Florida forensics lab reveals truth hidden in bones
By Jim Buynak
The Orlando Sentinel (KRT)

A case number written on a human skull identifies when it was found in the Everglades.

Anthony Falsetti picks it up, turns it over in his hands.

The skull’s size tells him it is a woman’s. The color is gray except for a brown area.

Photo by Pete Souza Forensic anthropology is important to cases where the remains are all that remain..

“See the dark part on the back,” Falsetti said, pointing to the back of the skull. “That shows she was lying face up.”

Falsetti, a nationally recognized forensic anthropologist, goes through box after box of bones to identify race, sex and age of what in many cases are victims of violent crimes. And along the way, he often helps police determine the cause of death.

“It really is more a visual process than most people know,” said the 43-year-old director of the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory at the University of Florida. “You look for certain signs that can tell you almost immediately whether it is a man or woman, an adult or a child.”

Popular television shows such as CSI have generated more interest in the field of forensic anthropology, but the real thing is quite different, he said.

“It’s not like on CSI when someone runs in and says, ‘Here’s the DNA,’” Falsetti said. “It’s a slow, methodical process. And DNA, in particular, can take months, sometimes years, to get positive results.”

At the Gainesville lab, Falsetti and his staff of nine anthropology graduate students and doctoral candidates each year examine as many as 180 human remains that are sent from around the state.

Dr. Steven Cogswell, the District 5 medical examiner in Leesburg, said the lab has created a wealth of researchers for authorities.

“Now, thanks to the lab, there is a whole network of medical examiners and forensic anthropologists that we can turn to for help,” he said.

While law enforcement turns to the lab to help identify remains and pinpoint the cause of death, prosecutors also need Falsetti’s expertise in the courtroom.

In December, Falsetti was asked to make a sworn statement in the Michael Collins murder trial. Falsetti and his staff positively identified Ragins’ remains, a finding not questioned in court.

“The defense attorneys didn’t even challenge his findings,” said Bill Gross, the assistant state attorney who prosecuted the case. “That facility is world renowned. We are very fortunate to have them here in Florida.”

The laboratory, a plain, green-tin, nearly windowless building resembling a storage shed, sits in the middle of a former experimental garden. It is surrounded by large oak trees and 15-foot-high bamboo shoots.

Typically, the lab will conduct the meticulous, painstaking process of identifying remains. Falsetti assigns two of his staff members to each case. Each bone — the human body has 206 of them — must be identified with a case number using indelible ink. The skeletal remains are then laid out on a table and the visual examination begins.

It’s simply an elimination process, Falsetti said.

A quick look at the pelvic bone could easily show if it is a man or woman: “Women have wider hips and their pelvic bones are wider.”

Ethnicity or race is classified by three groups — European (Caucasian), African and Asian. Racial characteristics are easily found in the skull, particularly the orbital lobes (eyes) and the nasal area, he said. Age may be determined by the size of the bones or the size of the teeth.

Once Falsetti gets the specifics of the remains narrowed down, the agency that sent in the bones can research its records for a match. Broken bones can be compared or gunshot wounds examined.

Not all the remains can be identified right away.

The identification process, from start to finish, usually takes from 10 days to two weeks, he said. But not all the cases are easy to solve, and that is probably the most frustrating part of his job, Falsetti said.

He pointed to the back of the lab where about 50 boxes of yet unidentified remains were stacked to the ceiling.

“We know so much about the people in those boxes,” he said, “except who they are.”

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services