Emily Craig Chapter Summaries

This book includes several investigations of America’s most shocking crimes, in which Emily Craig takes you behind the scenes of real-life cases. Dr. Emily Craig, is a forensic anthropologist for the state of Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office. She was the author of this spectacular book. Emily’s job was to examine bones, fragments of extremities, and burned human remains, to help determine how people died, who they were, and sometimes even what they looked like (which is what they often had to do). Emily is one of the best forensic anthropologists in the country, and has helped identify many murder victims and solve hundreds of cold cases. In the book Emily tells her stories about her spontaneous career, which has ranged from murder victims
discovered in the backwoods of Appalachia, to some of the highest-profile cases of our time. Emily was not always interested in forensic work; in fact for fifteen years she worked as a medical illustrator. Once a corpse washed up along the Chattahoochee River. Emily was then called in by the local police department to reconstruct a model of a murder victim’s face. Emily was so amazed with the case that she went back to college to become a forensic anthropologist.That's when Emily first became intrigued with forensics work. One of her most known cases is “A Name and Face No One Knew, but Never Forgot” . In Frankfort Kentucky after the murder, a body was found wrapped in bed sheets, and dumped into a creek bed. Dr. Emily Craig and her crew came to investigate the scene, and she didn't stop until she found the next clue. Emily actually got down into the creek, and discovered pieces of a broken human being. Due to the evidence found, she immediately began shouting to her colleagues that this man had to be shot dead in the head. Investigators recovered most of a skeleton, as well as, some associated evidence. This included a brown sandal, a gold bracelet, and a Dallas Cowboys shirt. Now they just had to figure out who this person was. Back in Dr.Craig’s autopsy room in Frankfort, she determined that this body was a male. She then laid the bones in order from head to toe on a gurney and developed a rough description.
Male man, maybe Hispanic, minimum of 30 years old, around six feet tall, has had to have dental work including a gold crown, dead over six months. Little did Craig and her team of investigators know that a mother had reported over 1,250 miles away that her 34 year old son had went missing. More seasons went by, then one day in October of 2000, Detective Jim Griffin state police officer, learned that a man just arrested for a slight crime wanted to talk about one of his old cases, (the creek-bed body). The detective was doubtful, having wasted years of time listening to lies. He just wanted to meet the man, to be sure that he was the last resort. The source said he was awakened one night in July 1998 by two nervous acquaintances saying they needed his help. With fear, he felt there was no way out. He then helped them carry a wrapped body out of a farmhouse and into a van. They took a long ride, and then joined in dumping the body in a creek. The detective knew right then that when the man mentioned the Mickey Mouse blanket that was wrapped around the body, he knew he was telling the truth. The truth quickly came out and there were two men and one female charged with first degree murder. They had planned to kill this man for his cocaine. The three convicts were sentenced to life
in prison.

In my opinion, this book is very enjoyable. This book contained much information on forensic work, bone details in the human body, and how difficult it was for forensic employees to figure out who the people were and how they died. After reading this book, I would consider pursuing this career in my future. Dr. Craig truly had a passion for her forensic work, which drove her perfection for what she did. Emily Craig was a brilliant author and one of the best forensic anthropologists in the world.

I highly recommend this book if you are thinking of going into the medical field or considering forensic work. This author really opened my eyes with her details of the many crime scenes, and how she portrayed the story of each victim. This book was very enjoyable, and I hope others will consider reading. Teasing secrets from the dead has a lot to do with science. It talks about the decay of human bodies where forensic workers have to come in and do skeptical work. Forensic anthropologists gather their information together, and they use that to determine a person’s age, sex and when they have died. Forensic work relates to science because it deals with the anatomy and physiology of decomposed bodies. In my opinion overall this was a brilliant science book which more people need to consider reading.