An identification case study from fingerprint photographs

Miguel, Juan Carlos Jara San; Piñas, Juan Cuadrado; Mosquera, Samuel Miralles; Mediavilla, Elena Ruiz

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110826

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Additional fingerprints are taken regardless of if fingerprints were already taken at admission or during the initial postmortem investigation because fingerprints taken at autopsy sometimes fail because of decomposition or poor-quality prints. The ID Unit employs additional fingerprinting methods not employed during autopsy, including degloving of the skin [ 14 ], photography of desiccated finger pads [ 15 ], and the use of rehydration and tissue filler techniques [ 16 ]. Basic odonatological descriptions are recorded and photographed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Decedent Identification Unit: identifying the deceased at a South African medico-legal mortuary

2022

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The Johannesburg Forensic Pathology Services medico-legal mortuary perform postmortem examinations on all cases of unnatural deaths in the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area, in South Africa. Unidentified decedents can comprise up to 10.0% of the total number of annual admissions at this medico-legal mortuary. To address the identification of the deceased, the Human Decedent Identification Unit (ID Unit) was created to perform secondary examinations for identification purposes. The aim of this study was to report on the identification methods and success rate of the ID Unit. Over a period of 31 months (January 2018–July 2020), unidentified decedents comprised 8.1% ( n = 693) of all cases at the Johannesburg mortuary. The ID Unit processed 385 (55.6%) unidentified individuals during this period, who were mostly adult (100%), Black (94.5%), males (91.7%). DNA samples were successfully collected from most cases in the form of hair (96.4%; n = 371), blood (92.2%; n = 355), and nail samples (90.1%; n = 347). Fingerprints retrieved in 65.5% of cases ( n = 252). Ultimately, 87 persons (22.6%) were positively identified. Fingerprinting was the most successful method of identification (98.9% of cases; n = 86). One positive identification was facilitated through DNA analysis. The nationalities of the positively identified decedents were from South Africa (52.9%; n = 46), Zimbabwe (5.7%), Uganda (1.1%), Mozambique (1.1%), Malawi (1.1%), South Sudan (1.1%), and undisclosed in 36.8% of cases. Through the collaborative efforts of all the agencies involved, the impact of the work of this ID Unit is vast—not only for South African authorities but most importantly for the decedents and their families.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%