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Forensic BioScience > Problematic Body Recovery > Flashcards

Problematic Body Recovery Flashcards

1
Q

What are the aims of problematic body recovery?

A 
Find it 
Total recovery
Max trace evidence
Understand taphonomy
ID method of concealment
ID duration
Interpret events
Determine criminality
Clear representation in court
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2
Q

What is taphonomy?

A

Combination of extrinsic (environmental ie sand vs. water) and intrinsic (internal body i.e. old vs. young) factors as to why body looks the way it does

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3
Q

What specialists are used in Problematic body recovery?

A 
Anthropologist
Archaeologist
Biologist/Chemist
Botanist
Entomologist
Pathologist
Soil scientist
Vomitologist
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4
Q

What does an Anthropologist do?

A

Bone ID, body reconstruction

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5
Q

What does an Archaeologist do?

A

Body & trace evidence recovery, search, criminality

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6
Q

What does a Biologist/Chemist do?

A

Trace evidence

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7
Q

What does a Botanist do?

A

Enviro profiling, trace evidence, duration, search advice

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8
Q

Wha does an Entomologist do?

A

Insects to ID duration

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9
Q

What does a Pathologist do?

A

Cause of death

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10
Q

What does a soil scientist do?

A

Trace evidence (layers of soil, links)

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11
Q

What does a Vomitologist do?

A

Timing of death (stomach contents)

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12
Q

Where are specialists recruited from?

A

SCA (Serious Crime Authority) recommendation,
SPA (Scottish Police Authority), biologists and chemists
Charities
Private companies- expensive
Individuals- not always forensically aware
Universities- Strathclyde, Glasgow, Dundee
Museums

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13
Q

What are the separate elements of body recovery?

A

Search
Evacuation
Body recovery
ID duration
Trace evidence gathering and recording
ID CMOD & events over post-mortem interval
Specialist trace evidence analysis & interpretation

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14
Q

What is involved in finding a missing person (MISPER)?

A

Preserve evidence (uncompromised)
Haste, not speed
Keep costs down
Discretion

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15
Q

What is involved for wide scale search?

A

Aerial photos

Maps

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16
Q

What is involved with small searches i.e. several acres or less?

A

Field walking

Environmental profiling

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17
Q

What happens when nothing is visible on the group?

A

Geophysics
Topsoil strip
Trial excavation

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18
Q

What is aerial photography?

A

Standard archaeology skill
Good for wide area search (hidden graves etc)
ID disturbances in topography & vegetation (e.g. grave, tyre tracks)
Natural or man made
Compare images: Royal Commission archive & helicopter flyover pics

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19
Q

What is used for maps and DBA?

A

OS maps and PastMap (online archaeology database)

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20
Q

What do maps and DBA eliminate?

A

Archaeological sites
Service tranches
Natural features

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21
Q

What is environmental profiling?

A

Work with dog handlers & Police Search Advisors (POLSA)
Archaeology, botany, soils
Rules out areas
Costs and search time reduced
Duration of deposition human remains/objects
Trace evidence recovery

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22
Q

What is the theory used to identify a body?

A

Remains alter natural topography
Change soil profile & stratigraphy (layers of soil- mixtures of layers if dug up, burrials)
Increase water holding capacity- body in burial, organic material, soil is softer and moister, last for hundreds of years
Affect overlying vegetation- height, colour, type, and health
ID these changes gives info on duration & sequence of event at the locus

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23
Q

What is differences are looked for in topography?

A 
Abnormal hollows or bumps
Initially soil burial is raised 
Ground sinks as body decays
Grave edges may be defined
Cracks on surface/
Differential cracking- X marks the spot above body
Cracks on surface/ edges of grave
“Spoil” may be scattered around
24
Q

What timing effects do ID duration due to vegetation have?

A

Site specific
Depends on habital & season
Roots on body growing through rib cage, roots have growth tells you how long bodys been there

25
Q

What are the short term effects of plant vegetation on remains?

A

Nutrients & gases toxic
Plants stunted/dead
Annual weds only
Soil bare

26
Q

What are the long term effects of plant vegetation on remains?

A

Nutrients beneficial
Plants teller/ lush
Nettles, brambles high (conceal body)
Tall weeds present

27
Q

What does burial chronology show?

A

Not deep
Not big enough
Soil shoved back in, panic
Takes a few years for deep routed plants to return

28
Q

What does burial duration indicate?

A

Skull near graveyard
Mistaken for a boulder
Criminal/ archaeological
Mosses suggest exposed for at least several years
Lichens (symbiotic relationship between fungus and alga) growing inside bone: exposed less 100 years

29
Q

When is geophysics used?

