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The case of an unidentified corpse and the need for intensive forensic investigation

11 Nov 2021

  • Local forensic academics highlight need for multi-disciplinary crime scene investigations and meticulous autopsy 
BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody  Conducting forensic investigations into dismembered human remains is a difficult task, and therefore, local forensic academics noted, it is essential that multi-disciplinary crime scene investigations and a meticulous autopsy are conducted, citing a particular case of a partially burnt, dismembered body found by the road in a residential area.  This observation was made in a case report on “Multidisciplinary forensic investigation into a partially burnt dismembered body found by a road side” which was authored by P.A.S. Edirisinghe, I.D.G. Kitulwatte and S. Gangahawatta (all attached to the Kelaniya University’s Medical Faculty’s Forensic Medicine Department) and published in the Medico-Legal Journal of Sri Lanka 2 (2) in December 2015.  Dismemberment and burning are, as Edirisinghe et al. put it, attempts to conceal an identity and thereby a crime. However, per D.A. Hawley, D.J. Doedens, J.L. McClain, and J.E. Pless’s “Concealment of the body in drug deaths”, even though investigators assume in such a situation that the manner of death is homicide, this may not invariably turn out to be true.  Therefore, A. Kemkes-Grottenthaler’s “The reliability of forensic osteology (dealing with bones) – A case in point, case study” and I. Pretty and D. Sweet’s “A look at forensic dentistry. Part 1. The role of teeth in the determination of human identity” noted that forensic investigations conducted into dismembered remains requires the involvement of a multi-disciplinary forensic team.  Often, Edirisinghe et al. pointed out, such crime scenes involve multiple locations. Therefore, Edirisinghe et al. reported on a forensic investigation conducted on a partially burnt, dismembered body found on a road side. Case report  The decapitated, partially burnt, human remains, dismembered into seven parts, were recovered from a road side, in a residential area. A visit to the scene revealed partially burnt body parts and burnt and wilted leaves, indicating that the flames of the fire or the heat of the fire had reached a considerable height of about 15 feet. Partly burnt friendship wristbands were found on the right upper limb linked to a missing young man. The missing person’s data and post-mortem data were obtained using the International Criminal Police Organisation’s (Interpol) Disaster Victim Identification forms. Even though general identification was possible using matching data, specific identification using conventional methods such as fingerprints and the dental pattern, was however not possible, due to burning and the absence of a dental chart being maintained during life. Soot was not found in the respiratory tract. The test for carbon monoxide came back negative. There were no identifiable ante-mortem injuries of either blunt or sharp force trauma in order to arrive at a cause of death. The dismembered bony ends showed sharp cuts at several sites, including the cervical spine (the most superior portion of the vertebral column), the lumbar spine (lower back), femurs (thighbones) and the humerus (a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow).  Furthermore, there was the burning and cut fracture of the mandible (the largest bone in the human skull which holds the lower teeth in place), a cut fracture of the fourth cervical vertebra, the partial and total cut injury to the right and left superior articular processes of the fourth lumbar vertebra, and the cut ends of the humerus and femurs. Radiological investigations did not reveal the presence of bullets or pellets emitted from a firearm. Stomach contents came back negative for common poisons.  Further investigations of the missing person’s last movements led to the original crime scene which was in a room on the fourth floor of a building. Although the primary site had been washed away, remnants of the blood stains were sufficient to reconstruct the events. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) investigations done by comparing the DNA obtained from the bone marrow of the victim with that of his mother and sister confirmed the identification of the missing person.  As noted earlier, dismemberment and burning are a form of elaborate and planned concealment of a body and are associated, per D. Seleye-Fubara and E.N. Etebu’s “Homicide in the Port Harcourt Rivers State”, with homicide.  