Twenty-Seven Years of Forensic Anthropology Casework in New Mexico

Abstract

A review of anthropological consult cases for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator was conducted for the years 1974 through 2000. A total of 596 cases are summarized and information is presented on the sex and age of the individuals, season of recovery, depositional environment, body covering, time since death, perimortem trauma, postmortem animal activity, and skeletal element recovery. Results reveal a higher percentage of male victims (76%). No variation is seen in the seasonal distribution of cases. In cases with known time since death, 35% were recovered within one week while 30% had a postmortem interval exceeding one year. Depositional environments include surface (45%), burial (13%), and airplane crashes (9.5%). In 42% of the cases, no evidence of perimortem trauma was observed. Postmortem animal activity was noted in 46% of cases. Data presented in this study may prove useful in supporting expert witness testimony and generating future research models.

Proposed Classes of Morphological Autopsy Findings for Decomposed and Skeletal Remains in Mass Death Investigations

“…This is consistent with another multidecade review of anthropological cases, in which trauma was seen in 58% of cases. 6 Similar rates (42%-43%) of skeletons lacking traumatic or pathologic lesions are reported in the archaeological literature. 20,21 In this study, 69% of cases had some form of trauma or pathology evident at autopsy and the cause of death could be determined in 63% of the total cases.…”

“…In addition to the loss of information available only through soft tissue analysis, postmortem examinations of skeletal remains cases are also constrained by lower positive identification rates (thereby restricting investigator access to medical histories) and an increase in the loss of body parts/skeletal elements or commingling. 6,7 Although the list of examples of specific morphologic findings associated with each class is not exhaustive, it provides ample guidance for investigators to evaluate and assign individuals to each class.…”

Decomposition Rates and Taphonomic Changes Associated with the Estimation of Time Since Death in a Summer Climate: A Case Study from Urban Nova Scotia

“…Until recently, the majority of research was published as anecdotal accounts cited in medical examiner and coroner cases (Komar, 2003;Nordby, 2002). A small number of studies have examined human remains cases, to determine TSD estimations, however, these studies are based on the day the person went missing and therefore timeframes developed using this type of study are not exact.…”

“…These provide insight into the type of animal that caused the damage, for example, rodents leave distinctive parallel striae markings on bones (Galloway, 1997). Multiple studies have shown that animal activity increases the decomposition rates, however, no specific research has been conducted that shows the amount of increase (Galloway et al, 1989;Galloway, 1997;Haglund and Sorg, 1997b;Komar, 2003;Mann et al, 1990;Rhine and Dawson, 1998;Sledzik, 1998;Ubleaker, 1997).…”

Comparison of Time-lapse GPR and Resistivity over Simulated Clandestine Graves

“…One cadaver was wrapped because available statistics of discovered burials show 50% are either wrapped or clothed (Manhein, 1996). Depth of burial was 0.5 m bgl, again based on average discovered depths of available statistics (Komar, 2003). The nearby Keele meteorological weather station supplied total rainfall and 0.5m bgl temperature information over the study period (Figure 2).…”