June 2007 | Back to Table of Contents

Pulse

Body Work

Minnesota’s only board-certified forensic anthropologist deciphers the stories told by bones.

Dressed in black boots and a shiny black jumpsuit, brown-haired, blue-eyed Temperance Brennan strides across a cow pasture with FBI special agent Seeley Booth to investigate a mysterious crater. Something has fallen from the sky. Together, they slow down, stepping almost reverently as they approach a blackened hole that contains the skeletal remains of a man.

Kneeling to get a closer look, Brennan comments, “There’s no sign of a parachute. He hit the ground at approximately 200 kilometers per hour.”

Thus begins an episode of Fox TV’s Bones, a program based loosely on a series of books by real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. The books and TV show focus on fictional forensic anthropologist Brennan, whom Booth has nicknamed “Bones,” as she pieces together the details surrounding one mysterious death after another.

In this case, the key clue comes from X-rays of the victim’s femur, which reveal bone density loss congruent with that of a 130-year-old person. The investigators reason that the victim was not that old but instead was an astronaut who spent significant amounts of time weightless. It’s just enough information to set the FBI on the trail of the killer, who is found by show’s end.

Reality Check
Hamline University anthropology professor Susan Myster, Ph.D., is the person Minnesota medical examiners and law enforcement officers call when there’s a body to identify. The state’s only board-certified forensic anthropologist, Myster is qualified to conduct or participate in the recovery of human remains and perform osteological analysis, which means she has the ability to determine such things as age, sex, height, and stature and provide any information that might explain the death based on bones alone. “They speak volumes,” she says.

Like TV’s Temperance Brennan, Myster begins her investigation at the scene where a body has been found. Seeing the setting helps her interpret what the bones “tell” her. For example, in a recent case involving a body found in a shallow grave, Myster noticed what looked like charring on the bones. She might have surmised that someone had burned the body before they buried it. But

Myster also noticed that packed into the pelvic area were leaves from surrounding oak trees. From this, she concluded that the body had lain in the grave for at least a year and that the dark areas on the bones were stains from decomposing acorns, not fire.

Myster takes notes and photographs at the scene. Then she helps law enforcement officials plan the recovery of the body, which is taken to a medical examiner’s office. There, she’ll examine the soft tissue and any trace evidence. The bones may be X-rayed, and a femur, rib, or tooth may be set aside for DNA testing by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The rest of the bones, if the body is not fully decomposed, will be cleaned—simmered in a solution of water, detergent, and degreaser before being further examined.

Myster will compare them against a set of casts and pictures in books to assess the age, sex, height, and even race of the person. She’ll look for signs of premortem injuries, such as fractures or nicks. She’ll also look for clues about who the person was, whether they were healthy or had a disease such as cancer that had metastasized to bone, or even whether they were petite or robust.

Although Myster says her role in death investigations is important, she says it doesn’t extend nearly as far as Brennan’s does on television. “We don’t work with [criminal] investigators in the field. … I don’t carry a gun,” she says, explaining that the TV anthropologist shot someone in an early episode.

School for Scandal Hamline University in St. Paul is one of the few private universities in the country to offer a certificate in forensic sciences. To earn it, students must complete an undergraduate degree in anthropology, biology, chemistry, criminal justice, legal studies, physics, or psychology and take a series of specialized courses on forensic science, the legal system, data analysis, and laboratory techniques such as identifying fingerprints or crime scene investigation. Susan Myster, Ph.D., director of the certificate program and an associate professor of anthropology, says the program doesn’t certify students to be forensic scientists. Rather, it provides them with background for pursuing such a career. Even so, enrollment is booming. About 60 to 80 students a year sign up. And Myster says that’s partly because of television shows such as CSI and Bones. “Some people really know what they’re getting into,” she says. The program requires coursework in chemistry, biology, and statistics. “Others are completely Hollywood. They’re not interested in classes in science, so they just drop out and keep watching the shows.”—C.P.

She also says that the television forensics teams have technology that she’s never heard of. In real life, forensic anthropologists are more hands-on. “We might use X-rays. But it’s mostly gross observation with a little magnification.”

Medical examiners Lindsey Thomas, M.D., of Hastings and Andrew Baker, M.D., of Minneapolis say their offices are decidedly low-tech as well. Both use plain-film X-rays, but rarely anything more technologically sophisticated. Thomas notes that one of her most important tools is actually a tome called Mammal Bones and Teeth, which helps her to determine whether a bone found in the woods is from a human being or an animal.

“Do I wish we had things like 3-D CT scans in the morgue?” Baker asks. “Sure I do. But I think we do a good job with the things we have.”

The Tell-Tale Hyoid
In real life and on television, bones provide medical examiners and forensic anthropologists with information that can help them narrow down how a person’s life ended. The direction a bullet was traveling can be determined by looking at holes in bone, or whether a person was cut with a serrated knife or saw blade might be determined by markings on some part of the skeleton. In someone struck by a vehicle, fracture patterns can reveal the direction the car was traveling, its speed, and if it was braking. A fractured hyoid, a little bone in the neck that looks like a horseshoe, may indicate that the person was strangled. Multiple new or healing fractures in children can be a sign of abuse.

Baker admits imagining victims’ last gruesome moments wears on him. But, he says, being a medical examiner is one of the most fascinating jobs a person can have. “As long as you have a healthy way of relieving your stress, it is a manageable job.” Baker runs—a lot, he says.

He says he has learned to detach from the sights, sounds, and smells of his work. But he does not detach from the stories he encounters. “If I ever wake up one morning and look in the mirror and say to myself that what I do for a living doesn’t bother me anymore, I’d really wonder what I’d become.”

Myster says she’s been surprised that her forensic work gives her a sense of having contributed—both to the justice system and to grieving families. “It’s rewarding in a strange sense,” she says, explaining that family members have thanked her for testifying in trials and providing them with information about their loved one’s death. “Even though you
can’t save the life, you can let that person have a voice.”—Carmen Peota