The Role of Forensic Anthropology in the Medico-Legal Investigation of Remains Recovered at Sea: Analysis of a Case

Abstract

Forensic anthropological investigations often encounter cases that are difficult to interpret, especially when dealing with skeletal remains found in a marine context. Determining the immersion time in the sea of skeletal remains is a challenge for forensic investigations and answering this would solve many cases in the shortest time possible. The physical and chemical properties of bones change during their time in water and these changes cause difficulties and delays in identifying and reconstructing the biological profile of an unknown subject. In this paper, two forensic cases found at sea were analysed, the case of a disarticulated and extensively skeletonised corpse found on the coast of Reggio Calabria (Italy) and the case of an isolated foot, intact of soft tissues, found only 9 km away, on the coast of Vibo Valentia (Italy). The resolution hypothesis of the two cases was based on three search options because the disappearance of three known individuals was being investigated simultaneously. The investigations were conducted through a multidisciplinary work applying different analyses, including anthropometric, radiological, digital and, finally, genetic analyses. The results made it possible to determine the reconstruction of two biological profiles, both of Case A, the skeletal remain, and Case B, the subject to whom the foot belonged. The almost compatible anthropometric results of the two biological profiles, the presence of two very indicative partial tattoos and a genetic correlation led to the solution of a single court case.