Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons^™

Fingering A Murderer: A Successful Anthropological And Radiological Collaboration, B. G. Brogdon, Marcella H. Sorg, Kerriann Marden

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

We illustrate an interdisciplinary approach to identify a victim in a case with complex taphonomic and procedural issues. Burning, fragmentation, species commingling, and examination by multiple experts required anthropological preparation and analysis combined with radio- graphic adaptations to image and match trabecular patterns in unusually small, burned specimens. A missing person was last seen in the company of a reclusive female on a remote rural property. A warranted search found several burn sites containing human and animal bones. Fragment prepara- tion, analysis, and development of a biological profile by anthropologists enabled examination by the odontologist, molecular biologist, and radiolo- gist, …