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What and Where were the Worst Natural Disasters?

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

The 2007 Bulgarian heat wave triggered wildfires leading to a state of emergency being declared in three southern towns

The 2007 Bulgarian heat wave triggered wildfires leading to a state of emergency being declared in three southern towns

Have you ever wondered if one earthquake or flood or heat wave was more deadly than another? Although Wikipedia is eschewed by many scholarly readers, some pages contain fascinating (and sometimes unconfirmed) information. Their “List of natural disasters by death toll” is one such page, and you can find a warning on that page that most numbers are estimates and often are in dispute.

With that said, this Wikipedia page also contains some information that could galvanize further research. For instance, many climate change advocates might look at the list for “Ten deadliest heat waves” and be quite satisfied that most of the deadliest heat waves occurred within the past twenty years. But, a researcher would want to know more about how this information was gathered. A link to the Heat Wave page at Wikipedia can offer more information. But, a Web-wide search actually turns up more information at sites such as the Weather Channel and research papers such as the one at The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System site offer even more information about current heat waves and historic comparisons.

In all, even if you include only those heat incidents shown on the original list at Wikipedia, approximately 60,000+ people died from heat exposure over the past three decades. If you realize that annual mortality from tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods together averages under 200 people per year, and that heat wave deaths over the past thirty years comes to 2,000 per year (a full ten times the amount of those who die by tornadoes, earthquakes and floods), then why don’t more people panic over heat wave impacts?

Perhaps people do not panic about heat wave deaths, because many tornadoes, earthquakes and floods are difficult if not impossible to predict. Heat waves, on the other hand, are predictable and warnings about what could happen to a person exposed to extreme heat and how to prevent heat-related death are facts that are well known. At least, most local weather channels will repeat warnings consistently until a heat wave recedes.

One reason why so many people die in heat waves could be that many people today now live alone. In Chicago, one month after the 1995 heat wave, county officials buried 68 people, most of them heat-wave victims, in a 160-foot-long trench. That 1995 Chicago heat wave was one horrific event with some peculiar responses. In 2002, Dr. Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist at New York University and the author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, reported:

From the moment the local medical examiner began to report heat-related mortality figures, political leaders, journalists, and in turn the Chicago public have actively denied the disaster’s significance and questioned whether the deaths were – to use the popular local phrase – “really real.” Although so many city residents died that the coroner had to call in nine refrigerated trucks to store the bodies, skepticism about the trauma continues today. In Chicago, people still debate whether the medical examiner exaggerated the numbers and wonder if the crisis was a “media event” that the press had “propped up somehow.” The American Journal of Public Health definitively established that the medical examiner’s numbers actually undercounted the mortality by about 250 since hundreds of bodies were buried before they could be autopsied. But how many people read the American Journal of Public Health? For now, the heat wave stands as a nonevent – perhaps a footnote – in the grand narrative of affluence and revitalization that dominates accounts of urban life in the 1990s.

Kleinberg also noted in The New York Times that, “When I interviewed Chicago residents, they usually remembered a death toll of about 100, and generally questioned whether the medical examiner had fabricated the figures or if the media had turned a nonevent into headline news.” The actual death toll in that 1995 heat wave, in one week, came to 739 people.

The question that Kleinberg posed was how so many people could die in a natural disaster and be denied the same recognition that is offered to people who die in tidal waves or earthquakes. He also wanted to know how these deaths could be prevented, especially when – compared to the cleanup costs and refunds the federal government routinely doles out to homeowners and corporations who suffer property damage in other disasters – the costs of preventing heat deaths are low.

Are heat deaths part of a social leaning that sees coastal residents as more valuable than inner-city heat victims? Dr. Kleinberg asks that question, and fortunately Chicago responded to the call to protect their most vulnerable residents. Chicago, which took criticism for its response to the 1995 heat wave, improved its systems to the point where a 1999 heat wave comparable in intensity to the one of 1995 killed only 110 people.

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The 1918 Flu Pandemic

Monday, September 28th, 2009
Influenza ward at Walter Reed Hospital during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919.

Influenza ward at Walter Reed Hospital during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919.

