Child abuse with fatal sequelae in an Essen autopsy sample]

In the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Essen/Germany 24 cases of lethal child battering or neglect have been observed over 17 years from 1973 to 1989. The medicolegal and morphologic findings in these cases are presented and compared to the literature. The patterns of abuse/neglect in Essen compare to those frequently reported in the literature: skull/brain traumas caused by blunt impact, multiple hematomas, bone fractures, and symptoms of malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, and general neglect. In many cases the abuse could be shown to have been chronic. In the seven years 1983-1989 the cases of lethal child mistreatment and neglect amounted to 0.18 percent of all autopsies. Five cases of lethal sexual assault in children during the same period are compared to the mistreated cases.     

Atypical "body packing syndrome"--a case report

A case of ingested cocaine is reported in which death must be classified as body packer syndrome although both the temporal relationship and the number of packets were atypical. The deceased, a consumer of hard drugs who smuggled for his own use, was found in his flat. He was resuscitated and survived for another four days in hospital. Only four intact drug packages were found in the upper gastro-intestinal tract. The concentrations of cocaine in blood and organs were relatively low but in a potentially lethal range. The case is presented, and its particularities as well as the option of induced vomiting as a way of preventing the fatal outcome are discussed.     

Interdisciplinary cooperation of forensic sciences--results of a simulation exercise

In a workshop held on the occasion of the foundation of the INFW, the Interdisciplinary Network of Forensic Sciences (www.infw.org), 14 scientists from 10 fields of expertise were allotted to 3 teams. Each team had to independently solve the same fictitious forensic case. In this, several corpses or skeletons in varying degrees of decomposition were found in the remains of an old bunker during a large building project. After a set time limit of 45 minutes, the approaches to the task were noted on individual flipcharts by each team. A comparison of the solutions suggested by the three very heterogeneously composed teams revealed a high degree of similarity. However, particularly the "exotic" disciplines developed surprising approaches. The experiment was an interesting and instructive experience for all participants and underscores the necessity of interdisciplinary cooperation in solving complex forensic questions.     

Strategic Use of Evidence During Police Interviews: When Training to Detect Deception Works

Research on deception detection in legal contexts has neglected the question of how the use of evidence can affect deception detection accuracy. In this study, police trainees (N=82) either were or were not trained in strategically using the evidence when interviewing lying or truth telling mock suspects (N=82). The trainees’ strategies as well as liars’ and truth tellers’ counter-strategies were analyzed. Trained interviewers applied different strategies than did untrained. As a consequence of this, liars interviewed by trained interviewers were more inconsistent with the evidence compared to liars interviewed by untrained interviewers. Trained interviewers created and utilized the statement-evidence consistency cue, and obtained a considerably higher deception detection accuracy rate (85.4%) than untrained interviewers (56.1%).     

Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in Kalmyk population samples

Seventeen Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs), DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385ab, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, GATA-H4, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 were typed in DNA samples from the Kalmyk population (n=99). The population is characterized by a high proportion of duplicated DYS19 alleles and deletions of the locus DYS448 on the background of the Central Asian haplogroup C*. AMOVA analysis reveals a close vicinity to Mongolian and Kazakh populations and large genetic distance to geographical neighbours from Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus.     

Comparative Analysis of the Chemical Profiles of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine Based on Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (GC × GC-TOFMS)*

Abstract: The chemical profiling of illicit drugs is an important analytical tool to support the work of investigating and law enforcement authorities. In our work, comprehensive two‐dimensional gas chromatography–time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC‐TOFMS) combined with nontargeted, pixel‐based data analysis was adapted for the chemical profiling of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). The validity and benefit of this approach was evaluated by analyzing a well‐investigated set of MDMA samples. Samples were prepared according to a harmonized extraction protocol to ensure the comparability of the chemical signatures. The nontargeted approach comprises preprocessing followed by analysis of variances as a fast filter algorithm for selection of a variable subset followed by partial least squares discriminant analysis for reduction to promising marker compounds for discrimination of the samples according to their chemical profile. Forty‐seven potential marker compounds were determined, covering most of the target impurities known from the harmonized one‐dimensional profiling as well as other compounds not previously elucidated.