The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Percentage of Body Recovered and Its Effect on Identification Rates and Cause and Manner of Death Determination*
Abstract
ABSTRACT: Anthropologists frequently encounter cases in which only partial human remains are recovered. This study reports how the percentage of the body recovered affects identification (ID) rates and cause and manner of death determination. A total of 773 cases involving anthropology consults were drawn from the New Mexico medical examiner's office (1974–2006). Results indicate a significant correlation between body percent recovered and ID rates, which ranged from 89% for complete bodies to 56% when less than half the body was present. Similar patterns were evident in cause/manner determination, which were the highest (83% and 79%, respectively) in complete bodies but declined to 40% when less than half the body was found. The absence of a skull also negatively impacted ID and ruling rates. Findings are compared with general autopsy ID rates (94–96%) and cause/manner determination rates (96–99%) as well as prior published rates for individual casework and mass death events.
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Failure to recover the entire skeleton due to taphonomic variables is a common issue in forensic casework.
“failure to recover the entire skeleton due to taphonomic variables is a common issue in forensic casework [4,5,107,112,113].”
From Forensic experiments on animal scavenging: A systematic literature review on what we have and what we need (2023) · cites this paper as [113]
Citations
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 18
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Cited by
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Indra, L., Lösch, S., Errickson, D., & Finaughty, D. (2023) · Forensic Science International · doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2023.111862 · Cited by 18
Metadata
- Authors
- Komar, D. A., & Potter, W. E.
- Affiliations
- University of New Mexico (US)
- ORCID
- Komar, Debra A.
- Venue
- Journal of Forensic Sciences
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-04-19
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 528-531
- ISSN
- 0022-1198 (ISSN-L)
- 1556-4029
- OpenAlex
- W2008461504
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 2.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Forensic Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Forensic Entomology and Diptera Studies
- Keywords
- cause of death determination, manner of death determination
- MeSH terms
- Cause of Death, Coroners and Medical Examiners, Humans, New Mexico, Skull, Forensic Anthropology
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