The mutilation and encasement of corpses are rare in daily forensic work, but when they occur, close cooperation between different disciplines, such as legal medicine and forensic anthropology, is necessary to obtain the most valuable results. One forensic examination method is the radiological evaluation of victims or body parts by postmortem CT (pmCT) and X-ray images. In relation to a case described in this paper, an empirical study was conducted to figure out the value of radiological imaging and the ability to visualize and temporally classify changes in a corpse encased in concrete. For this purpose, the head and paw of a pig were encased in concrete and scanned regularly over a period of one year. Body parts such as the head and paw are clearly visible on X-ray images. Although decay-related changes are shown, a specific minimum time interval cannot yet be found, as these changes occur continuously in lesser amounts.

A review of New York City dismemberment cases occurring between 1996 and 2017 was conducted, which resulted in a total of 55 dismembered decedents in a 22-year period. Annual trends indicate an average of 2.5 dismembered decedents. Additional results show that 53% of cases involved transection only, 35% involved disarticulation only, and 13% involved a combination of both. When the entire body could be accounted for, the average number of body portions per case was 5.5. Frequent locations for dismemberment were the neck, shoulders, hips, and knees. Dismemberment locations showed a general trend of anatomical symmetry. Seventy-eight percent of the dismemberments involve disposal of body parts in an outside location. Eighty-four percent were concealed from view with some type of covering. The findings from New York City are compared with other studies.

In this experiment, 170 experimental false starts on human (120 lesions) and pig bones (50 lesions) were analyzed under stereomicroscope. The goal was to evaluate the potential of three \"secondary\" features (patterns of striae on the kerf floor, blade drift and bone islands) to diagnose saw class and saw set. We also assessed the performance of each of these features in ambiguous cases observed in a previous study, based on three main characters (minimum width of the kerf, shape of the kerf walls, and shape of the kerf profile). Among these three \"secondary\" features, striae on the kerf floor proved to be useful: the undulating or undulating/straight pattern of the striae on the kerf floor indicates an alternating set whereas thin and straight striae indicates a wavy set. Blade drift and bone islands may be indicative of large teeth size. These secondary features, in combination with the three main characters previously studied, may help identify the class of the saw.

This experimental study examined false starts because these are seldom discussed in the forensic literature and usually concern animal bones rather than human bones. We created 170 experimental false starts (50 on pig femurs and 120 on human femurs) using five different saws (4 with an alternating set of teeth, and one with a wavy set). Teeth per inch (TPI) ranged from 7 to 24. Saws were classified as either rip saws or universal saws. The bone lesions were studied using stereomicroscopy. This study focused on three features that are easily observed with a stereomicroscope: the minimum width of the kerf, the profile of the lesions (concave or convex), and the shape of the edges (narrow-wide pattern, necking in the middle, or straight pattern). These features proved to be useful clues to recognize the class of the saw. Our study found some variability between lesions but also some repetitive features that allow for the classification the handsaws studied according to class. There were also some significant differences in lesions between pig bones and human bones, suggesting that pig femurs (versus human femurs) are not always a good alternative for studying saw marks.

Even when human skeletal remains are found in contexts indicative of body disposal after homicide, none of the bones may manifest injuries. When skeletons are incomplete, there are two possibilities, the injured bones are missing or none were injured. This leads to the question how frequently bones are injured during homicide, where the injuries tend to be placed, and whether the frequency of injury is related to the type of homicide. To answer these questions, the postmortem reports from all autopsies performed for homicide victims at the Institute of Legal Medicine at the University Hospital in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, between 1994 and 2014, were retrospectively evaluated for bony injuries discovered during autopsy. In 90 cases, a preliminary postmortem computed tomography (pmCT) examination had been performed. The cases were categorized into the following five groups by type of fatal trauma: blunt force, sharp force, gunshot injury, strangulation, or other. In total, the postmortem reports for 897 homicides (527 male, 370 female) were evaluated. The number of victims per trauma category were sharp force, 309; blunt force, 179; gunshot injury, 242; strangulation, 92; and other, 75. Bony injuries had been reported in 70.9 % of the homicides. The \"gunshot\" category contained the highest proportion of victims with bony injuries (92.6 %). With 80.4 %, the second-highest proportion of victims with bony injuries was in the \"blunt force\" category, followed by 66.3 % of victims in the \"sharp force\" group. In contrast, with 53.3 %, the second-lowest proportion of victims with bony injuries was in the \"strangulation\" category, which contained a preponderance of female victims, followed by 17.3 % of victims with bony injuries in the \"other\" category. Bony injuries thus occurred in the majority of homicides. Forensic osteological analysis should, therefore, always be performed on badly decomposed human remains. Where necessary, the additional use of visualization techniques, in particular, pmCT, or maceration may be considered. The absence of bony injuries does not rule out homicide; e.g., in strangulations, bony injuries are manifest in only half the victims, even when the skeleton is intact. The relevant structures are also easily lost to decomposition, scavenging, or scattering.

Within the context of medical examiner\'s offices, forensic anthropologists are increasingly being asked to assist with the interpretation of traumatic skeletal injury. This case study presents an example of trauma analysis performed by forensic anthropologists at the Maricopa County Forensic Science Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The primary goal of this study is to document an uncommon pattern of traumatic injury-severe grinding abrasions of the lower appendage that macroscopically resemble sharp force trauma, especially as observed in dismemberment cases-resulting from an individual being dragged beneath a Light Rail train for c. 1.7 miles. The abraded skeletal elements include a femoral shaft fragment, a femoral head portion, and the right foot. Second, this study aims to illustrate the efficacy of forensic anthropological analysis of patterned skeletal trauma. Finally, this study demonstrates the critical importance of analyzing scene information before drawing conclusions as to the etiology of a traumatic injury pattern.