Burned Bodies Flashcards
what are the sources/uses of forensic fires?
- destroy evidence
- destroy signs of homicide
- homicide
- accidents
what are the variables of fire exposure?
- size of the fire
- number of items burning
- percentage of the room involved
- exposure of the body
- duration of exposure
- condition of the bone
first stage of burned bone
- 100 to 500-600 C
- removal of loosely attached water
second stage of burned bone
- 600 to 800 C
- collagen is lost and bone reduces in weight
third stage of burned bone
- > 800 C
- rest of the organic material combusts and hydroxyapatite crystals enlarge
what does osteological analysis focus on?
- tissue shielding
- color change
- thermal fractures
how do fires affect bone?
- heat
- atmosphere
- duration
the pugilistic pose
- pugilist = boxer
- a characteristic pose for burned bodies
in order of least burnt to most, what are the color changes for burned bone?
- light brown
- black (charred)
- blue-grey
- white (calcinized)
what are the shape changes that occur in bone?
- shrinkage (between 6-25%)
- warping
what are the fracture patterns?
- longitudinal
- transverse
- patina
what is the information in burned bone?
- state of the remains (fleshed or dry)
- position of the body (patterns of burning)
- biological profile, trauma, and individualizing characteristics (have to reconstruct)
how can we distinguish between perimortem fractures and postmortem breakage from fire?
- reconstruction
- color
- location
cremains
cremated remains
what are the steps for cremains analysis?
- document container, label, and remains
- weighing remains
- separation by size
- radiographs
- visual inspection
- photographs
what are the lines of evidence for the identifying the remains?
- bone and tooth fragments
- cremation weight
- cremation artifacts
- chemical analysis
cremation weights
- related to sex, age, stature, and body weight
- do the remains fall clearly within the range of variation for males or females?
cremation artifacts: medical
- vascular clips
- pacemaker components
- orthopedic hardware
cremation artifacts: dental
- dental implants
- bridges, crowns
- dentures
- restorations
cremation artifacts: artifacts
- jewelry fragments
- clothing
- items on the body at the time of cremation
DNA analysis in cremated bones
- not substantiated within scientific literature
- bone exposed to temperatures well below those of commercial cremation does not yield DNA
what are the complications of burned bone analysis?
- difficult to distinguish between ante, peri, and post mortem
- researched produced does not reflect true conditions in forensic cases
- loss of information from improper handling of remains
- difficulties with reconstructions
hydrochloric acid
- found diluted in a number of household cleaners
- highly destructive
- several studies have shown that teeth have taken 19-24 hours to dissolve
- pure acid is hard to obtain
sulfuric acid
- takes much longer than hydrochloric acid
- can take over a week to dissolve teeth
- found in drain cleaner
caustic soda/lye
- sodium hydroxide
- requires that the chemical be heated in order to work
- if heated to approximately 300 F, it can take 3 hours to liquify a body
- easy to obtain and cheap
bleach
- wont destroy but can damage
- used rarely when cleaning bone
