New Mexico Study of Strangulation Deaths Points to Value of CT Scans at Autopsy

Current Event 18

Mr. Ippolito

YiFei Wu

3/8/2018

https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/03/new-mexico-study-strangulation-deaths-points-value-ct-scans-autopsy

Augenstain, Seth. “New Mexico Study of Strangulation Deaths Points to Value of CT Scans at Autopsy.” Forensic Magazine, 7 Mar. 2018, www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/03/new-mexico-study-strangulation-deaths-points-value-ct-scans-autopsy.

New Mexico Study of Strangulation Deaths Points to Value of CT Scans at Autopsy

In this article, the forensic scientists discussed about CT scan technology used in the forensic field in order to solve death cases easily. “The National Institute of Justice published a recent paper citing the use of computed tomography (CT) scans to speed up work amidst a staggering caseload of death in America—and to even catch postmortem details that may have gone unnoticed under the scalpel and microscope.” The benefit of the CT scan is that it is more clear and detailed than any other machines.  It can also help forensic scientists to analysis the cause of death or even investigate the suspect.

This technique in my opinion is benefiting the forensic field. In our life, there’s too many grey areas comes to the death case, a lot of cases couldn't solve by the investigators. We need more justice in the society. This CT scanner technique helped.

But the concerns about this technology is that when it came to poisoning and rare death case, how would the scientist analyze that. Now technology is all around us include in the forensic field.

"Agonizing Question for Irish: What to Do With Children's Remains?"

Barry, Dan. “Agonizing Question for Irish: What to Do With Children's Remains?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/world/europe/tuam-ireland-lost-children.html.

Dan Barry’s article, “Agonizing Question for Irish: What to Do With Children's Remains?” discusses a case in Ireland where the Catholic nuns ran a home for unwed mothers buried many bodies of young children. In a report conducted by a team of forensic experts, it stated that “The group has not identified any directly comparable cases, either nationally or internationally, that involved the complexities of commingled juvenile human remains, in significant quantities and in such a restricted physical location,” revealing the abuse of human rights and the extreme control over women in the home. After this discovery, authorities made the decision to “conduct a forensic exam of most of the site, including its car park and grassy playground; exhume all relevant human remains; and do exhaustive DNA testing for possible identification.” As of March 2017, forensic investigators from Commision of Investigation Into Mother and Baby Homes confirmed the fact that the remains of hundreds of children were disposed of in a no longer active drainage system.

Barry’s article brought attention to a case in which human rights and proper respect towards and the dead were ignored, as hundreds of young children were disposed of in drainage systems. It is important that those who die are given a proper burial and are treated with respect. In discovering a case such as this one, it allows loved ones to know what may have happened to their sibling for example. Though, it also allows DNA technology to improve, as, with cases such as these where DNA can be difficult to obtain, an improved system will allow for it to be obtained easier with better results.

I thought that Dan Barry’s article, “Agonizing Question for Irish: What to Do With Children's Remains?” was overall very thorough in explaining the case. It was equally interesting and informative to read. Although, he did not explain the forensic side in detail as much as what happened to the children and why this happened.

In Africa, Geneticists Are Hunting Poachers.

Catherine Faville

Forensics

Current event

Kolata, Gina. “In Africa, Geneticists Are Hunting Poachers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/science/dna-rhinos-ivory-poachers.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=collection.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/science/dna-rhinos-ivory-poachers.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%20Science&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=collection

After reading the article In Africa, Geneticists Are Hunting Poachers written by Gina Kolata showed me the infamous sadening reality of poaching, and how the problem is being fixed. A former school teacher in Zimbabwe Rogers Mukwena was wanted for poaching rhinos and selling their horns for a heavy price, he had jumped bail and headed north, making it hard to prosecute him. However with the help of scientist this criminal can face his crimes, by using the same genetic fingerprinting method used in the criminal justice system is being used to solve poaching crimes. The scientists gathered samples of DNA from African Rhinos, locating the remains and matching the trafficker or poacher to it. Poaching is series problem, in the past ten years 7,000 rhinos have been killed for their horns, along with 30,000 elephants each year for their tusks.

