1. Introduction to Traumatic Deaths and Forensic Anthropology
Human Remains
Introduction to Traumatic Deaths and Forensic Anthropology

2. The Postmortem Interval
Postmortem Interval: length of time a person has been deceased
Most accurately done if body has been found within the first 24 hours of death
Determined using algor, rigor, and/or livor mortis

3. Algor Mortis: The cooling rate of the body after death
After death the body cannot maintain its normal internal temperature of 98.6 degrees F--the temperature begins to even out with that of the surrounding environment
The Glaister formula is used in determining how long a body has been deceased
This is most accurate within 12 hours

4. The Glaister formula H=(98.4degrees F-Internal temperature) 1.5
You can figure(using this formula) how long it has been knowing that the body cools generally about 11/2 degrees per hour

5. Livor Mortis
Refers to the pooling of blood in the body after the heart stops
Livor mortis is caused by gravity
Can indicate the position of the body after death
Most evident within 12 hours
Does not happen in areas of the body that are touching the ground or have been otherwise constricted

6. Rigor Mortis Refers to the rigidity of the muscles after death
Muscles stiffen and can be noticed within 2-3 hours of death and is gone approximately 30 hours after death leaving the body limp

7. Cause of Death?
The cause of death can be obvious because of wounds to the body
Sometimes there are obvious gashes or abnormalities giving scientists clues as to how the person was killed
Numerous injuries to the body can make determining cause of death more difficult for a pathologist

8. Manner of Death? Manner of death refers to how a person died
Can either be natural, accidental, homicidal, suicidal, or undetermined
Usually determined by situations surrounding the crime and how the body was found

9. Questionable Traumatic Deaths
Require a pathologist to perform an autopsy
Traumatic deaths are classified into four categories:
Mechanical: strangulation, sharp and blunt force traumas, gunshots
Thermal: exposure to extreme heat or cold

10. Cranial Trauma

11. Traumatic Death
Chemical: death resulting from the use of drugs and poisons (both legal and illegal)
Electrical: caused by an electrical charge that is passed through the body
Can cause ventricular fibrillation (heart attack)

12. Mechanical Deaths Divided into major categories:
Sharp and Blunt Force Trauma
Blunt Force Traumas are further divided into Firearm and Non-firearm Group
Firearm Trauma can be divided into Low Velocity and High Velocity
Penetrating Traumas include gunshot and stab wounds
Non-penetrating Traumas include vehicle collisions and falls

13. Penetrating Traumas
Penetrating traumas occur when applied physical force exceeds the tensile strength of the tissue to which the force is applied
Sharp Force Injuries
Occur from injuries received from knives, swords, and axes
The amount of force needed for sharp force traumas is less than blunt force traumas

14. Types of Wounds
Blunt objects produce lacerations and with rough edges.
Sharp objects make wounds with sharp edges called incised wounds.
Sometimes you can determine the size of the object that made the wound by the wound, however, such determination is always an educated guess.

15. Blunt Force Injuries
Blunt force injuries most commonly cause death when the brain has been significantly damaged.
Blunt force injuries can also cause major trauma to internal organs.
Both sharp and blunt force trauma can cause exsanguination
Exsanguination: bleeding out because of a major artery breach

16. Firearm Injuries
Firearm injuries are the most common suicidal and homicidal wounds seen in the United States.
Firearms can be either rifled weapons or smooth bored weapons.
Most firearm deaths are from rifled weapons, such as rifles and handguns.
Antique weapons and shotguns are smooth bored weapons.

17. Firearm Injuries May be classified by the velocity of the projectile
The extent of the injury increases as the velocity of the projectile increases
Impacts with velocities of over 300 m/s are considered high velocity

18. Firearm Injuries
Penetrating wounds has a entrance wound but no exit wound.
Projectiles must be recovered from a body for a penetrating wound to occur.

19. Firearm Injuries
A perforating wound has an entrance wound and an exit wound.
Projectiles are not likely to be recovered from this type of injury.

