All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes

by Sue Black

On the plus side, we had many more lovely emails and letters from viewers who simply enjoyed discovering new things, and the contact with the public served to remind us that people are genuinely interested in learning about what the bodies of our ancestors can tell us

The irony of anatomists uncovering the possible misdemeanours of previous anatomists was not lost on us.

The obvious yardstick is to imagine this was your son.

When we reconstructed her face, the devastation wreaked by this condition on such a young person was shocking to see. Caroline then did a second reconstruction, showing how she would have looked if she had been healthy or could have been cured by penicillin. It is inevitable that we view an anonymous archaeological human skeleton with a certain amount of detachment but seeing the face of the young, flesh-and-blood woman more or less as she was, and as she could have been if fate had dealt her a better hand, dramatically brought home to everyone that we were dealing with a real person who had her own hopes, dreams and character;

As she and the second triplet began to decompose there would have been a build-up of gases in her body which, assisted by a decompression of the baby’s skull, finally succeeded in expelling the infant long after both their deaths in what is known as a ‘coffin birth’.

Another stone had been laid on his chest. The theory was that perhaps these were intended to keep the body weighed down to prevent it rising up in anger or retaliation, or perhaps just to ensure that he didn’t float away on the tide.

Trauma analysis is a logical deductive process that requires an appreciation of how bone behaves, how that behaviour alters when the bone is disrupted and subsequently suffers additional traumatic incidents, and how these can be sequenced.

I just love the fact that humans cannot fail to be affected by the stories of other humans, even those who lived centuries ago, and how they embrace these forerunners as part of their neighbourhood because they once occupied the same patch of earth on our planet.

Such ancient archaeological studies bring huge satisfaction in terms of unravelling the complexities of the presentation of a body, but from the perspective of a forensic anthropologist they are frustrating, too, in that, no matter how certain we may be in our minds about how a person came to grief, there is nobody who can confirm whether we are right or give us any guidance as to where we might have gone wrong.

For me, then, the more recent any foray into the archaeological world, the more rewarding it is likely to be as there is a greater chance of finding some documentary evidence that can help us to piece together more accurately the lives we are investigating and rebuild them on more solid foundations.

The burials were in triple coffins typical of the early 1800s for those who could afford them.

The purpose of our research was to determine whether DNA could be extracted from these nineteenth-century burials. Could the genetic code survive lead coffin interment?

Because they had nowhere to drain,

which strips the bonds between the base pairs (the building blocks of the DNA double helix)

but her husband, General Francis Rawdon Chesney of the Royal Artillery, celebrated for many achievements but especially for his epic descent of the Euphrates river in a steamer – a journey that demonstrated the possibilities of a new, shorter route to India that could cut out the long, treacherous voyage round the Cape of Good Hope.

That a man who had been dead for over a century could be the catalyst for an enduring friendship between two people who have still never met, and provide a third person with a new interest in his twilight years, is really quite miraculous.

Skeletons are more than dusty, dry old relics: they are the footnote to a life lived, sometimes retaining sufficient resonance to ensnare the imagination of the living.

There is great satisfaction in finding answers for bereaved families and helping to bring perpetrators to justice, or confirming the innocence of someone wrongly accused.

I know for certain that the first time I made a mistake that impacted negatively on the quality of someone’s life or unnecessarily hastened their demise, I would have thrown in the towel. I would have lost all confidence in my decision-making ability and seen myself as a danger to my patients.

What is carved most indelibly on our memories and on our perception of our reputations are those cases that remain unsolved, or where we feel we could have done more. And especially those where, no matter what lengths you have gone to, you cannot with certainty assign a name to an unidentified body,

These cases sit like mites under your skin and, however hard you scratch, you don’t ever lose the itch until the mystery can be resolved.

those trapped in the limbo of not knowing whether someone dear to them is dead or alive often find it even harder to cope.

without warning, a name, a date, a photograph or a piece of music may at any moment catapult them back into the black pit of endless horrifying possibilities.

it was as if their world had gone into a permanent stutter. While you are left replaying the same nightmare scenarios in your head in a continuous loop, you can never really begin to heal.

may have a reasonable expectation that a body will eventually be found, and having to accept that this is not always the case adds an extra burden to their grief.

probable layout of the room and plotted the best way to get into it and to reach the sofa bed without disturbing vital evidence.

While surveying the destruction, I noticed a small, grey fragment no more than 3cm in length and about 2cm wide.

We were never going to be able to extract DNA from a skeleton that consisted of scarcely more than ashes.

The clavicle held the key. This showed clear signs of having been fractured in the past.

For the fire recovery officers, this case was a wake-up call to the importance of having a forensic anthropologist at the scene. They admitted that they would never have recognised these grey lumps of ash as human remains; indeed, they might well never have noticed them at all, and just cleared them away with the rubble from the fire.

Since that incident, in Scotland forensic anthropologists have regularly attended fatal fires along with the police and the fire service. A great working relationship has been forged and it has proven its worth time and again in the recovery of body parts that only a scientist could reasonably be expected to recognise.

if a section of the route somebody took home was near water, perhaps a river, a canal or a lake, then these will be the places to check first.

why bodies of water are high on the list of prime potential search locations.

and it comes with a heavy price, not least of which is the foundation-shaking damage caused to the child’s sense of identity and belonging.

many affected families keep a small flame of hope alive across many decades, which perhaps helps to numb the hard edges of their pain.

When a body is found and we can make a positive identification, the news is never welcome to relatives as it dashes those long-nurtured hopes and dreams and forces a harsh acceptance of the reality of the ultimate loss. And we are only too aware of the further pain that will be caused as the investigation reveals the circumstances surrounding the last days and the death of someone precious to them. But I like to think that, in the long term, uncovering the truth will prove to be a small kindness in finally breaking that stutter of uncertainty and permitting some level of coping and healing to enter their lives.

Their families have accepted that they are dead, and their one desire now is to know where their loved ones are and to be able to ‘bring them home’.

Who knows what turn of events might suddenly jolt someone’s memory or conscience, and if there is the tiniest chance that telling their stories again here could help bring two families the answers they so desperately need, then it is worthwhile.

communities have responded to such inexplicable and devastating events, spinning yarns and building myths around them that become part of local lore.

they rarely assist and often waste a great deal of valuable police time.

A huge incident like this leaves a scar on a community that never truly heals.

When a young child is involved, the poignancy of the loss remains sharp across the decades.

every time a significant anniversary of their dis-appearance approaches, the local press will retell their story. At first glance this might seem a little macabre, but it serves to keep the case active in the public consciousness.

company that had been cutting the quarry at the time. When these small pieces of information were added together, along with the report of the DS who had smelled decomposition there after starting the 1976 dig, there was enough to justify a new, full investigation of the site as part of a cold-case review.

well-intentioned members of the public motivated to involve themselves in a case in the mistaken belief that their pet theories and fantasies will provide the vital piece of evidence that eventually solves the mystery.

in practice such letters only ever take up time and generally produce nothing of any relevance or value.

the quarry had been filled, levelled and planted with trees. We estimated that it would take us at least a month to dig it back to its 1970s profile

A job that in the past would have taken weeks was finished in a couple of days.

It was also possible that the quarry could have been used as a primary deposition site. The remains could have been hidden there first and later lifted and transferred to a secondary or even tertiary location.

Primary deposition sites are generally chosen for their convenience and proximity to the crime scene