Did you know that the 1918 flu pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), was the origin for all flu pandemics during the past century? Although the flu existed before 1918, scientists later discovered that the 1918 flu had ties to the H1N1 flu that exists today. None of the viral descendants from 1918, however, approaches the pathogenicity of the 1918 parent virus.

Additionally, the way the flu spread in 1918 was different than in previous patterns. Before (and after) 1918, most influenza pandemics developed in Asia and spread from there to the rest of the world. The 1918 pandemic, however, spread “more or less simultaneously in three distinct waves during a twelve-month period in Europe, Asia and North America.”

In the 1918–1919 pandemic, a first or spring wave began in March 1918 and spread unevenly through the United States, Europe, and possibly Asia over the next 6 months. Illness rates were high, but death rates in most locales were not appreciably above normal. A second or fall wave spread globally from September to November 1918 and was highly fatal. In many nations, a third wave occurred in early 1919.

According to Stanford University, the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe” the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster. The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10-12 years.

Why was the pandemic in 1918 fatal to so many people? People who usually die of influenza usually develop a secondary infection of lethal pneumonia. The 1918 virus was atypical in that it rapidly overwhelmed the respiratory system as it caused an uncontrollable hemorrhaging that filled the lungs with 24-48 hours. This quick assault on the body did not allow time for pneumonia to develop. Additionally, out of approximately 675,000 Americans who died that year from flu, almost 200,000 deaths were recorded in October alone. So, the second wave was more virulent in the U.S. than the first wave.

Finally, the 1918 flu tended to select young healthy adults over those who had weakened immune systems. In that case, the normal age distribution for flu mortality was reversed completely, leaving the very young, the very old and the infirm left to wonder if the end of the world was near. As with today’s populace who think that flu shots are part of a government conspiracy, in 1918, many people thought that the environment of WWI brought about their pandamic. Some thought it was a form of biological warfare.

There is a strain of truth in the WWI environment, as many soldiers who never left home before were traveling on ships, trains and other vehicles with many other soldiers to unfamiliar places across the U.S. and the globe. Many of these young men died from flu in boot camp, even before they were issued their marching orders. In one case at Fort Jackson, there were more than 60,000 soldiers in training in 1918, and twenty-five percent of those soldiers got the flu. Approximately 18-20 percent of those stricken died.

Although the H1N1 virus appears to be less virulent than the 1918 pandemic, it still can cause disruptions nationwide and globally as people take time off work to recuperate. Even the Army is taking extraordinary precautions to help keep the flow of ‘normal daily life’ going as well as possible. To learn more about the 1918 pandemic, follow the links below:

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Access to Autopsy Records

Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Autopsy Record

Autopsy Record

How can you tell if an autopsy was conducted on an ancestor? Or, if you plan to conduct research on health, environment and correlations, can you use autopsy records for your work? Autopsy records in hospitals, medical examiner and coroner’s offices are usually kept for decades or longer. While family members can request and expect to obtain a copy of the autopsy report many years later, it may be difficult to obtain some autopsy records depending upon what you plan to do with those records. Some states require that the next-of-kin family member make the request.

How do you find autopsy records? Death certificates may contain information about an autopsy, and you might find autopsy reports among coroner’s records or in hospital records. Checking coroner’s reports is more productive, as hospital records are considered private except to next of kin. However, each hospital does maintain an individual policy as to access to records or how long those records are kept.

Additionally, each state maintains rulings about autopsy reports. For instance, in March this year, a California appellate court ruled that coroner and autopsy records can be considered investigatory files when used by a local agency for law enforcement purposes. The decision came in February in a case involving a reporter who sought such records as she prepared a book on a murder trial.

In January this year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that autopsy records should be made available to the public and should be released by county coroners. The 5-1 ruling resulted from efforts by two newspapers to obtain the autopsy report for an Easton police officer shot and killed inside headquarters in 2005.

In a footnote, McCaffery noted that the Right-to-Know Law that took effect earlier this month said autopsy records are not subject to disclosure, but also said the new law does not trump other state laws. The newspapers sought access under the Coroner’s Act, which requires coroners to deposit their “official records and papers” with the courthouse prothonotary (principal clerk of a court) for the year at the end of the following January.

