Disaster Victim Identification

3.1 - Introduction

• Circumstantial evidence (e.g. personal effects such as clothing, jewellery and pocket con-tents)
• Physical evidence provided by:
  • external examination, e.g. of general features (description) and specific features (fingerprints)
  • internal examination, e.g. medical evidence, dental evidence and laboratory findings.

3.2 - Visual recognition

This can lead to serious embarrassment and distress and may also cause legal difficulties in the victims’ home countries. It is best, therefore, to ensure that accurate identification is achieved by evaluating a combination of criteria and not to rely solely on visual recognition.

3.3 - Personal effects

The police may insist that personal property (jewellery, watches, documents, clothing, etc.) be examined by a forensic science laboratory to assist with both identification and the inves-tigations.

3.4 - Physical evidence

3.4.1 - External examination

It is generally agreed that the identification of an unknown body should primarily be based on physical evidence derived from the body itself. Searching for and describing physical fea-tures is best undertaken by a police officer familiar with obtaining descriptions, working with a medical expert such as a police surgeon, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, or coroner. As the identification process will also normally involve establishing the cause of death, a medical expert must participate in the removal and description of clothing and body features.

Such involvement will help in interpreting the injuries found, and possibly assist in deter-mining the cause of death. It is important that the undressing of the bodies and the external and internal examinations form a continuous and structured process.

General features of the naked body should then be described including sex, estimated age, height, build, colour of skin, etc. Some features, e.g. hair and eye colour, are a matter of judgment and may therefore be potentially inaccurate. Taken together with other details, however, they can lead to a positive identification.

Specific features, such as scars, moles, tattoos, and abnormalities, are often unique and thus extremely important if they can be matched with ante-mortem data.

Fingerprints are specific external features. If present on a body, and if ante-mortem prints can be obtained for comparison, they constitute the safest identification means available. They should always be recorded by an expert.

An Interpol fingerprint form has been designed to enable prints to be transmitted between member countries in an agreed format, but the appropriate forms used by individual countries will suffice. There is provision on the Disaster Victim Identification ante-mortem and post-mortem forms for such records.

3.4.2 - Internal examination

In some countries an external examination is sufficient evidence of the cause of death, but if a victim's identity or cause of death cannot be determined from an external examination, an autopsy may be necessary.

Victim identification cannot be considered as an end in itself: it is an integral and essential part of the overall investigation of the disaster. It should therefore be standard practice to per-form autopsies on all disaster victims not only for the identification and cause of death as-pects, but also to assist in preventing or minimizing the effects of similar incidents in the fu-ture.

It will always be the responsibility of the medical experts - who will be bound by the legal requirements of the country concerned - to determine how detailed these examinations need to be. However, the police investigation may require the examination of specific internal or-gans or the consideration of particular conditions, and this will require liaison between the police and the medical examiners. At the examiners' discretion, specimens and samples may need to be taken for further specialist investigation.

Medical experts may require that blood types be established or that body fluids be examined for traces of alcohol, drugs, carbon monoxide etc., or that tissue samples be microscopically examined in serology, toxicology or pathology laboratories.

There may be medical findings which will assist with identification, for example signs of previous fractures or surgery, missing organs (e.g. appendix, uterus, kidney), or implants.

3.4.3 - Dental examination

Dental evidence is a particularly important and effective method of identification and can of-ten be so accurate that it will positively identify an individual by itself. The examination of teeth and jaws can only be properly carried out by a forensic dental expert who will perform the oral examination as part of the general autopsy. Because of the exact detail which can be obtained from this examination it is accepted procedure for dental experts, when necessary, to remove teeth for sectioning and age evaluation, or jaws (complete or in part) for maceration and radiography, perhaps at forensic dental laboratories.

N.B.: X-ray equipment will be of great advantage in both internal and dental examinations, particularly when an estimate of a victims age is required, and also to discover fractures or other unique identification information. X-ray examination is also a very effective method of locating and identifying evidential material such as bullets or bomb fragments. X-ray equip-ment, preferably portable, should always be made available in the mortuary.

3.4.4 - Genetic identification

Genetic identification techniques provide a powerful diagnostic tool in forensic medicine and can successfully be applied to the identification of disaster victims. An individual's genetic data is the same in all his or her cells and remains constant even after death.

The analysis of a biological sample makes it possible to link an individual to ancestors and descendants, and the data from these analyses can easily be computerized.

Genetic identification techniques currently in use complement other methods commonly used for disaster victim identification, especially when a body has been severely mutilated.

Biological sample analysis can result in:

• the genetic linking of a victim to members of his natural family
• the conclusion that victims were not related
• the matching of body parts.

The sampling must be carried out on all the victims.

It must be remembered, however, that attempts to link a victim with his father or children in-volve the risk of proving non-paternity.

Obtaining, storing and analysing these samples, from both the victim and potential relative, requires special expertise and should always be undertaken by a scientific or medical expert. Expert advice should also be sought on the most appropriate method of forwarding the sam-ples to their destination, to ensure that security and integrity are maintained.

Disaster Victim Identification