This article opened my eyes to the escalating problem of poaching animals, and how many people are taking steps forward to prevent this from advancing. By attempting to gather DNA evidence from Rhinos and locating the perpetrator would be able to spread the idea that this is not such a easy crime to commit anymore. By spreading this awareness hopefully it will decrease the high amounts of animal deaths.

The article did a great job in bringing unbelievable facts to the table, drawing in the reader and making them feel concerned for the issue. I also liked how they used a specific story with the rhinos and a escaped convict, it made the article a lot more endearing to read. However i wish that the author had gone into more detail with how exactly the rhino DNA was tied in with the poacher,l and the specifics on how they can find out who murdered the animal. Adding this would have made the article easier to understand and learn.

Woman Questions Mother's Investigation in 1980s Baby Deaths

Antlfinger, Carrie, and Todd Richmond. “Woman Questions Mother's Investigation in 1980s

Baby Deaths.” Forensic Magazine, 28 Feb. 2018, www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/02/woman-questions-mothers-investigation-1980s-baby-deaths.

In the article “Woman Questions Mother’s Investigation in 1980s Baby Deaths” Carrie Antlfinger and Todd Richmond discuss how Ami Brunka is shocked that investigators didn’t arrest her mom in the 1980s after she confessed to killing her 18-day-old son, even after the deaths of two more infants in her care. Brunka said that the three murder charges Milwaukee prosecutors filed against her mother, Nancy Moronez, should have come much earlier. Last week, Moronez confessed to killing her son Justin in March 1980, killing 6 month old Brad Steege in March 1984, and killing 3 month old Katie Kozeniecki in February 1985. Officials with the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office mistakenly ruled that the deaths resulted from sudden infant death syndrome.

I think one of the reasons this article is important is that it surrounds the issue of determining whether an infant was killed by SIDS or not. According to a 2006 joint report from the National Association of Medical Examiners and the American Academy of Pediatrics child abuse committee, SIDS is the most common cause of death for children between a month and 6 months old. Telling the difference between SIDS and suffocation is apparently “difficult if not impossible” according to the report. This is extremely worrying because it means that a large number of deaths attributed to SIDS might actually be murder cases and the only real way to know when to start an investigation is if more than one infant dies under the same person’s care.

Antlfinger and Richmond wrote a succinct and informative article concerning this case and its investigation. They were able to provide all of the relevant information concerning the case while also addressing why investigators hadn’t grown suspicious of Moronez after three dead babies and by describing the uncertainty that surrounds sudden infant death syndrome. I think that one area that could be clarified in the article was the true confession because the authors include two or three different scenarios for how some of the infants could have died but it is hard to tell what Moronez actually confessed to.

Child Porn Search Warrant Yields Body Stuffed in Tote.

Hana Eddib Current event 17

Forensics 2/28/18

https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/02/child-porn-search-warrant-yields-body-stuffed-tote

Augenstein, Seth. “Child Porn Search Warrant Yields Body Stuffed in Tote.” Forensic Magazine, 15 Feb. 2018, www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/02/child-porn-search-warrant-yields-body-stuffed-tote.

“Child Porn Search Warrant Yields Body Stuffed in Tote.” discusses an ongoing computer crime investigation that investigators  linked to a nationwide child porn sting. Augenstein relayed how the Colorado police served a search warrant on an apartment in Trinidad, Colo., on Tuesday and found  corpse stuffed inside a plastic storage tote. The suspect, Cameron Johnson-McCann, is being charged with a single count of internet sexual exploitation of a child. The actual death investigation however, is being continued. According to the article, “ The remains have only been described as those of a man—but their condition has prevented identification so far. An autopsy is pending.” They also claimed that the person had been dead for a while.

This article was very interesting to read. It was interesting to see how a computer crime investigation could lead to a break in a child pornography case. It is very relevant to our forensic class as we are studying ways in which we could use forensic evidence to solve cases such as this one. Child pornography is one of the biggest problems of our era and this case highlights it.

While the article was very interesting to read, there were some points that the author didn’t include that made it a little hard to follow. I wish the author could’ve expanded on the relationship between the computer case and the child pornography case. While it is clear the dead body is the common link, it was hard to identify what led them to the body or to connect the body to the cases in question.