The Coroner’s Act was noted in April:

“It is the view of the OOR [Office of Open Records] that the mandate of the Coroner’s Act continues to govern public access to autopsy reports, which the Court has deemed to be an ‘official record’ of the coroner’s office,” the ruling states. “Thus, as official records of the coroner’s office autopsy records are public record, as defined under the RTKL, as of the date of required filing – 30 days after the end of each year.”

“If a citizen requests an autopsy report, and it has been filed with the prothonotary in accordance with the Coroner’s Act, the record is a public record and available under the RTKL,” the ruling continued. The OOR noted that provisions of the RTLK do not apply when they conflict with other federal or state laws.

“If the autopsy report has not yet been filed under the Coroner’s Act, the autopsy report may be protected under [the autopsy report exemption] of the RTKL until made public record as governed by the provisions of the Corner’s Act.”

Although authorities are granting access to autopsy records, these records do not always exist or they go missing under mysterious circumstances. And, some counties in Pennsylvania now are seeking to roll back state mandate. Additionally, not all deaths undergo an autopsy procedure, which means that researchers and genealogists may need to rely on death records instead. This solution can be problematic, as assigning cause of death in California – let alone across the United States – frequently is flawed by a lack of medical information and clouded by mistaken assumptions. Experts say it’s likely that at least a third of the more than 230,000 death certificates issued in California each year are dead wrong.

To avoid presumptions, more information other than death records may be required. Interviews with those who were familiar with the deceased often help, if memories have not been clouded. For instance, one woman recently interviewed stated that death records for her grandfather and great-grandfather showed that both men died from heart failure. “They did die from heart failure,” the woman stated. “But, those heart failures both were caused by long battles with bone cancer.”

Without that interview, this family history may never have seen light, as the bone cancer never was noted on the death certificate and autopsies were not performed. The next effort, then would be to seek access to hospital records through that woman, who was next-of-kin.

When it comes to research efforts that clarify family health histories or correlations between health and environmental issues, the work is about as difficult as it comes…

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Understanding Perpetrator Profiling

Friday, August 14th, 2009
1975 Utah mug shot of Ted Bundy.

1975 Utah mug shot of Ted Bundy.

News is escalating in Rocky Mount, as CNN and other news venues visit this North Carolina town to determine whether a string of recent murders is the work of a serial killer. According to one story, local authorities announced last month that the FBI was helping investigate the series of murders that date back to 2005. The bodies of five black women with similar profiles have been found partially clothed and abandoned in remote locations outside the city during the past few years, prompting national media attention.

Each of the five victims who have been identified were black women found in remote locations near the town of Rocky Mount, located approximately 60 miles east from Raleigh, and each had a history of drug or alcohol abuse and prostitution, according to criminal records. Each woman was found only partially clothed and at least two of the women were strangled.

The FBI is collecting more information on the victim’s profiles – but what about the perpetrator’s profile? According to another story:

Some say he is an ex-military man or an ex-police officer because he leaves no evidence. Others believe he is exacting revenge on local women after contracting HIV from a prostitute…Forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Teague said the killings are probably the work of one person. “You’re talking about a man who didn’t finish high school, probably doesn’t have a regular job, probably not married or in a stable relationship,” he said.

You may wonder how this psychologist arrived at his opinion. He probably uses perpetrator profiling, which categorizes offenders into three categories: Organized, disorganized and mixed offenders. According to Forensics for Dummies (a great book, by the way, to learn all the basics about forensics), the organized offender is more sophisticated in his or her MO (modus operandi, or method of operation), which shows signs of planning.

These types tend to be of average or better intelligence, employed, and in active social relationships such as with spouses and families. Even though they’re driven by their fantasies, they maintain enough control to avoid being impulsive. They prepare and even rehearse. They tend to target specific victims or types of victims and use control measures such as restraints to maintain victim compliance. They bring the tools they need to gain access to and control of the victim and avoid leaving behind evidence. As killers, they generally hide or dispose of the body and are likely to have a dumpsite already selected.

