Identification of wooden instrument by scanning electron microscopy from splinters left in victim

Case presentation concerns a twelve-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted, beaten, and murdered. A broken wooden broomstick was used in the attack to impale the victim through the rectum. Following the autopsy, splinters from the body were found by light microscopy. Macrodissected splinters were removed from the anus, rectum, and urinary bladder of the victim and examined by scanning electron microscopy. The splinters were identified as the same type of wood as the broomstick.