Identification of Human Remains

Dr.Oscar Ottoman MD,MMED

LECTURER/PATHOLOGIST
CUHAS/BMC
Introduction
 Forensic Pathology
 Practice of medicine produces evidence useful in the public
administration of justice, public health, and public safety
How ?
• the medical principles derived from the study of diseases
and injury
• the scientific study of the effect of disease and injury on the
human body in the context of -matters of public interest
-the untoward or adverse effects of the
dynamic interaction that occurs between persons
- the person and the environment
Forensic Pathology; a study of the patterns of social
behavior, anatomic injury, and death.
 Cause of death
• Disease, injury, or abnormality that alone/in
combination is responsible for initiating the
sequence of functional disturbances.
• whether brief or prolonged, that eventually ends in
death
• This is the underlying, proximate, or initiating
cause of death whether brief or prolonged, that
eventually ends in death
• It may precede death immediately and be both the
underlying and immediate cause of death
 Cont.….
• It may produce other serious sequelae and
complications that may be the immediate cause
of death
In documentation of the cause of death:
• The underlying cause takes precedence over the
immediate cause or any other complications;
Should be the answer to the question:
• “What is the cause of death but for which death
would not have occurred?
 Cont..,

• A contributing cause of death is any important disease

or condition

that was present at the time of death and that may have
contributed to death

but was not related to the immediate cause.

 Manner of death

• A classification of the way in which the cause of death came

about with special reference to; - social relationships and
personal causation
where by :-force of natural events
-accidental
-suicidal self-infliction
The usual classifications: (1)homicide
(2)suicide
(3)accident
(4)pending
(5)undetermined
(6)natural
 Mechanisms of death
• The process causes vital organs/systems
to fail when a fatal disease, injury,
abnormality, or chemical insult occurs.

• It is the functional or structural change that

makes independent life no longer possible
after a lethal event has occurred.
 Mechanisms of death
• Example: gunshot
wound to the chest,
may cause death by
1. cardiac standstill
2. hemorrhagic shock
3. less frequently:
infection and sepsis
 Cont..
• It may be difficult/impossible to define the
mechanism of death in instances of
multiple forms of trauma such as
beating, stabbing, and disposal of the
body in water
• Multiple mechanisms also can be the result
of a single event such as in strangulation:
-Suffocation
-Brain ischemia
 Purpose of medico-legal
investigation of death
1.Satisfy the needs of public health and
safety and the courts

2. Ascertain medical facts relevant to the

cause of death
 Cont….
3. Integrate the findings with the
investigation facts in order to establish the
manner of death

4. Evaluate the mechanisms and times of

injury and death, and to collect medical and
physical evidence
Identification of Human
Remains
 Forensic Anthropology
 It’s the application of physical anthropology
to the legal process.
• Identify skeletal,
• badly decomposed, or
• unidentified human remains for legal and
human reasons.
• Started during the 19th century, popular
during 1930s because of WWII and the
Korean War.
 FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Forensic anthropology is a type

of applied anthropology that
specializes in the changes and
variations in the human
skeleton for the purpose of
legal inquiry.
 Forensic Anthropology
 Forensic Anthropologists can often answer
many questions:

• Are the remains human?

• Are the remains a single individual or mixed
remains of several individuals?
• When did the death occur?
• What are the gender, age, and race of the
individual?
 Forensic Anthropology—cont--
 Forensic Anthropologists can often answer
many questions –cont—
• What caused the death?
• What kind of death was it – a homicide, a
suicide, and accident or a natural death, or
is the cause still undetermined?
• Did the individual have any anatomical
peculiarities, signs of disease, or old
injuries?
 Forensic Anthropology—cont--
 Forensic Anthropologists can often answer
many questions:

• Can the individual’s height, body weight,

and physique be estimated?
 Forensic Anthropologist
 Role of the Forensic Anthropologist:
• Recover Human Remains
• Identify Human Remains
• Determine Time or Cause of Death
 Osteological Structure
 Sex determination
 Male skeleton is larger, thicker
and longer than female
 Males have larger ridges on bone for
muscle attachments
 Bone Structure
• Epiphysis-ends of bone-
different angle for humans as
compared to animals
• Diaphysis-shaft of bone-diameter of cortex
depends on species-humans-1/4 of total
diameter of bone
 DNA Evidence
• Bone contains little nuclear DNA.
• Boine does contain mitochondrial DNA.
• mtDNA-inherited only from the mother
• Long after nuclear DNA is lost from tissue
degeneration-mtDNA can be obtained
• Compared with living relatives on mother’s
side of family to identify skeletal remains.
 Skeletal Trauma Analysis
• Forensic anthropologists determine if damage
to bones occurred before or after death.
• Differences between patterns on bones made
by weapons and patterns created by
environment after death.
 Sharp-force trauma, blunt-force trauma,
gunshot wounds, and knife wounds have
distinctive patterns
 Determining Sex from Skeleton