One example of an organized serial killer includes the Zodiac Killer, a person who was so careful about methodology that he or she felt safe enough to send taunting letters to the press. The Zodiac murders remain unsolved to this day, although the last known murder was committed in 1969. Another very organized killer, Dennis Rader (the BTK killer), was very meticulous about his killings. He was ex-military, married with two grown children, was a Cub Scout leader and president of his Lutheran church. Rader also felt compelled to contact authorities, but he was caught when a computer disk mailed to KSAS-TV was analyzed and found to contain a file from his church still on it.

The disorganized offender, on the other hand, usually lives alone or with a relative, possesses lower-than -average intelligence, are unemployed or work at menial jobs and often are afflicted with mental illnesses.

They act impulsively, or as if they have little control over their fantasy-driven needs. They rarely use ruses to gain the victim’s confidence, but rather attack with sudden violence, overwhelming the victim. The crime scene often is messy and chaotic. This type of offender doesn’t plan ahead or bring tools along, but rather uses whatever is handy. As killers, they typically leave the body at the scene and exert little effort to avoid leaving behind evidence. Some have sexual contact with the victim after killing him or her.

One fine example of a disorganized serial killer includes Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer was able to get young men and boys to come home with him, where he ritually murdered them, cannibalized some of them and kept body parts around his former home and in his apartment. He finally was arrested after one victim managed to escape Dahmer’s apartment and flag down police.

The mixed-bag offender, finally, leave mixed messages at crime scenes. They may show evidence of careful planning, but the assault may be frenzied, which may indicate some loss of control over the crime scene.

From the information about the perpetrator gathered from the second news story, you might see that the picture about the “perp” in the Rocky Mount cases is mixed – one states that the killer seems organized (re: ex-military), whereas Dr. Teague has described a disorganized perp. In other words, it appears that little or no information about this murderer – if, indeed, it is one person – is available.

If the perpetrator in this case is a serial killer, several known facts about this type of killer may throw the wrench into any profiling job:

  • Sometimes serial killers operate in pairs, such as Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, cousins, who were convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing girls and women ranging in age from 12 to 28 years old during a four-month period from late 1977 to early 1978. They committed their crimes in the hills above Los Angeles, California, and were known as the singular “Hillside Strangler.”
  • Sometimes the killer or killers change the MO to confuse authorities. An MO also may evolve or devolve over time.
  • Sometimes, what is left at the scene of a murder may be as important as what is missing from the scene of the crime. These tactics may change over time as well as the location of the serial killings.

While profiling perpetrators sometimes does not work, this practice can be on target, and it can help lead authorities to suspects – any one of whom may be the actual offender. Profiling did not begin until authorities began to gather information about serial killer Ted Bundy in the 1970s. Although Bundy was caught at a routine traffic stop, according to the detective who took Bundy’s confession, the profile assembled for Bundy’s crimes was perfect, “even to the point where they predicted he’d have a step-brother and that’s what he had.”

If you know any information about this series of murders in North Carolina, including the location of at least three women who are missing in this case, please contact the Rocky Mount Police Department at 252-972-1411. Rocky Mount authorities are searching for Yolanda “Snap” Lancaster, 37; Joyce Renee Durham, 46; and Christine Marie Boone, 43.

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DNA Tests for Fallen and Buried Soldiers at Fromelles

Monday, August 10th, 2009
Members of the Australian 53rd Battalion on July 19, 1916 before the Battle of Fromelles. Only three of the men pictured survived the battle and all three were wounded.

Members of the Australian 53rd Battalion on July 19, 1916 before the Battle of Fromelles. Only three of the men pictured survived the battle and all three were wounded.

On 19-20 July 1916, the Battle of Fromelles was fought in France during World War I. It was the first time that Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) saw action on the Western Front, and 5,533 Australian soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner in an operation that the Australian War Memorial describes as the “worst 24 hours in Australia’s entire history.” To compound the misery, the Germans buried the bodies of the Australian dead in mass graves shortly after the battle.

