The Importance of an Anthropological Scene of Crime Investigation in the Case of Burnt Remains in Vehicles

Abstract

Inspection of a crime scene is a crucial step in forensic medicine, and even the methods taught by forensic anthropology are essential. Whereas a thorough inspection can provide crucial information, an approximate inspection can be useless or even harmful. This study reports 3 cases of burnt bodies found inside vehicles between 2006 and 2009 in the outskirts of Milan (Italy). In all 3 cases, the victim was killed by gunshot, and the body was burnt in the vehicle to destroy signs of skeletal injury and prevent identification. In every case, the assistance of forensic anthropologists was requested, but only after the inspection of the body at autopsy showed that the remains were incomplete, thus making it more difficult to determine the identity, cause, and manner of death. A second scene of crime inspection was therefore performed with strict anthropological and adapted archeological methods by forensic anthropologists to perform a more complete recovery, proving how much material had been left behind. These cases clearly show the importance of a proper recovery and of the application of forensic anthropology methods on badly charred bodies and the importance of recovering every fragment of bone: even the smallest fragment can provide essential information. Thus, a precise coordination, a correct and thorough recovery of bone fragments, and an anthropological approach are crucial for many issues: analysis of the scene of crime, reconstruction of the corpse, and reconstruction of the perimortem events.

Estimation of sex from scapular measurements using chest CT in Egyptian population sample

“…In spite of its higher chances over long bones to be preserved in chattered bodies, in cases of mass disasters, [17][18][19] it has not been given the same focus as other bones in anthropological studies. Consequently, we need to generate population-specific discriminant functions and sufficiently validate their classification's accuracy [20,21].…”

Use of an Alternate Light Source to Detect Tooth and Bone

“…These fragments may not be visible initially to the naked eye, mainly when mixed into a distracting or dark background (8). Even the smallest bony fragment, which may appear unimportant to the eyes of an inexperienced observer, can provide essential information (15). These small fragments of evidence may be useful for identifying the victim or to help solve a crime.…”

Forensic investigation of burnt human remains

“…There is a wide range of case types for which burnt bones are submitted to the forensic laboratory, [14][15][16][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] including fire victims in vehicle accidents, 14,15 from mass disasters, 14 and in house fires. 16,22 In addition to accidental cases, we encounter homicides where the victim's body is purposely cremated and destroyed by the perpetrator in order to obstruct the investigation.…”