Rebekah Wells
HBS 1st Period
Case Report 1.2.3 Bone Detectives

Introduction: While a couple was out for their morning run, they happened to stumble upon what looked like a skull. They called the police and the police discovered two skeletons lying side by side. The bones included the skull, pelvis, humorous, and tibia. With these, the forensic anthropologists have determined the person to be a healthy white woman from 5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet tall using measurements and calculations of the bones.
Summary of Findings: The bones found were labeled as female for many reasons. A lot of the evidence we acquired pointed in this direction. The pelvis was a huge indicator because the sub-pubic angle measured 95⁰, and in the identification …show more content…
The skull had a prominent nasal spine, a characteristic of a Caucasian person, and a sharp ridge on the nasal silling. The orbital openings of the eye were round and somewhat square, which also indicated Caucasian origin. The nasal index, however, showed a different result. The nasal width was 26.1 mm, and the height was 30.2 mm, revealing a nasal index of .83. Anything over .53mm is a black skull. The skull also proved to be prognathic, another trait of a black …show more content…
One of these techniques is testing mitochondrial DNA found in the bone of the remains, and comparing it to mitochondrial DNA from the lineage of possible victims. To do this test, PCR and electrophoresis tests would need to be conducted, comparing mitochondrial DNA samples from relatives of missing victims against the skeletal remains. If DNA bands from the electrophoresis gel of the skeletal remains match up to the bands from the sample of relatives, then a positive identification could be made. This technique would be more accurate because it’s a comparison that utilizes hard evidence and side-by-side analysis of the