Identification of Blunt Force Traumatic Fractures in Burned Bone

• NCJ Number: 309830
• Author(s): Giovanna M. Vidoli; Joanne Devlin
• Date Published: 2024
• Length: 25 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2019-75-CX-0019
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

In this study, researchers worked to improve identification of blunt force traumatic fractures in burned bone.

Abstract

This study is a first attempt to move beyond the merely descriptive assessment of observable fractures in burned bones by using experiments with intact human remains burned in a controlled setting. This work provides guidelines for practitioners attempting to differentiate between perimortem blunt force and thermally induced trauma. Forensic practitioners are often presented with burned human remains recovered from varied accidental scenarios ranging from plane crashes, vehicle fires, and wildfires, to structure fires and other intentional fires aimed at concealing a body or trauma to a body. Critical to their analyses of cause and manner of death is the ability to differentiate between thermal damage and any intentional sharp, blunt, or ballistic trauma.  Over the course of 18 months, 16 donors were enrolled in this project. The 16 donors were burned on nine separate dates. A total of ten crania (six controls), ten right lower arms and six left lower arms, nine right lower legs and six left lower legs were impacted. The researchers analyzed fire temperature and time data. Average fire temperatures are relatively constant across the project, most likely due to consistency in fuel type. The average fire temperature exceeded the average body temperature by several hundred degrees except in four burn events where the average body temperature exceeded the average fire temperature; however, the difference in these values is negligible. The duration of burns fluctuated across the research period, but for many of the burns, there is a clear indirect relationship between average fire temperature and fire duration: for longer burn events, average fire temperature is lower and for shorter burns, average temperatures are higher. Seasonality (i.e. ambient air temp) and BMI do not appear to affect fire time and temperature but will be explored with further research.