Forensic Research & Technology

Biography

Biography: Stephanie Giles

Abstract

Forensic taphonomic studies conducted at decomposition research facilities such as the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (the “Body Farm”) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville have aided forensic anthropologists to develop post-mortem interval (PMI) estimation methods such as Megyesi’s (2005) point-scoring decomposition scale. However, such methods have limited use for forensic investigators who operationally encounter early to moderately decomposed remains. This paper demonstrates that the absence of adequate PMI estimation tools in the death investigation field can lead to inaccurate PMI estimations. By interrogation of 128 decomposition cases, photographs and associated death investigation reports from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office in Pittsburgh, a novel scale of PMI estimation was developed using rigorous statistics. The resulting Giles-Harrison (G-H) decomposition scale was subsequently compared with Megyesi’s method in a blind trial utilising 10 human cadavers at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility, University of Tennessee. Preliminary findings suggest that the G-H scale was more accurate at estimating the PMI experimentally and allows forensic investigators to make a quick and reasoned PMI estimation operationally.