Unveiling Identities : Analyzing Identification Techniques for Unidentified Human Remains in the Volusia County, Florida Medical Examiner's Office
Madison Worley (Author)
Unidentified human remains are a mass epidemic plaguing almost every part of the world. Throughout history, methods such as fingerprinting, forensic anthropology, forensic odontology, and DNA comparison have been developed to help circumvent this growing mass disaster. This paper reviews the history of common human identification techniques and their applicability, strengths, and barriers within medico-legal death investigations. To date, research has not been conducted to demonstrate which method of identification has been responsible for establishing the most identities. To that point, this paper conducts a case review investigating 472 cases to determine which methodology has been most effective at establishing identity. The cases reviewed were reported to the Volusia County Florida's Medical Examiner's Office as unidentified, and investigation has since unveiled the identity of the decedent. Results of the research revealed fingerprinting as the most common method for establishing an identity, with photo comparison, forensic odontology, and DNA close behind. In the future, expanding the data set would allow a more applicable result to forensic death investigations
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2024
University of Florida, [Gainesville, Fla.], 2024