The Role of Forensic Anthropology in the Recovery and Analysis of Branch Davidian Compound Victims: Recovery Procedures and Characteristics of the Victims

Abstract

Anthropological contributions to the investigation of the events at the Branch Davidian Compound near Waco, Texas in early 1993, were of two major types: the recovery of human remains from the site and the analysis of most of those individuals at the Medical Examiner's Office in Fort Worth, Texas. This paper describes the role of forensic anthropology in the recovery and analysis of Branch Davidian Compound victims and the recovery procedures and characteristics of the victims.

Patterned Thermal Destruction in a Forensic Setting

“…Reports addressing modern archaeological protocols and procedures for the recovery and preservation of skeletal remains. This includes literature by Dirkmaat (2002), Dirkmaat and Adovasio (1997), King andKing (1989), Mayne Correia (1997), Sigler-Eisenburg (1985) and Ubelaker et al (1995). 6.…”

The forensic evaluation of burned skeletal remains: A synthesis

“…They suggested that blunt force trauma was difficult to distinguish from heat related fractures. In a major case application, the study of the decedents of the Branch Davidian incident in Waco, Texas [32,33] also demonstrated that various kinds of perimortem trauma could survive the burning process.…”

The role of forensic anthropology in Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)

“…As observed in many DVI situations [5] human remains recovered from the bushfires scenes were significantly differentially preserved and included relatively complete bodies, carbonized body parts (especially the large muscle masses of the back and thighs), identifiable carbonized soft tissue blocks including heart and lungs, as well as fully skeletonised remains. While some skeletal elements were relatively intact others were heavily burnt, often calcined, fragmentary and fragile (Fig.…”

“…Once skeletal remains have been located the forensic anthropologist can assist in determining whether the remains are in fact human. The forensic anthropologist may also play an important role in identifying the spatialtemporal relationships between the bodies and associated evidence, including the body position and in determining the numbers of individuals present [5,25]. Establishing whether there is more than one individual present and if the remains are commingled is important for the recovery process.…”

“…Criticism has been made of responses to mass disasters, such as the Asian tsunami, which failed to incorporate a forensic anthropologist [4]. In addition to the significant contributions made by forensic anthropologists to investigations of human rights violations [11][12][13] the skills of forensic anthropologists (see below) have been used in the examination of a range of different scale disasters including light plane accidents [14] train crashes [15]; sieges [5], large scale terrorist attacks such as the 2001 World Trade Center disaster [16][17][18] and the Bali Bombings [19], as well as natural disasters such as hurricanes [20] and bushfires (see below).…”