20. How Firearms Work
The force that propels the projectile comes from the gas that is produced by the rapid burning of smokeless powder.
The smokeless powder is ignited by the striking of a primer inside of the weapon
The smokeless powder burns rapidly producing CO, N2O, CO2, Pb, and Bi.
These materials are projected from the barrel and make up GunShot Residue.

21. Products of Gunshot Wounds
Contact or near-contact wounds:
Gases and heavy metals are only projected a few inches—producing blackening of the skin
Skin will also show variable amounts of laceration because of the gas blown into the wound tears the skin apart
Carbon monoxide reacts with hemoglobin to produce a bright red discoloration of the wound

22. Products of Gunshot Wounds
Gunshot wounds to head region:
Large lacerations caused by tearing characteristics of the scalp and the reflection of gases by the skull
Explosion of the head and evacuation of the brain are common effects in shots that produce large amounts of gas

23. Products of Gunshot Wounds
Intermediate range gunshot wounds:
Distance from the barrel to the skin is increased and becomes farther apart
Effects of gas diminish and only the unburned powder and the bullet are capable of penetration of the skin
Unburned powder that penetrates the skin produces stippling (black tattooing) around the wound

24. Products of Gunshot Wounds
Gunshot wounds produced from a distance:
Lack smoke and powder effects, such as soot and stippling
Entrance wounds are usually circular in pattern with a rim of skin that is missing
The elasticity of skin is important when trying to determine the caliber of the weapon in an entrance wound
Usually exit wounds are larger than entrance wounds

25. Other Blunt Force Injuries
Transportation collisions, motor vehicle collisions, and death resulting from accidents
Homicidal injuries include lethal head injuries, laceration to internal organs due to beating
The most common cause of death is drowning in the blood that has been aspirated into the lungs

26. Other Blunt Force Injuries
Victims that have been beaten usually have defensive wounds on the little finger side of the forearm and hand.
Other common injuries:
Contusion: accumulation of blood in the tissues outside of the blood vessels
Contusions can often leave a pattern of the object used in the beating
Hematoma: “blood tumor” or large contusions
“Goose eggs” on the head

27. Chemical Trauma
Chemical traumas include deaths that result from the use of drugs and poisons.
Contribution of Alcohol
Approximately 50% of all chemical trauma deaths have alcohol as a contributing factor.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant; it slows down reactions and communications from brain to body
With enough alcohol, coma will be induced or breathing will slow enough to die

28. Chemical Trauma Other drugs can produce the same effects as alcohol
Barbituates—downers, depressants, etc.
Diazepams—valium, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, etc.
Opiates—narcotic pain relievers, heroin, etc.
Marijuana is not known to ever cause a death on its’ own—usually in conjunction with other drugs

29. Chemical Trauma Cocaine is a central nervous stimulant
High doses can result in seizures, extremely high body temperatures, and palpitations of the heart
Carbon monoxide is a common chemical that produces death
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and explosive gas
Deaths related to CO may be accidental, suicidal, or homicidal
Death occurs because blood cannot be oxygenated and the body suffocates from lack of oxygen

30. Chemical Trauma Cyanide
Interferes with oxygenation of the brain, acting primarily on the enzymes in the brain
Has a distinctive odor—it smells like almonds
50% of the general population can smell cyanide
Is a common ingredient in household products and in industry applications

31. Thermal Trauma Exposure to excessive heat or cold may produce death
Hypothermia: excessive cold
Hyperthermia: excessive heat
Both conditions cause death because of a breakdown in the normal mechanisms that maintain body temperature
Diagnosis of these causes of death require the absence of other causes of death along with a history of the environment

32. Hypothermia Common in individuals that are intoxicated with alcohol
Hypothermia can be a cause of death when the temperature is only 41 degrees F
Alcohol increases the loss of body heat because of the dilation of blood vessels on the surface of the body

33. Hyperthermia Common in people in waves of extreme heat
Common in infants or animals locked in closed vehicles
The inside of a car that reaches 140 degrees F can be fatal in 10 minutes
Especially common in elderly adults because the ability to regulate body temperature declines with age

34. Hyperthermia
Can also cause thermal burns with contact with a hot object
Can be caused from the exposure to hot liquids
Can be caused from flames of hydrocarbon
Usually result in multiple organ failure
Persons who die at the scenes of fires most commonly succumb from the inhalation of products of combustion, such as carbon monoxide.

