#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

[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

[addictedtoskinbeauty]

#Repost @dr.bbl with @repostapp ・・・ Fat Embolism!! Rare, but chance is 20 per 100,000 events. 3 recent cosmetic surgery deaths in Miami in the last month. Some of the deaths have been assumed to be related to fat embolism. Getting a lot of questions on snapchat and on the phone about fat embolisms. This can happen to anyone even after a major bone break or trauma. It can happen under the care of any doctor including Board Certified Plastic Surgeons and cosmetic doctors. Reduce risk: 1. Inject with blunt cannulas to reduce trauma 2. Inject fat over the muscle 3. Only accept healthy patients 4. Knowing anatomical safe zones 5. Continuous patient monitoring. #Repost @mrs_angemi with @repostapp ・・・ Death from liposuction??? Liposuction is a surgical procedure, and with any surgery comes risks- including death. The top photo is an illustration of the liposuction procedure. The cannula is the tool inserted into the skin to basically suck out the fat. When this tool is inserted and vigorously passed through the subcutaneous tissue- it is cutting through blood vessels just like injecting the fat into the buttocks. This sets up for a possible problem called a fat embolism. Only blood is supposed to be in the blood vessels and travel through the circulatory system, though the heart and lungs. When there is a disruption to the circulatory system and a vessel breaks- such as trauma due to surgery or a broken bone- fat can then enter into the blood steam and this is bad news!!! Once the fat is in the circulatory system it can travel to the lungs (pulmonary fat embolism) and then brain (brain fat embolism) causing death. The bottom photos are from autopsy showing a brain with fat embolism. The arrows point to pin point hemorrhages in the white matter. Microscopically fat can actually be seen in the blood vessels and special stains can be done to confirm a fat embolism. #iheartautopsy #forensicfriday #forensics #lipo #liposculpture #death #dead #autopsy #brain #fatembolism #liposuction #fat #miami #cosmeticsurgery #cosmeticsurgeon #plasticsurgery #BBL #brazilianbuttlift (at Addicted II Skin Beauty & Aesthetics Studio)

[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. 

[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.