Although most of the graves were discovered by official post-war burial campaigns during the 1920s, one area was missed. In 2007, a non-invasive geophysical survey hinted at a pit containing the remains of hundreds of soldiers, and a subsequent metal detector survey led to the discovery of Australian Army artifacts at the site. On 25 May 2008, an archaeological team from GUARD (Glasgow University Archaeological Research Department) began an exploratory dig at the site, located in a field at the edge of Bois Faisan near Fromelles. The first conclusive evidence of human remains was discovered on 29 May 2008. Six burial pits were excavated and human skeletal remains were found in five of of those mass graves.

In July 2008, the public learned that all human remains would be exhumed from the mass burial pits and re-buried with full military honors in individual plots at a new war cemetery, located as close as possible to where the soldiers were found. In the meantime, DNA testing proved possible in April 2009, and today Greg Combet, Minister for Defense Personnel, Materiel and Science, announced that full analysis and matching of DNA from Australian and British World War I soldiers discovered in France will proceed.

The pilot DNA study tested a cross section of the Fromelles remains, and samples were taken from teeth and bones of those remains. But, the delicate condition of the remains and the high water table has made some DNA extraction difficult. Mr. Combet warned that the possibility of identifying all remains is low. But, the Australian and UK governments are committee to identifying as many of the fallen as possible.

The steps to preparing a sample DNA are difficult, and more so with DNA samples taken from old bones that have been saturated with water. The steps, which take much longer than any CSI television program would have you believe, are:

  1. Extracting the DNA: Agents that destroy the cell membrane and break down proteins are used to release DNA from bones and/or teeth.
  2. Cutting or amplifying DNA: When DNA is not in huge supply, technicians may need to amplify (or multiply) the sample using a technique called PCR (polymerase chain reaction).
  3. Separating the fragments with electrophoresis: After amplification by PCR, the double-stranded fragments are chemically converted into single-stranded DNA and separated according to length by gel or capillary electrophoresis.
  4. Transferring fragments to a nylon membrane: The technician places a sturdy nylon membrane on top of th gel to make it easier to handle in a process called Southern Blot.
  5. Tagging fragments with DNA probe: The DNA bands are made visible using radioisotopes.
  6. Visualizing fragments through autoradiography: The technician places the Southern blot between two sheets of X-ray fil to make an autoradiograph, or autorad.
  7. Making the match: With the exception of identical twins or siblings of other identical mulpile births, no two individuals have the same DNA fingerprint. However, DNA samples can be matched for lineage.

To date, over 1,300 descendants of Australian soldiers who died in the Battle of Fromelles with no known grave have registered with the Australian Army to offer their DNA to match with the remains. If people believe that they are relatives of a soldier who died at the Battle of Fromelles, they are encouraged to contact the Australian Army on (free call) 1800 019 090 or visit www.army.gov.au/fromelles to register their interest.

View a video about the exhumation, offered by BBC News.

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One Solution for Eternal Preservation

Sunday, August 9th, 2009
A photo taken in 2003 of the crash site where the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly died, along with their pilot, in 1959.

A photo taken in 2003 of the crash site where the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly died, along with their pilot, in 1959.

Do you want to be preserved for eternity once you’ve died? One solution to this problem of eternal preservation was discovered by Dr. Bill Bass (creator of the Body Farm) in 2006, when J.P. Richardson, III asked Dr. Bass to examine the body of his father upon exhumation. Richardson’s father – Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. – was known as the “Big Bopper,” or the musician/songwriter who died in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Richie Valens in 1959.

The reason Richardson exhumed his father’s body was that he wanted to move that body – and the body of his mother, who also was deceased by 2006 – to another cemetery. But, Richardson had questions, such as whether his father had survived the plane crash only to die after the impact and before the plane and the bodies were discovered. Dr. Bass was hired to answer that question and more, but Bass faced some problems after the Big Bopper was exhumed. The problems revolved around a body that was, for all extents and purposes, almost perfectly preserved after forty-eight years underground.

