the University of California Davis, who helps with DNA testing, said Edith died of a breakdown."It is likely that she is ill due to an illness and her immune system cannot fight off the disease. She can be comatose and die," Eerkens said.

Edith's father was a merchant. Her grandfather was a member of the California Pioneers Association, an organization founded by residents of California before 1850. Edith's funeral will be held on June 10.