It was the year 1949. John George Haigh, also known as ‘The Acid Bath Murderer’, had killed his latest victim and was dissolving her body in a vat of sulfuric acid. He assumed that the acid would eliminate all traces of his victim making it impossible to identify her and charge him with murder, but he was dead wrong. Even though this crime occurred long before DNA analysis was possible, diligent forensic work uncovered the identity of Haigh’s victim and he was found guilty of her murder.
Flash forward to the present day and we still encounter many cases where bodies are fragmented, burned, or partially dissolved either on purpose or as the result of an accident. Nowadays DNA can be used to positively identify a body, but this type of analysis is costly and does not always work on poorly preserved remains. Here are three ways that an individual’s identity can be determined when DNA analysis is just not an option.
1. Smile wide: dental x-rays and dentures.
Dental x-rays are considered one of the best ways to positively identify a body. Many dental features, such as tooth root curvature, tooth position, impacted teeth, extra teeth, and tooth crown anomalies, are unique to a person and frequently survive intact while other parts of the body do not. This technique of identification is especially useful when police suspect the identity of the victim. Dental x-rays taken while the individual was alive can be compared to post mortem x-rays in order to confirm the identity of a body.
Dentures were the downfall of John George Haigh. When police combed through the human remains that had not fully dissolved they recovered a complete set of upper and lower dentures. Although the acid had almost completely dissolved most of the bone, it had not damaged the dentures. Because the victim’s dentist had retained a cast of the custom-made dentures, she was able to definitively say that the dentures belonged to Mrs. Olive Durand-Deacon. In some areas of the world now, dentures are imprinted with the name or initials of the wearer, making it even easier to identify the victim in the case of an accident or murder.
2. What lies beneath: surgical implants.
Often surgical implants are constructed of durable material, such as titanium, that can survive fire and chemical submersion. Additionally, surgical devices are usually deep within the body, providing them with some protection from fire or chemicals. In the present day it is common for medical devices to be imprinted with serial numbers that can be directly linked to a patient.
Surgical implants were the key to identifying some of the victims of the 2009 bushfires that tore through the Australian state of Victoria. Thousands of homes were destroyed and numerous people lost their lives. Human remains, no matter how small, were subjected to CT scans. Several of the bodies scanned possessed identifiable medical devices. These devices included hip and knee prostheses, pacemakers, and even fragile coronary artery stents. Despite the severely burned condition of the bodies, some positive identifications were made by matching these surgical implants with medical records of those missing in the fire.
3. The long and short bone(s) of it: skeletal diseases and injuries.
Although we strive to avoid breaking bones and contracting diseases during our life, it is evidence of injury and illness that can identify us after death if antemortem x-rays are available. A simple broken arm might not be sufficient to positively identify a body, but unique or extensive skeletal injury can be. Additionally, some diseases, such as, tuberculosis, syphilis, and psoriasis, can sometimes cause skeletal damage that would be visible in an x-ray.
Evidence of severe skeletal injuries helped identify the body a man recovered by police in Canada in 1998. When the skeletal remains were found not only did they show evidence of healing skull and rib fractures, but also a healing surgical trephination (a hole surgically cut in the skull during life to relieve pressure on the brain). The body was suspected to be that of a man who had gone missing a month earlier, but the DNA analysis was inconclusive and dental records were not available. Consultation with the suspected victim’s family revealed that several months earlier he had been attacked and afterwards received hospital treatment. The x-rays from this hospital visit were pulled and compared to the distinctive injuries visible on the skeleton, resulting in the positive identification of the victim.
DNA analysis is an amazing identification tool and makes for exciting television, but as presented here forensic scientists have a few tricks up their sleeves when DNA cannot be used. Dental records, surgical implants, and skeletal diseases and injuries can provide a wealth of information about an individual even when the body is burned, mutilated, or poorly preserved.
Your Turn: Do you know of any other methods, techniques or simple ways to identify a body without DNA? Fascinated by a tidbit you’ve read here? Tell us in the comments — we’d love to hear from you.