The motive of post-mortem dismemberment is not only to conceal the identity and the crime, but also to, as noted by Edirisinghe et al., facilitate the disposal of the body. It is therefore, often linked with multiple crime sites where the body is located in the primary crime scene while other crime scenes may include the place of the initial physical attack, the place of death and the vehicle used to move the body, with traces of both the murderer/s and the victim likely being left at each scene (per French criminologist Edmond Locard’s exchange principle). Therefore, Edirisinghe et al. reiterated that the involvement of a multidisciplinary team is vital to conduct a proper forensic investigation into such a crime.  In this case, a systematic multidisciplinary scene visit conducted by crime scene officers, forensic pathologists and an arson specialist revealed that the primary scene of the crime was different to the burnt site. Hence, the establishment of the identity of the mutilated corpse, on most such occasions, assists in the reconstruction of the event together with other corroborative evidence. The primary challenge faced by the investigators in this case was the identification of the deceased. Towards this end, circumstantial and historical evidence obtained by the Police Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO) revealed that there was a young man missing from the area. The partially burnt friendship bands found on the right arm were similar to the ones worn by the missing man. The information pertaining to the missing person’s general identity was found to be compatible with the findings at the autopsy.  In the case of the presumptive identification of an unknown deceased, much information can be obtained, Edirisinghe et al. mentioned, by a detailed examination of the body, the clothing and the personal effects. That said, Edirisinghe et al. elaborated that there is however the possibility that the unknown body is clothed with garments and personnel effects of another, in a bid to mislead the investigators, thus making it not desirable to conclude a positive identity on the basis of these alone.  Methods of positive identification include, according to M.I. Sheikh’s “Investigation of concealed homicide and the establishment of positive identification”, dental records, fingerprint identification, finding medical implants, cranial suture (fibrous bands of tissue that connect the bones of the skull) pattern (per T.L. Rogers and T.T. Allard’s “Expert testimony and positive identification of human remains through cranial suture patterns”) and DNA analysis.  Excluding DNA analysis, in the context of the other aforementioned methods, Edirisinghe et al. added that the availability of ante-mortem records is essential for the purpose of comparison; whereas in DNA analysis, such can be concluded via the comparison of samples from parents, siblings or children. In the case of this victim, the identity was confirmed as that of the missing young man using DNA profiling.  Upon a positive identification being made, further investigations of the missing person’s last movements, revealed a second scene at which the bloodstain pattern analysis revealed evidence of a blood shedding event, ante-mortem or post-mortem.  Though a detailed autopsy examination did not reveal any definite ante-mortem injuries, according to K. Moraitis and C. Spiliopoulou’s “Identification and differential diagnosis of peri-mortem (at or near the time of death) blunt force trauma in tubular long bones (long tubular bones of the extremities including the femurs and humerus)”, this is to be expected with peri-mortem infliction. Moreover, both Sheikh, and J. Rajs, M. Lundstrom, M. Broberg, L. Lidberg, and O. Lindquist’s “Criminal mutilation of the human body in Sweden – A 30 year medico-legal and forensic psychiatry study” explained that post-mortem mutilation and burns make it extremely hard to identify such injuries.  In the present case, per “Multi detector computed tomography (a x-ray technique in which shadows of superimposed structures are blurred out by a moving x-ray tube) findings in deaths with severe burns” by A.D. Levy, H.T. Harcke, J.M. Getz, and C.T. Mallak, burns were confirmed as post-mortem due to the absence of both soot in the airway and a high carbon monoxide concentration in the blood. Also, due to the involvement of burns in the dismembered edges, it was confirmed, Edirisinghe et al. further explained, that the body had been burnt after dismemberment.  In the absence of definite ante-mortem injuries to account for the death, the cause of death was concluded as unascertained. Nevertheless, an opinion was given that cut or chop injuries to the neck and abdomen as a cause of death cannot be either excluded or concluded due to the dismemberment and burning of the body.  Upon the conclusion of the investigations, Edirisinghe et al. stated that the identity was established and the initial scene was recovered, with intentional dismemberment and post-mortem mutilation being confirmed.


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