Criminal Investigation - Forensic Sculptor

          Frank Bender, a world famous forensic sculptor has been working in the field or years. His career began as a fluke when he entered a medical examiner’s office for a quick anatomy lesson during his time working as a photographer and artist on the side. Growing up in Phili, has made a name for himself because of his natural talent to recreate a badly damaged face in various circumstances out of clay.
        
          Some of his two most memorable career achievements have been: John List was a wealthy, religious man who in 1971 killed his whole family. When Bender got the case, List had been at large for 18 years. Frank constructed the bust of List from old photos aging the man by 18 years. List was apprehended eleven days after the sculpted bust was aired on America's Most Wanted.  As well as Rossella Atkins, who in the late 1987, The Philadelphia Police Department asked Frank Bender for help with an unidentified body found in a field behind a high school. He imagined this young woman as someone looking for something better in life. When he created a bust of her head, he had her looking up with her head tilted back. After two years of canvassing the neighborhood with the bust, the police had got no leads so they handed the bust back to Bender who donated it to the Philadelphia College of Physicians where they put it on display. Three weeks later a woman felt drawn to the display – the clay bust turned out to be her grand niece, Rosella Atkins. He has also assisted in the capture of six of America’s Most Wanted including including Alphonse Perisco, the Colombo crime family boss; Robert Nauss, convicted murderer and former head of the Warlocks motorcycle gang; and Hans Vorhauer, a convicted methamphetamine manufacturer and burglar.
  
          Bender’s work was fascinating to me because of his ability. The story mentioned in the article took me by surprise because of the incredible skills he has, and his capability to construct a person’s facial features when he has so little talent and when the person has become nearly unrecognizable. I was also intrigued because of his talents because I think it is exciting to know there are people in the world who have this ability to identify criminals when in many cases, those connected to the victim might give up hope on a case until Frank Bender changes everything.

http://www.suite101.com/content/forensic-sculptor-a37550

posted for A. Sher

Forensic Anthropology Study Correlates Weight with Bone Shape

           In the past, forensics scientists in North Carolina have discovered that weight correlates with bone shape. Before this research, one of the main flaws of identifying unknown skeletal remains was that forensic scientists were unable to determine how much an individual weighed based on his or her skeleton. This new research, however, give experts in the field of anthropology the ability to what the shape of a femur can tell us about the weight of an individual. Although the research does not give scientists the ability to provide individuals exact weight based on their skeletal remains, it does allow for them to determine whether an individual was over or under weight. Professor Ross of NC State said, “Researchers found that the heavier an individual was, the wider the shaft of that person’s femur. Our researchers have hypothesized that the femur of an overweight person is more robust because it bears more weight, but also because overweight individuals move and walk differently to compensate for their greater mass.” Ross believes that this discover will be only the start over more breakthroughs in forensics skeletal evaluation. He is very optimistic that in the near future forensics scientists will be able to determine the exact weight of individual’s skeletal remains.

          This article is very important to society because it can potentially revolutionize forensics anthropology. Determining the weight of individual’s skeletal remains has been something forensics scientists have never been able to do. However, with this recent breakthrough it shows that scientists are getting very close and will be able to determine the weight of individual’s skeletal remains in the near future.  

          I chose this article because I was unaware of this new discovery. I was very interested in the advances forensic scientists have made in the field of anthropology. This new method could be immensely beneficial for the law enforcement. I thought this article was pretty well written, but I thought it could have included more details regarding the topic. 

Bibliography: Mills, James. "Forensic Anthropology Study Correlates Weight with Bone Shape." Forensic Magazine. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. 

posted for R. Minetti

SPACE FORENSICS MIGHT POINT TO A MARTIAN ANCESTRY

Researchers are attempting to apply the field of forensic science to space exploration recently. This task would be able to do DNA and RNA sequencing on Martian microbes (if they potentially exist) to either debunk the myth that humans are descended from some alien race from Mars or to prove it. The theory is called panspermia and such testing to also see if Martian microbes could potentially pose a risk to humans should they colonize Mars in the distant future. Landers would have to be sent to Mars in order to acquire these genomes. The idea does not claim that Martians landed on Earth millions of years ago but claims that microbes latched onto meteorites from Mars and were blasted to Earth, mutating over time to become humans. The article was well presented and thoroughly interesting because of how unique it was from other forensic articles in the news. Applying forensic science to science one would find in NASA is extremely far fetched and science fiction sounding—all in all this article does not relate in any way to anyone’s immediate life or directly to the field of criminal forensic science but to forensic science in general and almost a new take on it. 

http://news.discovery.com/space/space-forensics-might-point-to-a-martian-ancestry-110326.html posted for J. O'Neill

NEWS FLASH! Search continues as 3 bodies prove not to be those of missing woman

Original text: New York (CNN) — The remains of three women found on a remote stretch of beach in Long Island, New York, do not include those of Shannan Gilbert, whose search led to the investigation of a possible serial killer. Gilbert, 24, of Jersey City, New Jersey, has been missing since May and was last seen alive in the Gilgo Beach area. As authorities searched for clues concerning her disappearance last year, they uncovered a total of eight corpses found in various stages of decomposition. A woman's body was found March 29 off Ocean Parkway, west of Cedar Beach, police said. When medical examination determined they were not Gilbert's remains, the police continued to search. On Monday, they found the remains of three additional people. They have also since been determined not to be those of Gilbert, police said in a statement Tuesday. Gilbert's sister, Sheree Gilbert, told HLN's Nancy Grace Tuesday night she was surprised none of the victims were her sibling. "When we at first found out in December the first body initially they had found could have been hers, we had already prepared ourselves, and we were just hoping the search would come to an end," Sheree Gilbert said. "We just don't know where she is at this point and we don't want her to suffer. We don't want her to be lost somewhere, not ever found." Police say the hunt for a potential serial killer continues, as does the search for Gilbert, who, like the women whose bodies have been found, advertised for prostitution services on such sites as Craigslist. The first four bodies were discovered stuffed into bushes on a quarter-mile stretch of waterfront property on Oak Beach, indicating "they were dumped there by the same person or persons," said Richard Dormer, Suffolk County Police commissioner, in December. "It's too coincidental that there were four bodies in the same location." The remains of the fifth body were found about a mile from where the other corpses were discovered, he said, refusing to disclose exactly where the three additional remains were found on Monday. Summary of the article: When I searched for a current event article on the CNN website, this article was the first one that caught my eye in the “JUSTICE” section. Not only did it capture my attention; I read the article and it left me in awe. “But how could four dead bodies be convienently located in the same spot?” I wondered. That was very interesting to me, so I decided to read on. At first, I thought the four victims were a group of friends who just happened to meet a serial killer during their walk – and (alas) they were all shot and killed. (You know how serial killers are.) However, the article says that none of them were related to each other. On a lighter note, I found this article to be very consise; instead of boring me with unnecessary details, the author got right to the point. Despite this fascinating topic, I found some potential errors with this article. First of all, this article is very brief (perhaps a little TOO brief). I would appreciate it if this article were a bit longer. Second, there must be a legitimate, scientifically-accurate reason for all four victims to die in the same location. It just doesn’t make sense. Lastly, I would like to mention that this article really provoked my curiousity. Who is responsible for such a dastardly crime such as this? And did he/she commit suicide after murdering four people, or is he/she still on the lam? I don’t know who it is, but hopefully, the criminal will be arrested as soon as possible. Keep your fingers crossed! Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/05/new.york.bodies/index.html