Dr. Olivia Merriam was the director of the New York Museum of Natural History in Reliquary. She replaced deceased former director Winston Wright. Vincent D'Agosta approached Merriam about using the museum's laboratories and some of its scientists to help autopsy the bodies discovered in the Humboldt Kill. Merriam agreed and much of the forensic anthropology work of the New York Underground Murders case took place inside the museum.