Facial Reconstruction Techniques

Introduction and Missing persons:
Last week a couple came across a human skull that was found in a park. Police were contacted and it appeared to be two human skeletons. So as a team of forensic anthropologist we studied skeleton B to see whether or not it would match with the following missing people. Stacey Jackson or Regina Rashad. Stacey Jackson is a 26 year old grocery clerk she's been missing for 3 months. Two witnesses remember seeing her on the path near the park the same day she had disappeared. Regina Rashad is 31 years old and is a newly married insurance secretary and has been missing for almost 6 months. Her husband and her were going through a rough time but didn't think she would up and run away. We measured and examined different parts of the pelvis, skull, humerus,
nasal and tibia to decide whether it was Regina or Stacey found at the scene.
(Nikyla Marteen)

Findings (data tables from the lab): Chloe Smith
The first measurements we took were from the pelvis from skeleton B. Everything looked normal according to the table (Sub-Pubic angle was greater than 90 degrees, Greater Sciatic Notch was greater than 68 degrees, and the Pelvic cavity was circular and wide just as a females would look), except for one minor thing. The Pubis Body width was a little smaller than a females. It was around 30mm which was about 10mm less than the females might’ve been.
Our group assumed that from the pelvic features that this person wasn't a child. So, just from looking at the first two tables, we concluded that this skeleton had once been a 25-30 year old female.
The next part we did was the Skull Examination. From this, everything that we found fit perfectly into the female column. There were no outliers that would have steered us in the wrong direction. We could identify what ethnicity it was by looking at specific features like the nose. Our findings led us to think that this was a white female.
The third measurements we took were from the Humerus. Like the pelvis, everything seemed to fit into the female column except for one thing. The maximum length of the humerus was a little small in general. It didn't really fit into either category. The average length for the female is 305.9mm, and male is 339.0mm. The measurement we got was around 295.0mm. We decided that it was relatively close to the females length.
For the last part of the investigation we measured the Tibia. All of the information fit into the female column perfectly. I conclude, Our findings have showed us that this skeleton was once a 25-30 year old white female. There may have been a couple things that strayed from the average information. To conclude, this person was most likely a female around 25 years of age and white.

Evidence and Further analysis: Julia Quan
The facial reconstruction technique can be used in this case to interpret the structures and features of the subject in order to find out the age, sex, and ethnicity.
Facial reconstruction is done by a sculptor who has knowledge in facial anatomy, they use a modeling clay to put on the skull and sculpt the facial features that are similar to any of the missing person's features to be able to construct a face that will suggest someone to remember/recognize the features of this particular person.
Two tests/types of analysis that can be completed using the bone samples are gel electrophoresis and examining the skull. From running a gel we can learn if the DNA of this person matches the DNA of the suspected missing persons since on the gel there are several lanes that will include a DNA marker and the suspect's DNA. What we can learn from examining the skull is the age of the person and possibly the ethnicity as well. To tell the age of the person you would have to look at the sagittal suture on the skull, if it is fully fused together than the person is most likely to be around the age of 35 if it is not completely fused the age will be
lower.

Conclusion and citations: Alison Kelly In the evidence produced by examining the bones we can conclude that the bones are female, and where that of a 25-30 year old caucasian. This lines up with the two missing persons reports. To help further identify the skeletal remains, the process of running a gel electrophoresis will be important. Running a gel would help us match the DNA of the skeletal remains to the missing person they belong to. The process would involve cutting the DNA from the bones and the two missing persons by two different restriction enzymes, to ensure that the correct person is matched to the bones. This would show who the bones belonged to, since the person would have the exact same results as the bones that were found. This is the next step in the investigation to follow.

Citations:
● Phillips V.M. (2000, 24 July) Skeletal Remains Identification by Facial Reconstruction. Federal Bureau of investigation, reteived from https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/about-us/lab/forensic-science-communications/fsc/jan2001/phillips.htm
● (2006, 16 February) Anthropological Views. Visible Proofs Forensic Views of the Body, Reteived from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/education/anthropological/index.html

Pelvis Examination
Trait Result Female Male
Sub-Pubic Angle 105 > 90 90
Pubis Body Width 30mm ~ 40mm 25-30mm
Greater Sciatic Notch 90 > 68 < 68
Pelvic Cavity Shape Circular and Wide Circular and Wide, showing mainly coccyx Heart-shaped, showing sacrum and coccyx

Humerus Measurements
Trait Result Average Female Average Male
Transverse Diameter of Humeral Head (mm) 36mm 37.0-39.0 42.7-44.7
Vertical Diameter of Humeral Head (mm) 39.5mm 42.7 48.8
Maximum Length (mm) 295mm 305.9 339.0
Epicondylar Width (mm) 56mm 56.8 63.9