Part II: Murder Most Brutal! Q5

So, Dr. Rudi and Dr. Suria is presented with a number of evidences.
Until now we have :
1. Parts of a human skull (with most cranial bones lost)
2. Mandible with five teeth
3. Mandible with some teeth still in eruption
4. Right part of mandible bearing three posterior teeth

 As spoken of in the previous post, there are various ways and steps involved in solving a homicide. In fact, some peculiar ways too!

 Some of you might not catch the humour this clip on "The Mentalist" portrays. Nevertheless, the course of investigation is clear - that every detail adds up to a final conclusion.

What have we done 'till now? 
1. Recovered several pieces of bones 
2. Determined it is of human origin 
3. Determined the sex of the deceased  

The question is, how are we to move on? 

 1. Make a thorough search for other evidence in the area, witnesses, collaborative facts regarding the death of people in that area
  Many mundane things which appear of no relevance might be closely related to the case. The investigation team is to relate the possible missing persons with the site of discovery of the bones; taking into consideration that:
a. It is difficult to distinguish which is exactly related to the current case
b. Not sure if the area is truly the crime scene

2. Identify parts of bone pieces,matching it to know whether it belongs to an individual or separately
  What we expect:
a. Incomplete parts to match the pieces of puzzle - an amount of deduction required
b. Shape of skull and jaw not enough to determine how many victims and who they are
c. Further tests (in previous post) to determine whether each part belongs to the same individual or not

3. Estimate age of individuals, time of death
Time of death estimates based on environmental factors will be found as follows: 
3 weeks -- articulated bones
5 weeks -- some scatter, some articulated
4 months -- disarticulated, within 10' circle
7 to 8 months -- most bones w/in 10' circle and all w/in 20'
1 year -- small bones missing, complete disarticulation
2 to 4 years -- some bones broken, scatterd 40', some large bones missing
12+ years -- bone rot; partial burial*
15 to 20 years -- no surface evidence

* partial burial from leaves, storms, erosion from shallow burial

Current methods of age estimation include simple, yet less precise morphological methods (such as evaluation of dental or skeletal morphology) or more complex, yet more accurate laboratory methods (such as racemization of aspartic acid in dentin or tooth enamel or radiocarbon dating of tooth enamel). 

4. Investigate injuries and cause of death
  With little or no flesh remaining, it may be the duty of the forensic anthropologist to seek out clues as to how the victim died and what injuries they received. Whereas in many cases it may be impossible to tell, some injuries do leave tell-tale signs on the bones.

  a. Sharp blades such as knives, if plunged into the body deeply enough, will often leave nicks and grooves on the surfaces of any bones they come into contact with. When the blade meets the solid structure of the bone, it is also possible that fragments of the blade are broken and left behind with the remains, ideal for later comparison to weapons. Such discovered fragments may be matched directly to the weapon used, or they may at least give some indication as to the type of weapon.

b. A bullet may leave numerous markings on bones. If the bullet passed straight through bone, distinct holes could be observed. Such a projectile also has the potential to completely shatter a bone, or at least leave noticeable scratches across the surface. It is possible that bullets may have been left behind in the remains, stuck in one of the bones or caught up in leftover tissues.

c. The hyoid bone is a small, U-shaped feature in the centre of the throat. If this bone is found broken, it is likely that strangulation has occurred, though it cannot be positively determined at this point that this was the cause of death.

d. Forceful blows to the skull will often leave obvious fractures or even holes, the study of which can even aid in the identification of the murder weapon, more so if a narrower, sharper weapon was used. The use of a larger, blunt object produces wounds described as blunt force trauma. Blunt force trauma may leave a pattern of radiating fractures around the point of impact (Depressed fracture), the extent of these fractures indicating the force of the blow. 

If there are multiple blows to the skull, any radiating fracture lines from following strikes will stop at existing fracture lines (Leads to compound fractures). The study of these can determine the order in which the injuries were received. The skull itself is composed of a spongy layer of bone sandwiched between two harder bone layers. The inner side of the skull is cushioned by the outer and middle layers, thus is can be assumed that great force was employed if all three layers are shattered.

5. Match evidences and deductions to missing people
 After a profile of the victim has been made, we can compare the victim’s characteristics to persons who went missing in the calculated time-frame. Possibly we might face the following problems:
a. Test results and deductions might be inaccurate
b. Inadequate information to come to any conclusion

In a nutshell, we try to reach the most logical deductions using the evidences we have, backed up by several tests to reach a conclusion for the case at hand.

Hope this post was helpful to you guys!