#ForensicFriday

[4n6-anthro]

Forensic Friday: Taphonomic Research Facilities: The Body Farm.

"The Body Farm," located at the University of Tennessee (Anthropological Research Facility) is one of the most popular research facilities in the U.S.A.

In the late 1970's, Dr. William M. Bass examined the postmortem remains of a man found in a property that formerly belonged to the Confederate Colonel William Shy. 

Image: Colonel William Shy, killed December 16, 1864, in the battle of Nashville.

During this era little was known about death estimation. Dr. Bass received soft-tissue and estimated the postmortem interval to be about one year. Dr. Bass noted the flesh was still pink and remnants of the brain and other organs were present. The remains belonged to a man buried in 1864, that man turned out to be Colonel William Shy. The uncommon burial practice to embalm with arsenic and bury inside an iron coffin led to the preservation of Shy's remains. The unexpected soft tissue preservation made Dr. Bass to conclude the remains as recent. With this case, Dr. Bass understood the importance in studying postmortem changes and decomposition. And so, that is how later Dr. William M. Bass decided to create "The Body Farm" to continue taphonomic research. 

Watch this short documentary on youtube by Vice detailing more of what happens at “The Body Farm.” CLICK HERE.

[jannis-world-connection]

Posted @withregram • @kellythescientist A little late night #ForensicFriday anyone?! A new reconstruction of one of the Green River Killer’s unidentified victims was released today with the help of DNA Phenotyping! Swipe through to learn more and share her image, someone may know her! . . . . . . Sources: Help ID Me https://m.facebook.com/698376120190298/posts/4333305443363996/?d=n https://snapshot.parabon-nanolabs.com/phenotyping https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ridgway . . . . . . . . #forensicscience #forensics #forensicscientist #csi #crimesolvers #coldcase #truecrime #crimesceneinvestigation #crimescene #garyridgway #criminology #criminalistics #crimescenecleanup #DNA #forensicDNA #forensicbiology #forensicfiles #forensicevidence #parabonnanolabs #serialkiller #biologist #wocinstem #womendoingscience #womeninscience #scicomm #greenriverkiller #biology #serialkillers #dnaphenotyping https://www.instagram.com/p/CNM97XXByjQ/?igshid=jnzthxk84au2

[camfornow]

Dr. Helen Morrison is a certified forensic psychiatrist and author of "My Life Among The Serial Killers". During her 25 year career, she has profiled more than 135 serial killers around the world, and is considered one of the country's leading experts on serial killers. She's noted for having spent more than 400 hours alone with depraved murders. Morrison maintained a 14 year clinical relationship with killer John Wayne Gacy, and was a witness for the defense at his trial. She often recieved paintings and post cards from him as gifts.The jury rejected Gacy's insanity defense and found him guilty. After his execution in 1994, Morrison assisted in his autopsy and Gacy's brain was removed for further examinination and is still in Morrison's possession, kept in her basement. #forensicfriday #helenmorrison #mylifeamongtheserialkillers #femaleprofilers #serialkillers

[truecrimeware]

Give the gift of true crime. Leave your fingerprints all over it for the forensics team. #tcware #wehavekillerstuff #forensicscience #forensics #forensicpsychology #forensicfiles #forensicpathology #forensicnurse #forensic #forensicmedicine #forensicscientist #forensicanthropology #forensicanthropologist #forensicfriday #forensicinvestigator #forensicphotography #forensiclab #forensicchemistry #forensicpsychiatry #forensicscienceacademy #forensicinvestigation https://www.instagram.com/p/B5fOaA_JN_k/?igshid=1h8kjz7phu79k

[qadeerjami]

Forensic medication is using scientific techniques to figure out and also check out crimes, particularly sudden death.

[iseeuseepage]

COMING SOON: We’re working to bring you #ForensicFriday to show you science in action! So, what do you want to see featured first?

COMING SOON: We’re working to bring you #ForensicFriday to show you science in action!

So, what do you want to see featured first?

COMING SOON: We’re working to bring you #ForensicFriday to show you science in action!

So, what do you want to see featured first? syndicated from detectiveserviceblog.wordpress.com

[scarbo-author]

4N6Fact Friday: Who builds a building just to burn it down?

The ATF, that’s who. 

ATF which stands for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, is a US Law Enforcement Agency under the jurisdiction of the Justice Department. They specialize in crimes related to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, explosives AND arson. 

“The longer a burglary lasts, the longer a murder lasts, the more forensic evidence they're going to leave behind them.That's what makes it so hard to do fire investigations because it's one of the only ones that destroys itself.” Chad Campanell, Special Agent, Certified Fire Investigator, ATF 

When you consider that, in addition to just setting something on fire, criminals also believe they can burn away evidence linking them to a different, perhaps more serious crime, you can see how crucial an arson investigation can be. The key point here is that arson investigators are trained to know what to look for and to find the evidence that can’t be destroyed. 