A

When no disturbance is visible

30
Q

What is geophysics?

A

Archaeological skill
Provides target areas to investigate by trial trenching
Different techniques for varying situations
Specialists advice and interpretation is required

31
Q

What is resistivity?

A

Resistance to current between 2 electrodes
Soil moisture conducts current
Water/ loose soil less resistant than compacted- gives peak
Good for features retaining some water (e.g. ditches, old graves)
Not good if waterlogged or very dry

32
Q

What is magnetometry?

A

ID changes to magnetic field by burning, buried metal or refilled holes
Fast- 20 mins to cover 20m2
Works in waterlogged soil
Works in very dry soi

33
Q

What is magnetometry affected by?

A

Affected by overhead power cables & ferrous metal on site

34
Q

What is Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)?

A

Radar frequencies bounce off sub-surface features
ID pits, ditches & graves
ID voids in walls & concrete
Works to 3m down

35
Q

What conditions does GPR work well in?

A

Good for urban sites & rough terrain, unaffected by metal/cables

36
Q

What conditions does GPR not work well in?

A

NOT good in wet, standing water, or clay rich soils

37
Q

What is monitored top-soil strip?

A

If search are is very large & no disturbance visible
Removal of the topsoil can reveal a grave cut
Cut shows as differences in soil colour & compaction
Analysis of cut helps tell how the grave was dug

38
Q

How can the top of suspicious holes be identified as suspicious or unsuspicious?

A

Indicated by search dog stratigraphy & roots indicate undisturbed

39
Q

How can the bottom of suspicious holes be identified as suspicious or unsuspicious?

A

Body depo site- soil compaction, colour & root growth

40
Q

What is the 3 stages of burial of human remains?

A

Digging the hole
Deposition of the body
Backfilling the grave

41
Q

What environmental factors can ID remains?

A

Grave profile
Soil layers
Position of remains

42
Q

What is looked for in problematic body recovery?

A 
Duraton of deposition
Method of digging/ backfill
Method of deposition
Multiples contemporary/serial
Post-deposition activity
Tool marks & footprints
43
Q

What is the use in recording burial remains?

A

Stratigraphy can be interpreted
Detailed plan drawing helps interpret events & jury to understand
Used with mapping techniques to provide detailed account of events
Takes time & skill to do

44
Q

What specialists are used in grave/ open air body recovery?

A

Archaeology, botany, osteology, entomology, biology skills

45
Q

What do ostologists do?

A 
Record and reconstruct events
ID bones present
Determine duration from soil layers, vegetation and insects
Sample for trace evidence
Sieve & search soil for evidence
Giver further search advice
46
Q

What is the base and profile of a grave useful for?

A

May retain tool marks, footprints etc.

47
Q

What must happen to grave fill and surrounding soil?

A

Sieves and retained

48
Q

What is the process in open air body recovery?

A

Scavengers scatter remains- search advice vital
Standard archaeology techniques used
Decomposition site is mapped, soil researched
Botanist can ID duration of scattered items
Enviro & insect sampling done
Detailed archaeological recording will ID events and timings

49
Q

What can recording evidence help with?

A

Recording:
•Cause and manner of death
•Deposition and duration
•Post depositional activity (human/ animal)
Help assign body parts to correct individual if more than one present

50
Q

What are tapes and grids used for?

A 
Locus divided into squares
Each square is searched, sieved, evidence recorded  & mapped 
Ensures rigorous search  
Helps interpret events 
Visual representation for jury 
Enables spatial patterning analysis 
Maximises trace evidence recovery
51
Q

How relevant is a grid search?

A

ALWAYS relevant

52
Q

What does grid search ensure?

A

Max recovery- small bones, trace evidence

53
Q

What causes variation in Grid search?

A

Terrain/remit

54
Q

What does grid search show?

A

Links people to places
Possible months/ years after the crime
WORKS

55
Q

What is microscopic level of search used for?

A 
Floted soil can be dried & searched microscopically for small trace evidence (hairs, fibres, seeds etc)
 Larger items (bindings, weapons etc) can be dissected out of soil uncompromised using low magn microscopy
56
Q

What can 3D plotting of remains through GPS show?

A

Measures heights, distances & angles
Quick & accurate
Gives 3D plan of locus & record of evidence
Eg: plane crash or body decomposed & scattered by scavengers
Area taped & gridded
Parts recorded using GPS

Forensic BioScience (19 decks)

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