Although the coffin was buried in a cemetery located below sea level and the water filled the grave as quickly as the workers could uncover it, the Big Bopper was not under water. Several factors contributed to this preserving environment:

  • The Big Bopper’s casket was sealed in a rust-resistant steel vault made from galvanized steel one-seventh of an inch thick. Although the vault had been partially and, at times, totally submerged for much of the past half-century, the seal prevented the water from touching the upper reaches of the Big Bopper’s casket.
  • Although the casket showed signs of rust, the seal held superbly.
  • The Big Bopper had a fan in the funeral home, because he received the utmost care and a true embalming as opposed to a “cosmetic” embalming procedure. The latter procedure is conducted mainly to keep a body looking and smelling good for the brief time required to arrange and conduct a burial service. The full embalming procedure is much more time consuming and elaborate.

The problem with a well-preserved body was that it presented a difficult situation for Dr. Bass to examine the bones. So, he ordered X-rays instead, and he was able to confirm that the Big Bopper probably could not walk away from the crash site, as he had numerous broken bones, including compound breaks and fractures in both legs. Additionally, he had neck and facial injuries that indicated that he may have died upon impact.

While the embalming procedure and casket demand more explanation, the vault is the focus for the moment. According to Dr. Bass in his book, Beyond the Body Farm, where he describes the Big Bopper’s exhumation and examination, there are two basic types of vault designs that reflect two types of materials. One type is concrete and the other is steel.

The steel vault, according to Bass is seal at the bottom. To describe how this seal works, Bass states:

To simulate the way a steel vault keeps water out, take a clear drinking glass, turn it upside down, and submerge it completely in your kitchen sink. Water will rise inside the glass as you begin to submerge it, but then – in my own kitchen-sink experiment, after rising only a fraction of an inch – it stops, held at bay by the air pressure inside the glass. A diving bell works on this same principle. So the advantage of a steel vault is that it doesn’t rely on a perfect seal or gasket to keep water out; it relies on a simple principle of physics: as long as the air pressure is greater than the water pressure, the air keeps the water out.

You can learn more about this type of vault by visiting Clark Grave Vault’s Web site, where that link shows their depiction of the difference between a metal and a concrete vault. But, nothing is perfect, and the Big Bopper might not have been so well preserved if his vault:

  1. Was carried away in a flood – being lightweight and air-filled, these metal vaults can bob to the surface and be carried downstream for miles. This is how more than 1,200 faults were carried away from Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina.
  2. Was corroded and allowed water into the top of the vault. When a hole is created at the top of the vault, all guarantees are off – that vault will fill with water as pressure within the vault decreases.

Stay tuned to learn more about embalming methods, concrete vaults and other issues surrounding the possibilities discovered by Dr. Bass and his stint with the Big Bopper.

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Finding Human Remains:What to do

Monday, August 3rd, 2009
It would be rare to find a skeleton in such great shape.
It would be rare to find a skeleton in such great shape, as animals, erosion and the weather may scatter bones.

Are you a hunter, hiker, construction worker or gardener? Chances that you’ll find human remains while conducting any of these activities are small, but findings do occur. And, these findings seem to occur on a regular basis, if news articles are any indication. Usually, the bones won’t be in order, such as the ones shown in the photograph to the left. Most likely, the upper portion of a skull or a jawbone is the portion of the body that most people recognize, and this finding may lead the discoverers to take that skull to the police.

What would you do if you discovered other bones, but had little to no clue as to whether the bones are human or not? The best solution is to note the exact location of the remains and report your finding to the police. Don’t worry about looking like a fool, as any bone that’s large enough to look human bone may be a human bone.

Also, it’s wise to leave the bones alone and to leave the area the same way you entered. Any disturbance of the area may hinder forensic investigations. In Utah, for instance, it is a third degree felony for anyone except an archaeologist, the Medical Examiner’s office, law enforcement, or a licensed mortician to disturb, move, remove, conceal, or destroy human remains. Other states may have similar laws, as disturbing remains may hinder forensic or historic investigations, depending upon the age of the bones.

Construction workers, especially, are warned about finding human remains (or even pottery shards) in their work, as failure to report those remains can lead to criminal charges. The reason behind this harsh warning is found in Washington’s Indian Graves and Records Act (IGRA [PDF]), which prohibits the removal of materials from Indian graves or cairns until the findings can be investigated.