In many cases this training begins by building something for the sole purpose of setting it ablaze. Read about the ATF lab which houses “the largest forensic tool in the world” -- a room where ATF investigators can build a two-story house, trick it out with data gathering devices, then burn it down while they record and study the process. 

What’s also interesting is how investigators search find evidence of accelerants after a fire. 

[camfornow]

My very first #forensicfriday post is dedicated to Lt. Joe Kenda. In his 23 year career as a homicide detective for Colorado Springs, he investigated 387 homicide cases, solving 356, with a remarkable closure rate of 92%. He is noted with having a keen ability to know when someone is lying. After his retirement, he became the subject of many forensic television shows, the most recent being the extremely successful Homicide Hunter, which was just renewed for it's seventh season on the Investigation Discover Network. While making the show, Kenda refuses to use a script, and prefers to talk off the cuff about his cases, which he remembers perfectly. Each episode only takes about 4 hours to film, usually only needing one take for his interviews. After retiring from CSPD, and before his television career, he spent ten years driving a school bus for special needs children. #forensicfriday #murderpolice #joekenda #homicidehunter #investigationdiscovery

[scarbo-author]

Does a Bear Snag Hair in the Woods?

Grizzly bears who once roamed most of North America were placed on the 'threatened' list in 1975. So how are their numbers today? Researchers don't exactly know because bears are huge, massively-strong, loners, with vicious claws and teeth, who aren't easy to track and count. Hanging out with them could be seriously hazardous to a researcher's health.

But now researchers have ultra-cool, forensic technology on their side.By gathering tuffs of bear hair snagged in the bushes around where they live, researchers can extract the DNA from skin tags attached to the hair and develop a profile. They can learn not only how many bears are in an area... but the relationship these bears have to each other. They can identify parents, children and sibling groups. And, the best part of all, they don't have to interact or interfere directly with the bears to do it. Read the article here at the genomne News Network to see how they do it.

Grizzly Bear Trivia: Number of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem when they were listed as being threatened in 1975: 136-312. Today, they estimate the number to be approx: 634 - 834.

Now check out what a grizzly bear hair looks like under a microscope: BEAR HAIR. Keep this image in mind when we discuss other hair in a couple of weeks. 

[scarbo-author]

Cell Phone Video Evidence -- what you should know.

It’s happened again, a private citizen used his cell phone to capture video of the shooting death of a non-combatant black man by police in Baton Rouge, LA. 

Before I go any further, let me say, #blacklivesmatter! And I am grateful that this video footage exists. I hope it will bring justice to this tragedy. 

With this in mind I thought this would be a good time to take stock of the parameters of video evidence. Is it legal to record the police interacting with civilians? Can police order you to stop recording? Can they confiscate your phone? 

Know Your Rights When Taking Photos... This article from the ACLU weighs in on these and other questions regarding video evidence.Their advice is pretty sound. 

You can also check out this collection of surveillance apps, which includes POLICE TAPE a free smartphone App from the ACLU of New Jersey which allows you to discreetly record and store video of an incident and also includes info about your rights when engaging in video surveillance. 

[scarbo-author]

If you shoot a gun straight up in the air...

...the bullet WILL come down and could actually kill someone. (It’s happened before.) Not only that, but there’s a good chance that a ballistics expert can identify the gun, the distance from where the bullet landed to where it was fired and possibly even track down the person who loaded and fired that gun. SO BE CAREFUL!  Celebrate The Fourth without firing a weapon. 

Check out this article from Forensic Outreach about The Falling bullet: myths, legends and terminal velocity. 

[scarbo-author]

Women killers differ from murdering men...

Guess which weapons and targets are most frequently the choice of lethal ladies. 

http://www.forensicmag.com/article/2016/06/murders-women-differ-those-men-study-says?et_cid=5350843&et_rid=794273978&location=top&et_cid=5350843&et_rid=794273978&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.forensicmag.com%2farticle%2f2016%2f06%2fmurders-women-differ-those-men-study-says%3fet_cid%3d5350843%26et_rid%3d%%subscriberid%%%26location%3dtop

[scarbo-author]

Rape Kits: A Leap of Faith Comes to Fruition

Unfortunately, the issue of RAPE is trending this week thanks to Brock Turner, aka The Stanford Rapist. In Turner’s case he was apprehended at the scene while IN THE ACT. So evidence from a rape kit wasn’t necessarily a deciding factor in his conviction. But if you read the letter his victim wrote to her attacker and read to the courtroom, she gives excruciating details on having to endure the collection of evidence from the most personal bits of her body. This procedure is known as “a rape kit.” 

Today’s #ForensicFriday has to do with rape kits. How they started collecting evidence before they even had a database to compare it with. What’s being done about the backlog of untested kits. Which states are more up-to-date with this technology. What we can do about it now. 

NYT article by Emily Winslow, discussing her 20 year quest for justice. A more in depth view of Emily’s story is contained in her book Jane Doe January.

EndTheBackLog.org, a foundation established by Law and Order actress Mariska Hargtigay.