Death’s acre : inside the legendary forensic lab the Body Farm where the dead do tell tales

319 Pages·2005·3.65 MB·English

by  William M. Bass

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D E AT H ’ S AC R E
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DR. BILL BASS
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JON JEFFERSON
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24 Foreword by PATRICIA CORNWELL
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D E AT H ’ S 2
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A C R E 6
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Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab
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The Body Farm
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Where the Dead Do Tell Tales
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G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Publishers Since 1838
a member of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014

Copyright © 2003 by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson
Foreword copyright © 2003 by Cornwell Enterprises, Inc.
Unless otherwise indicated, all photos
are the copyright of Dr. Bill Bass.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not
be reproduced in any form without permission.
Published simultaneously in Canada

MSR ISBN 0 7865 5449 5
AEB ISBN 0 7865 5450 9

Book design by Kate Nichols

First edition (electronic): February 2005

Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright
infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.

www.penguin.com
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DEDICATED TO 4
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ALL VICTIMS OF MURDER,
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ALL THOSE WHO MOURN THEM, 8
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AND ALL WHO SEEK JUSTICE
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ON THEIR BEHALF. 12
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Contents
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Foreword by Patricia Cornwell ix 18
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1. The Bones of the Eaglet 1
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2. Dead Indians and Dam Engineers 13 21
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3. Bare Bones: Forensics 101 33
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4. The Unsavory Uncle 46
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5. The Case of the Headless Corpse 59 25
6. The Scene of the Crime 72 26
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7. Death’s Acre: The Body Farm Is Born 88
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8. A Bug for Research 98
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9. Progress and Protest 111 30
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10. Fat Sam and Cadillac Joe 121
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11. Grounded in Science 132
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1 12. The Zoo Man Murders 145
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13. Parts Unknown 172
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14. Art Imitates Death 191
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5 15. More Progress, More Protest 200
6 16. The Backyard Barbecue 209
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17. The Not-So-Accidental Tourist 223
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18. The Bloody Beneficiary 237
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10 19. Ashes to Ashes 255
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20. And When I Die 276
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14 Appendix I: Bones of the Human Skeleton 281
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Appendix II: Glossary of Forensic and
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Anthropological Terms 285
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18 Acknowledgments 291
19 Index 295
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The Mayor of the Body Farm
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MOST PEOPLE who attend national or interna- 18
tional forensic science and forensic medical 19
meetings spend more time trying to find which 20
ballroom whatever presentation is in than the presenta- 21
tion itself lasts. Since I have no sense of direction, even in- 22
side hotels, I have missed my share of fifteen-minute slide 23
shows and lectures, and arrived far too late for the hand- 24
outs, too. 25
Missing breakfast meetings is harder to do. They are 26
located in the dining room you eat in three times a day, 27
and last at least an hour, usually beginning at 7:30 A.M. 28
when everyone is tired, perhaps hungover, but enthusias- 29
tic nonetheless about seeing slides of people who were 30
mauled to death by sharks, bears, and alligators, or killed 31
in commercial airline crashes, or perhaps dismembered in 32S
unusual ways for unusual reasons, or committed suicide 33R
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