A discovery of human remains can be elicit feelings of fear and/or resentment. After all, you were just out for a hike or tilling a garden when you suddenly you have this responsibility thrust upon you. But, if you think about this discovery as a chance to settle a cold case or a door opening to a new chapter in history, maybe your feelings will change. In any case, the discovery of human remains in a strange place always elicits curiosity. In some cases, the police may need help in determining the identity of the remains.

The list of links below are just a few of the findings discovered just within the past week, listed in no particular order:

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Identifying Drowning Victims

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Recovery of Flight 447's vertical-stabilizer and rudder assembly by the Brazilian military.

Recovery of Flight 447

If your worst fear is death by drowning, then you may worry more when you realize that many forensic experts may not be able determine if a victim was dead or alive when he entered the water. Such a case recently made news when an Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in July. Only after fifty bodies were examined and shown to have broken bones, did the examiners state that those individuals either died in the air or upon impact.

But, other cases may not be so cut and dry. The fluid that fills lungs postmortem often cannot be distinguished from fluid in the lungs caused by a submerged corpse. Additionally, as many as fifteen percent of drownings are what is known as “dry drownings.” The larynx may react to water by constricting, which shuts down passage of air into the lungs and the victim suffocates. But, this spasm also prevents water from entering the lungs, so a drowning victim’s lungs may be dry at autopsy. In fact, some dry drowning deaths may occur well after a person leaves the water.*

So, how can a medical examiner determine if a person has drowned? You may be relieved to know that several markers exist to help determine a case of death by drowning:

  • Bone Marrow: A search for diatoms may indicate whether the victim was alive or dead upon entering water. Diatoms, tiny, single-celled organisms, are found in salt and fresh water and are resistant to degradation. If the victim’s heart was still beating when he inhaled water, any diatoms in that water could pass through the lungs and into the blood stream. These tiny organisms tend to collect in bone marrow and remain there even when the victim dies. This technique usually is reserved for severely degraded or skeletal remains, where no lungs or tissue remain for examination.
  • Lung Damage: The lungs are examined during an autopsy to see if the lungs have swollen or if bleeding was evident. Bleeding, as well as water debris, may be present in the lungs and both would indicate a struggle to breath while underwater.
  • Souvenirs: Drowning victims may hold clues in their clenched hands, as that person may have grasped at rocks and plants in a struggle to survive. Forensic examiners also look for evidence of clawing on the fingers and hands in victims who have been stuck underwater and who have tried to escape.

Often, determining whether a victim drowned or not is best decided when investigators learn more about the circumstances of death rather than an autopsy or lab findings. In the case of the Air France crash, the examiners did what they could do to determine how all 216 passengers and 12 crew members died with the examination of fifty bodies that were retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean. The plane’s black box might have provided more information, but the lack of flight data recorders and eyewitness accounts or radar tracks may keep those secrets forever.

*Note: According to Wikipedia, the case of the 10-year-old who died at home later was not a case of true “dry drowning,” as water was found in the boy’s lungs during autopsy. The boy’s case may have been one of pulmonary edema.

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Current Funeral Home Fiascos

Friday, July 31st, 2009
Are they human bones or shells?

Are they human bones or shells?

Are you worried about receiving ashes (as in wood ashes) instead of your loved one’s cremains? Or, are you fighting for a body to be released from a funeral home? You wouldn’t be alone in both cases, as funeral homes in this country throughout July played some morbid and damaging games with clients. In other cases, some funeral directors and homes were sentenced to pay for damages this month for their parts in previous schemes.