 Males pelvis is narrow and deep-

pelvic inlet
• opening in center of two pelvic halves is
heart-shaped
 Female pelvis is wide and shallow-pelvic
inlet
• is oval shaped
Determining Sex from Skeleton
 Pelvis of Female and Male
• A.
Sciatic notches: are wide in female and
narrow in male
• B. Preauricular sulci: in female-deep and
in male-no indentation
• C. Auricular surfaces: in female-flat and in
male-elevated
Determining Sex from Skeleton
 Differences in Skulls:
• Males have heavier brow ridge
• Orbits are smaller in males
• Males have heavy mandible
• Female skulls are smaller with rounder
mandibles
 Determining Sex
• Determining the sex is crucial when
analyzing unidentified human remains.
• The os pubis, sacrum, and ilium of the pelvis
are bones that have the most obvious
differences between men and women, along
with the;
• shape of the skull, shape of the mandible,
and the size of the occipital protuberance
(bump) at the back of the skull to determine
male or female traits.
 Cont..
• Determination of sex is crucial to the
analysis of unidentified human remains.
• The pelvis offers the most definitive traits.
• Comparison of three characteristics of the
os pubis gives the information used to
identify sex.
 GENDER IDENTIFICATION

A. The female (top) has a wider pubic body

than the male (bottom).

B. The female has a wider subpubic

concavity or subpubic angle.
 GENDER IDENTIFICATION—CONT--

C. Most females have a ventral arc

present.
GENDER IDENTIFICATION—CONT--
 Determining Sex using the femur
 Determining Sex using the pelvis
Subpubic angle
• Females – greater than 90°
• Males – less than 90°
Sciatic notch
• Females – more than 68°
• Males – less than 68°
Sacrum
• is straighter in women than in men.
Male Female

Subpubic Angle
18
 GENDER DIFFFERENCES
The rib cage and shoulders of males
are generally wider and larger than
those of females.
In addition, about one person in 20
has an extra rib. This is more
common in males than in females.
 GENDER DIFFFERENCES—CONT--

In males, the index finger is sometimes shorter than the

third finger.
In females, the index finger is sometimes longer than the
third finger. This is not often used as an indicator of
gender, as there are many exceptions.

Is this a male or female hand according to

the above rule?
 Determining Age
• A forensic anthropologist can reasonably estimate
an individual’s age at the time of death by
examining biological changes that took place
during that person’s life.
• The investigator can estimate most accurately
when teeth are erupting, bones are growing, and
growth plates are forming and uniting.
• Closure of cranial sutures in the skull is also an
age indicator.
• After 25 to 30 years, age estimation becomes
more difficult
AGE DTERMINATION:
Most accurate estimations are made from:
• Teeth
• Epiphyses or growth plates
• Pubic symphysis
• Cranial sutures:
The three major cranial sutures appear as
distinct lines in youth and gradually close from the
inside out.
Investigators always use an age range because of
the variation in people and how they age. The
investigator does not want to eliminate any
possibilities for identification.
 AGE DETERMINATION USING
CRANIAL SUTURES
Sagittal suture completely closed Sagittal suture
Male—26 or older
Female—29 or older
Sagittal suture completely open
Male—less than 32
Female—less than 35
Complete closure of all three
major sutures
Male—over 35
Female—over 50

Lambodial Coronal
 AGE DETERMINATION USING
BASILAR SUTURE
Basilar suture
Technically known as the
synchondrosis spheno-
occipitalis, closes in
females as young as 14
and in males as young as
16.
If the suture is open, the
individual is generally
considered to be 18 or
younger.
 Age
• By age 30-suture at back of skull will have
closed.
• By age 32-suture running across top of skull,
back to front, will have closed.
• By age 50-suture running side to side over
the top of the skull, near the front, will have
closed.
 AGE DETERMINATION
In long bones, the diaphysis, or shaft, makes up most
of the bone’s length.
The epiphyses are found at the ends of the bones;
their function is to allow for growth.
The epiphyses are good places to look for changes in
estimating age.
Though all people are different and grow at different
rates, there are similarities that allow for
generalizations in estimating age.
AGE DETERMINATION USING EPIPHYSIS

Stage of Union Male Female

of Medial Clavicle
Non-union without 21 or younger 20 or younger
separate epiphysis

Non-union with separate 16–21 17–20

epiphysis

Partial union 17–30 17–33

Complete union 21 or older 20 or older

 Age Determination
 Infant has 300 bones
 Some fuse together at predictable rates
 Adult human has 206 bones
• Ossification-process whereby cartilage
changes into bone-results in bones fusing
 Epiphysis and Diaphysis fuse together
• Age 14-humerus
• Age 21-pelvis
 Determining Stature
• Forensic scientists can estimate a
person’s stature (height) by examining one
or more of the long bones.
• Men and women have different
proportions of long bones to total height.
 ESTIMATION OF HEIGHT

The height of a person can be calculated by measuring the length

of certain long bones, including the femur, tibia, humerus, and
radius. Below are the equations used to determine average
measurements for both male and female. (All measurements
are in centimeters.)