35. Asphyxias
Asphyxias are deaths caused by lack of oxygen to the lungs and brain
Drowning is death by asphyxiation from immersion in water or other liquid
If a victim is conscious while the drowning occurs, water may be found in the lungs and sinus cavities
Small organisms called diatoms may be found in the water and may be matched to a water source

36. Asphyxias
If a victim is unconscious while the drowning occurs, water may or may not be found in the lungs and sinus cavities
This may be an indication that a person was killed in another location and then placed into a water source

37. Forensic Anthropology (F.A.)
Skeletal Remains

38. Forensic Anthropology (F.A.)
A type of applied physical anthropology that specializes in the human skeletal system for purposes of identifying unknown remains
Information gathered from the skeletal remains of an individual is the principal source of information about an unidentified individual

39. Questions can be Answered Using Forensic Anthropology
Are the remains animal or human?
Are the remains male or female?
What is the age of the victim?
What was the manner of death?
Natural, accidental, homicidal, suicidal, undetermined
What was the cause of death?
Millions of possibilities; usually determined by injuries to the body

40. Forensic Anthropology Requires Knowledge of the Skeleton
Skull Fibula
Mandible Tibia
Clavicle Iliac Crest
Sternum Os Pubis
Xyphoid Process
Humerus
Radius
Ulna
Os Coxae
Femur

41. Animal or Human? Osteology--the study of bones
Human and animal bones have very different structures
When partial bones are only available, scientists look at the osteons
Osteons are the holes in bones that carry blood
In animals, they form regular patterns
In humans, the patterns are known to be more random

42. Male or Female?
Bones in the male skeleton tend to be larger than those of the female skeleton
The os pubis, sacrum, and the ilium of the pelvis are bones that have the most obvious differences between men and women

43. Male or Female?
The ventral arc on the female pelvic bones is also more defined than that of the male pelvic bones

44. Male or Female?

45. Male or Female?

46. Male or Female?
Male
Female

47. Age?
Growth plates called epiphyses form together and eventually unite with age.

48. Age?
Cranial sutures also form a completely connected skull by a certain age

49. Age?
Scientists use the general age for sutures to fuse and compare that age to how formed together these bones are and can make a general age estimate

50. Race?
Caucasoid:
Descriptor for people of European, Middle Eastern, and East Indian Descent
Characteristics:
Long, narrow nasal aperture
A Triangular Palate
Oval Eye Orbits
Narrow Zygomatic Arches
Narrow Mandibles

51. Race?

52. Race?
Negroid:
A descriptor for people of African, Aborigine, and Melanesian decent
Characteristics:
Wide Nasal Aperture
A Rectangular Palate
Square Eye Orbits
Pronounced Zygomatic Arches
Long bones are longer and have greater density

53. Race?

54. Race?
Mongoloid:
Descriptor for people of Asian, Native American, and Polynesian descent
Characteristics:
Rounded nasal aperture
Parabolic palate
Rounded eye orbits
Wide zygomatic arches
Pointed mandibles

55. Race?

56. Facial Reconstruction
Used when traditional methods of identification are not useful
Uses standard tissue thickness and facial muscles to build a new face on a skull
The skull and skeleton gives information about age, race, and gender
Not totally accurate and is more of an art form based in science

57. Steps in Facial Reconstruction
Establish age, gender, and if possible, race
Glue tissue markers to landmarks directly on the skull for tissue thickness

58. Steps in Facial Reconstruction
Mark muscle insertion points and mount markers for thickness of tissue
Mount eyes in sockets at the proper depth
Apply clay to the skull following the contours, using markers and muscle insertion points
Make measurements to determine nose thickness and length and the mouth thickness and width

59. Steps in Facial Reconstruction
Cover the skull with layers of skin and add the details of the face

60. Facial Reconstruction