  • The Unrefridgerated Corpse: The Hanley-Shelton Funeral Home in Marietta, Georgia was sanctioned by a state board for leaving a corpse unrefrigerated for five months. Although the funeral home had reason for revenge, as the client did not pay, their actions were illegal. Henry Shelton’s license was suspended for a month, he was placed on three years’ probation and will pay a $1,000 fine.
  • Seashells in the Urn: Marisol Villarreal discovered that her mother’s body had never been cremated and was instead left to decompose in a Gary, Indiana funeral home. Former funeral director Darryl Cammack of Chicago has been under investigation since May, when four extremely decayed bodies – including Rosa Villarreal’s – were found inside what had last been his Serenity Gardens Funeral Home. The Villarreal family filed a lawsuit against Cammack in Lake County, Ind., seeking damages for breach of contract, fraud, theft of services, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
  • Dirty Habits: Unsanitary conditions and improper body storage has led to stripping a funeral home of its directors’ and embalmers’ licenses. The Warren Funeral Chapels in Columbia and Fulton, Missouri, have been shut down since July 2008, and the charges have been settled this month.
  • The Case of the Shortened Legs: This month, a South Carolina judge revoked the license of Cave Funeral Home and owner Michael Cave for cutting the legs of a corpse because the body would not fit in the casket. The body was that of James Hines, a soul and funk guitarist who planed with J. Hines and the Boys in the 1970s.
  • Milking the Prearranged Funeral Plan: Douglas Darling’s mortician’s license was suspended for 15 days and he was ordered to pay a $500 fine. Darling was also ordered to pay $1,150 in investigative costs and attorneys fees, according to a stipulation and consent order. His crime? Soliciting older women for prearrangement services through Lakeview Funeral Home when he already sold them plans when he worked at Coffelt Funeral Service. Additionally, Idaho law prohibits licensed morticians from making uninvited solicitations.
  • Embezzling Ex: An arrest warrant was issued this month for former funeral home director John W. Hodge, who stole nearly $200,000, possibly from a prepaid funeral fund at Hodge Funeral Homes in Elgin and Fletcher, Oklahoma. The state Funeral Board stripped him of his funeral director and embalmer license and revoked the establishment licenses of both facilities after he acknowledged he failed to properly file annual accounting in 2004 and 2005.

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Posted in Cremation, Death & Dying, Death Investigation, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Law, Other Legal Matters | No Comments »

“The fact that we survive at all is a miracle…”

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
1000 Ways to Die Web Site

1000 Ways to Die Web Site

How do you react to death? Do you ignore it, become fearful or nauseated? Some people react to death with humor, hence television series such as Six Feet Under, which opened each week’s episode with a new way to die. Now, you can watch 1,000 Ways to Die from Spike TV, and if you missed any episodes on television, you can watch it online.

If you’re at all squeamish about death, be aware that this show is graphic and the deaths portrayed possibly happened. Each show contains approximately six deaths as a narrator provides an account of the story as it unfolds. The individual stories also include expert testimony from physicians, pathologists, toxicologists, herpetologists and other forensic scientists who expound on each case.

Each story ends with a comic graphic that offers a intentionally hackneyed pun title for the death. For instance, in one death when the victim was cut in half by a semi-trailer, the post-title read, “Semi-Cide.” While this style is reminiscent of Tales from the Crypt (Hello, Boils and Ghouls!) the causes of death in 1,000 Ways to Die provide stark contrast. After all, these deaths could actually happen to YOU. However, some of the avoidable ways that people die (like drinking gasoline and vomiting the flammable results on a campfire) can give pause to thoughts about evolution’s progress.

1,000 Ways to Die premiered on Spike TV (a division of MTV Networks) on 14 May 2008, and the first two episodes are visually different from the rest of the series, as they were intended originally to be the only episodes. By April 2009, however, Spike TV ordered a new season of thirteen episodes, as the series became so popular despite controversy about content.

This show can be enlightening for those individuals who are interested in forensic science. With the help of CGI effects, you can learn what happens when a rattlesnake’s venom enters the bloodstream, how nitrogen bubble affect the body when returning from underwater excursions too rapidly and how sex can end your life if you enter into a physical encounter too rapidly.

The show’s origins come from the Discovery Channel, as 1,000’s producers are Tom McMahon (Monster Garage) and Thom Beers (Deadliest Catch and Verminators). While both men have provided a series that contains an overload of dark humor, mind-numbing gore and some episodes that seem more fiction than fact, the show also is educational. It’s amazing, for instance, how a person can die from a paintball spree.

You can catch separate episodes of 1,000 Ways to Die at Spike TV, including the most updated version. Wikipedia also contains information about previous seasons, including links to learn more about causes and methods of death (such as asphyxiation and billiard balls). Finally, tv.com also contains some episodes including a show summary and reviews.

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Posted in Causes of Death, Death & Dying, Death Investigation | No Comments »

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