Human Identification Following the World Trade Center Disaster: Assessing Management Practices for Highly Fragmented and Commingled Human Remains

HUMAN IDENTIFICATION FOLLOWING THE WORLD TRADE CENTER DISASTER: ASSESSING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR HIGHLY FRAGMENTED AND COMMINGLED HUMAN REMAINS by Amy Mundorff M.A., California State University (Chico), 1999 B.A., Syracuse University, 1991 Thesis in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Archaeology Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Amy Mundorff, 2009 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2009 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Amy Mundorff Degree: Ph.D. Title of Thesis: Human Identification Following the World Trade Center Disaster: Assessing Management Practices for Highly Fragmented and Commingled Human Remains Examining Committee: Chair: Mark Collard Associate Professor, Archaeology Mark Skinner Senior Supervisor Professor, Archaeology Dongya Yang Supervisor Associate Professor, Archaeology Karen Collins Internal Examiner Disaster Response Coordinator, BC Coroners Office David Sweet External Examiner Professor, Oral Diagnosis & Forensic Odontology, UBC Date Defended/Approved: July 23, 2009 ii Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the “Institutional Repository” link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Last revision: Spring 09 Abstract This study is a retrospective analysis of major management decisions, particularly those that involved anthropology, made during the World Trade Center human identification project. The objective is to understand why certain decisions were made and to access how those decisions affected the overall identification project from the perspective of increased efficiency, accuracy, and by increasing the number of identifications. Based on these results and insights, a list of recommendations is provided to help mass fatality managers better incorporate anthropological expertise into disaster victim identification projects. Data used in the study are derived from the complete World Trade Center Human Remains Data Set of 19,970 human remains recovered from Ground Zero and the Staten Island Landfill in combination with qualitative evaluations of management decision made by the author during the World Trade Center identification project from September 11, 2001 through July 2004. Particular emphasis is on subsets of the World Trade Center Human Remains Data Set related to the implementation of anthropological review programs addressing commingled remains and for DNA analysis. Results indicate that the management decision to have anthropologists perform triage in the mortuary, and the decision to implement specific review programs designed to address missed commingling, increased efficiency, accuracy, and identifications. Evidence indicates that lower limb bones from taphonomically compromised remains more reliably yield successful DNA profiles than the arms, trunk, or skull. Further, the patella and metatarsal bones yield at rates comparable to the femur and tibia and should be preferentially sampled for DNA during mass fatality identification iii projects. This research holds both empirical and theoretical significance. It provides the first empirically based study comparing DNA yields of different skeletal elements from a mass fatality event. It is also the first to use that information to propose disaster victim identification DNA sampling guidelines. Finally, it presents a framework for other mass fatality managers to follow in presenting critical evaluations of major management decision made during a mass fatality disaster victim identification project. These evaluations will increase the overall collective learning and contribute to future recommendations for other mass fatality managers to follow. Keywords: mass fatality management; disaster victim identification (DVI); forensic anthropology; commingled remains; human identification; DNA sampling iv Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to those who were killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. May we continue to learn from their tragic deaths. v Acknowledgments I would like to thank the members of my graduate committee, who provided me advice and support throughout this entire process. I especially want to thank Mark Skinner, my dissertation advisor, who spent many hours reading and rereading my dissertation chapters. His advice, direction, and editing has been invaluable to my work and his friendship and understanding made this project possible. Donya Yang kindly found time to read my thesis even while traveling internationally. The comments and edits he offered were crucial to the accuracy and completion of my work. I would also like to thank my internal and external committee members, Karen Collins and David Sweet. The expertise and advice they contributed has made this dissertation stronger. I am indebted to Kurt Mundorff (luckily we have the rest of our lives together) for the stunning amount of time he has put into listening, reading, critiquing, editing, watching presentations and living this work with me. I cannot thank him enough and this endeavor would not have been possible without his unending support. I would like to offer sincere thanks all the people at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner who supported this work. I would also like to thank Bryan Cross, whose patience while enduring my years of computer and database questions has not been overlooked. I also thank Elaine Mar-Cash for her guidance on my technical DNA related questions. And a special thanks to Eric Bartelink, who generously offered his time and advice on statistical matters and whose friendship over the years has provided me with support, camaraderie, and often an important shoulder. I also want to thank Joanie Wolfe, whose masterful formatting skills were tremendously helpful. vi Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the organizations whose funding and support also helped make the completion of this dissertation possible. This research was supported by the Trudeau Foundation, a Simon Fraser University Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-0838415). vii Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Dedication ....................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ................................................................................................................. xiii List of Figures................................................................................................................xiv List of Photographs ....................................................................................................... xv List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................xvi

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