Male Height, H Female Height, H

H = femur  2.23 + 69.08 H = femur  2.21 + 61.41
H = tibia  2.39 + 81.68 H = tibia  2.53 + 72.57
H = humerus  2.97 + 73.57 H = humerus  3.14 + 64.97
H = radius  3.65 + 80.40 H = radius  3.87 + 73.50
 Race Determination
• Racial variations exist predominantly in skull
• Three basic skeletal groups
• Negroid-black
• Caucasoid-white
• Mongoloid-yellow
 RACE CHARACTERISTICS

Caucasoids—have a long, narrow nasal aperture, a triangular

palate, oval orbits, narrow zygomatic arches, and narrow
mandibles.
Negroids—have a wide nasal aperture, a rectangular palate,
square orbits, and more pronounced zygomatic arches. The
long bones are longer, and have less curvature and greater
density.
Mongoloids—have a more rounded nasal aperture, a
parabolic palate, rounded orbits, wide zygomatic arches,
and more pointed mandibles.
What differences do you notice among these
3 skulls? Can you determine race?
 RACE

Race is difficult to determine from most skeletal remains, especially

since pure races are becoming uncommon. An experienced
forensic anthropologist can generally place skulls into one of three
groups:
• Caucasoid—European, Middle Eastern, and Indian descent
• Negroid—African, Aborigine, and Melanesian descent
• Mongoloid—Asian, Native American, and Polynesian descent
 Odontology: the study of teeth
The identity of an individual
can be determined by
comparing a person’s
teeth to his or her dental
records.
Unusual features including
the number and types of
teeth and fillings, the
spacing of the teeth,
and/or special dental work
(bridges, false teeth, root
canals) help to make a
positive identification.
 Fingerprinting

• Fingerprints
are one of the oldest and most important
evidence categories in forensic science.
• The use of individual friction ridge skin
patterns on the end joint of fingers is centuries
old
• Fingerprint match is widely accepted as
certain evidence of a particular person
 Fingerprints
as a Means of Identification
• In forensic science, fingerprints are used to
 locate,
identify and eliminate suspects in a criminal
case
• Fingerprints can also be used in identification of
human remains
• Fingerprints are one of many biometric
identifiers- such as retina or iris patterns, voice
recognition or face thermography
 What Fingerprints Are
• Fingerprints are patterns of friction ridge skin
• Fingers and palms of hands, soles of feet
and are characterized by ridges (hills) and
valleys (furrows)
• Patterns form on skin surfaces early in
embryonic development and are carried
through life
 Fingerprint Patterns
• There
are three basic patterns of fingerprints:
• Arches – can be plain or tented
• Loops – radial or ulnar, depending on
whether direction of slope of pattern is
towards inner arm bone (radius) or outer
arm bone (ulna)
• Whorls - most complex, and contain
central pocket, double loop, and accidental
 Fingerprint Patterns—cont--
• Loop
and Whorl patterns contain definable featu
res such as delta and the core
• Both the delta and core are important in 10
– point fingerprint identification and
comparison
• Within fingerprint patterns are minutiae,
which are individual features
 Fingerprint Patterns—cont--
• Minutiae
are features which allow for comparison
and source determination.
• Ridges of fingerprints form the minutiae by
doing one of three things:
 Ending abruptly – ending ridge
 Splitting into two ridges – bifurcation
 Being short in length – dot
 Two bifurcations facing each other are known as
an island
Use of DNA finger printing
Use of DNA finger printing
 Application of DNA Typing
1.Forensic DNA typing
2.Paternity/maternity testing
3.Identification of human remains
4.Conservation biology and ecology
 Why we use DNA profiling

• DNA profiling (also called DNA testing,

DNA typing, or genetic fingerprinting) is
a technique employed by
forensic scientists to assist in the
identification of individuals by their
respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are
encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a
person's DNA makeup, which can also be
used as the person's identifier.
 Use of DNA finger printing

• In maternity/paternity testing to prove

parentage of a child
• Forensic science – crime scene
investigations to prove innocence or guilt
 To identify victims of crime or accidents,
e.g. death in a fire, to identify human
remains etc
• Evolutionary relationships between living
things
• Identifying viable embryos
THANKS