Postmortem Changes to Bone

- loss of bones or their segments, cracks and marks, modifications in shape

- taphonomic damage may show characteristics of perimortem trauma
- carnivore trampling can appear as blunt force
- cracks that look like fracture lines
- may be misidentified as an indicator of health
- may obscure important aspects of the circumstances surrounding death such as perimortem trauma
- lastly, may provide info about the circumstances of death and the events occurring afterwards
- tools used to dimember, moving the body, etc.
- six forces produce greatest amount of postmortem damage
- 1. disfigure dead bodies to prevent ID or show direspect
- 2. animals gnaw bones, consume soft tissue, and scatter elements
- 3. fire can cause shrinking, cracking, discoloration
- 4. weather (especially sun) causes cracks, flaking of cortex, and discoloration (gray)
- 5. burial conditions can have differential pressure and the soil can be acidic
- 6. water damage during transportation, bone can abrade over the watercourse

Dismemberments
- intentional separation of body segments
- with little doubt, manner of death is homicide
- localized dismemberments: separate parts of body (head, hands, fingertips) to prevent ID or to ease in transportation
- generalized dismemberment: cuts to all areas of the skeleton that indicates disregard for the victim
- suggests state of mind of the murderers
- precise and well chosen cuts indicate familiarity with anatomy or butchery
- similar dismemberment in multiple cases may indicate a serial killer
- five step process for analyzing
- 1. cut bone ends photographed in black and white and color before removal of soft tissue
- ensures any other information in skin etc. is documented
- 2. if bones are being returned to family, three inches of bone adjacent to wound should be cut off and saved
- 3. when segments are removed, a notch should be placed into the autopsy surface (not mistaken for trauma)
- 4. soft tissue should be removed
- 5. mold or cast can be made to given more info on deep cuts
- generally due to cutting (knives), chopping (axes), and chiseling (saws)
- the first two have already been covered

Basics of Saws and Saw Damage
- crosscut saws: are designed to cut across the grain
- edges of the teeth angle approximate 70 to long axis
- meat, hacksaws, carpenters saws
- rip saws: form right angle with long axis
- cut along the grain
- tooth set: teeth are bent laterally from the main axis of blade causes the groove formed by the saw action (kerf) to
be wider than the blade preventing binding
- number of teeth per inch varies
- ripsaws: 3.5-7
- crosscut: 5-12
- modern handsaws are designed to cut on the push, not the pull
- marks caused by saw
- superficial false start scratches: blade of a saw is drawn across a bone without much pressure
- false start kerfs: caused by bouncing of the saw blade off the bone during a push stroke
- typical with handsaws
- sectioned bone cuts: generally are deep kerfs that indicate a number of strokes
- useful in determining blade and saw type
- striae are formed on the wall of the cut by the uneven action of teeth
- power saws with fine teeth create the smallest striations
- a rough floor indicates a course saw
16
- smooth floor indicates saw with many teeth/inch
- breakaway spur: a residual spur (16.2b) present in complete cross sections b/c of breakage during the final cutting
stroke
- burning may diminish some of these markers

Analysis of Saw Marks
- 1. cuts fully described
- 2. direction of saw cuts (to infer position of body and things like handedness)
- 3. information on the type of tool estimated from the kerf
- # of points, width of blade, shape of blade, source of energy

Basic Description
- number of cuts, false starts, superficial false start scratches
- widths of incomplete cuts
- size of breakaway spurs
- affected bone and location of cut

Direction of Saw Cut
- direction of saw progress and direction of saw stroke
- direction of progress determined from false starts and breakaway spurs
- direction of stroke determined by where there is exit chipping

Number of Teeth
- roughness of kerf walls is a rough indication
- probably can only make the decision of course v. fine

Blade Width
- width of kerf generally slightly greater than blade width
- blade width can be estimated by dividing the breadth of a measurable kerf by 1.5

Blade Shape
- two types of striae are visible: fixed and nonfixed radius
- fixed radius: circular blades; appear as semicircular lines on kerf walls
- generally are the same shape throughout the cut
- blade diameters and bone widths can make them appear differently
- nonfixed radius: formed from straight, rigid, and non-rigid blades
- relatively linear lines (my or may not be parallel)
- when not parallel: cutting angle has been altered
- nonrigid blades may bend around object being cut causing striae to curve slightly

Source of Energy
- hand and power
- hand: straight blade that work with back and forth motion
- kerf walls uneven in flatness and direction
- more striae than power saws
- power: smooth almost polished walls
- tend to be straighter
Fire Damage
- undergoes changes in color
- yellowish brown (like in body)
- changes to a darker yellow, brown, then black as heat increases
- organic substances are carbonized
- will then turn dark, then light gray
- finally turns white
- state of complete calcination
- bones are very fragile at this point and are easily broken
- tend to crack, warp, and distort
- warping: bending and twisting that makes the bone look like rubber
- cortex will exhibit cracks
- long bones exhibit either checkerboard or a series of crescents
- transverse or oblique ring fractures may be seen encircling the shaft
- shrinkage
- oils and fats that saturate the bone burn away
- early stage: less than 700C, shrinkage is minimal
- 700-800: shrinkage of 1-2%
- past 800, shrinking usually between 10-15%
- could affect measurements of stature
- look at color changes to see