FORENSICS

FISHER SCIENCE EDUCATION HEADLINE DISCOVERIIES MAKING SCIENCE MATTER™ FORENSIC FARMING

ehind the employee parking lot of the B University of Tennessee medical cen- ter is an area surrounded by a six-foot, chain- link fence topped with razor wire and hidden from sightseers by a wooden privacy fence. Passersby might wonder what precious com- modity is protected by all this foreboding secu- rity, and most would be very surprised to find out! For, behind the fencing and padlocks lies a lit- tle plot of land frequently referred to as the "Body Farm" or "The Facility." It is the University of Tennessee's Forensic Anthropology Facility, the only one of its kind in the world, and the research done here yields something very pre- cious—ground-breaking forensic knowledge that's priceless to law enforcement personnel across the country and around the world. The Impetus The creation of a facility to chronicle the process of decomposition was spurred by a misidentification made by its founder Dr. Bill Bass in 1977. An experienced anthropologist, Dr. Bass was called upon to identify a body believed to be that of a Civil War colonel killed in battle and buried in a sealed lead coffin. While examining the body, Dr. Bass observed a bit of pinkish flesh still attached to the bones. Based on his experience and the forensic knowledge available at the time, he concluded center that had previously been used to burn environmental conditions. Bodies are buried in that the body had only been interred for about the hospital's trash. Dr. Bass jumped at the deep and shallow graves, submerged in water, a year. In reality, additional non-forensic clues chance to have the facility located closer to the left out in the open in both shade and full sun, proved that the body was that of the colonel university campus and in 1980 he and his stu- covered with tarps, wrapped in plastic bags, and that Bass's estimate of the time of death dents built a storage shed, had the area fenced rolled inside carpets, or placed in one of the old was about 112 years off! This made Dr. Bass off, and the Body Farm was born. cars on the lot so that scientists and students realize just how little was known about the can observe how decomposition rates are process of decomposition and motivated him In this unique outdoor laboratory, researchers affected by conditions based in part on FBI files to gear his research toward expanding current and graduate students study the process of of past crimes and the body disposal methods scientific knowledge about the decomposition decomposition and how various environmental used in those crimes. of bodies. conditions affect the rate and stages observed. Scientists learn from watching bodies decom- Most of the bodies have been donated to the The Facility pose, taking digital images at timed intervals, facility for its research and some are unidenti- and making meticulous notes. This careful fied bodies turned over by the medical examin- It was 1977 and the original site the university study has revealed much of what happens at er's office. As the awareness of the facility has allowed the department to use was an old pig every stage of decomposition and is an invalu- spread and more people will their bodies to the farm about twenty miles away from the cam- able tool for law enforcement officials to use facility, the University lawyers have had to draft pus. After security became a problem at that when evaluating crime scenes. a special form for people to fill out for this pur- location, the university granted the department pose. ownership of an empty lot behind the medical The facility typically houses over 20 corpses in various stages of decomposition and in various A true pioneer in his field, Dr. Bass has created reducing it to skeletal remains. As the time "discovered" by a relative. Unfortunately for the a unique "school" for scientists and law enforce- span between death and discovery widens, relative, that was also the time period when he ment authorities alike. Of the 61 specialists cer- forensic techniques become less accurate as claimed to have visited the cabin and found tified nationwide by the American Board of environmental variables begin to affect the nothing amiss. Although he had an alibi for the Forensic Anthropology, Dr. Bass trained one- decomposition rate of the body and each envi- time around when the bodies were discovered, third. ronment has a different effect. For example, in he didn't have one for the time that they were the summer heat, a body can be reduced to actually killed. With this information and other Agents from local and state law enforcement bones in just two weeks. Bodies inside cars evidence, authorities were able to convict the departments and the FBI send field teams of decompose at a faster rate because it is much relative of the murders. agents to the facility to participate in courses hotter inside a car and the heat accelerates the that allow them to experience first-hand how rate of decay. Bodies submerged in water, crime scenes might appear. Facility workers wrapped in plastic, or located where the tem- The Chemistry of prepare bodies to simulate crime scenes and perature is under 50° decompose slower for Decomposition the agents are tasked with finding the bodies, various reasons. These variables and their collecting evidence and evaluating the scenes. effects are the mysteries that Dr. Bass and his A body releases about 450 known chemicals colleagues are trying to unravel. during decomposition and researchers at the The Process Begins facility are using an electronic nose with multi- ple sensors to sample the air above and around Decomposition begins as soon as a person Insects Are The Key a decomposing body to gather more clues to dies. The body starts to cool as the body's sys- In the first two weeks after death, insects are establish a time of death. tems shut down and chemical changes start one of the best indicators scientists have to Decomposing bodies also leak fatty acids onto the process. When a body decays, enzymes in determine when death occurred. Different the surface where it rests. The profiles of these the digestive system begin to digest the tissues insects will be interested in a body at different acids changes as the days pass and analyzing surrounding it causing them to liquefy, called stages of decomposition. By studying the differ- them can reveal the time of death. It can also putrefaction. At the same time, insects are ent insect life cycles present on a cadaver, sci- give clues as to how long the body has been in attracted to the body and begin their roles in entists can determine how long the insect has a particular spot and if it may have been moved been there. Cross-referencing that after death. information with known life cycles and feeding habits of the particular To achieve this, perforated pipes are situated insect can estimate a fairly accu- above and below the bodies and emissions are rate time of death. collected with sorbent traps. The chemicals are extracted and analyzed by gas chromatography The cadaver-insect symbiosis can and mass spectrometry to be identified and also be a clue when two different quantified. Then they are mapped along with rates of decomposition are the environmental factors present during their observed, such as when a body is collection to allow scientists to construct a time- decomposing in a house or car line to determine time of death. and it has taken the flies and other insects a while to find a way in. Careful examination will show that Future Hopes the body's natural decomposition As work at the facility continues and bright advanced before the insects began young graduate students continue to filter their work. through the program, new technologies are an An example of this was seen in a inevitable result. Scientists theorize that the case where Dr. Bass was asked to research being done at the Facility may be help determine the time of death of used in the future to develop sprays to train a family of three found dead in a cadaver dogs or hand-held monitors that can remote Mississippi cabin in detect the smells of decomposition at crime December 1993. There were clear scenes. As the mysteries of death are unrav- signs of a dual rate of decomposi- eled and a detailed analysis of decomposition tion, and this along with the insect continues to be formulated, these new tech- activity documented at the crime nologies will make it easier for law enforcement scene enabled him to determine to identify victims, find the perpetrators and the family died in mid-November, a ensure that these most heinous of crimes will full month before the bodies were not go unpunished.

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