WEBVTT 00:00:07.962 --> 00:00:11.709 >>[narration] You're watching National Geographic Channel Presents. 00:00:12.828 --> 00:00:18.731 There's a place so ghastly and grotesque that most people recoil in horror, 00:00:18.731 --> 00:00:24.349 but these acres, filled with decaying human flesh actually save lives. 00:00:24.349 --> 00:00:27.780 This is a training ground for forensic specialists, 00:00:27.780 --> 00:00:44.832 solving murders one corpse at a time, unlocking the secrets of the body farm. 00:00:44.832 --> 00:00:46.541 [dog barking] 00:00:46.541 --> 00:00:48.181 >>[Steve Sims] It's pretty dark out here. 00:00:48.181 --> 00:00:50.861 >>[narration] A skeleton uncovered in Memphis. 00:00:50.861 --> 00:00:54.711 >>[Sims] Maybe we can find a grease spot where the actual body is decomposed. 00:00:54.711 --> 00:00:59.624 >>[narration] A family, murdered in Mississippi, 00:00:59.624 --> 00:01:03.541 a body stashed in a Las Vegas locker. 00:01:03.541 --> 00:01:06.707 Real crimes, with real consquences. 00:01:06.707 --> 00:01:09.961 >>[Sims] We got a rib, we got a right scapula. 00:01:09.961 --> 00:01:13.548 >>[narration] What's the connection between these grisly discoveries? 00:01:13.548 --> 00:01:19.207 Real CSI. Scientists, turned crime scene investigators, 00:01:19.207 --> 00:01:23.579 dramatized on a hit TV series, but what do they really do? 00:01:23.579 --> 00:01:26.303 >>[Sims] Did the skull look small to you too? 00:01:26.303 --> 00:01:27.947 >>[woman] Ready? Let's get him to the ground. 00:01:27.947 --> 00:01:30.850 >>[narration] And where do they learn their trade? 00:01:30.850 --> 00:01:35.326 Welcome to ground zero in the field of forensic anthropology, 00:01:35.326 --> 00:01:38.946 a unique outdoor classroom, where the subject is death, 00:01:38.946 --> 00:01:45.574 and more than half the CSI units working in the US today have been trained. 00:01:45.574 --> 00:01:50.939 Founded by Dr. Bill Bass of the University of Tennessee more than 25 years ago, 00:01:50.939 --> 00:01:54.236 research conducted within these few wooded acres in Knoxville 00:01:54.236 --> 00:01:58.474 has redefined the frontiers of forensic science. 00:01:58.474 --> 00:02:00.461 >>[Dr. Bill Bass] The anthropology research facility, 00:02:00.461 --> 00:02:04.714 what most people call the "body farm," is a research facility that I set up 00:02:04.714 --> 00:02:11.868 to begin to look at the decay and the rates of decay in human bodies. 00:02:11.868 --> 00:02:18.017 Like many anthropologists, Bass started out studying ancient bones. 00:02:18.017 --> 00:02:23.758 His expertise eventually led to his helping the police with modern day murder victims. 00:02:23.758 --> 00:02:27.420 >>[Bass] You know, we kill our friends and neighbors by many different means, 00:02:27.420 --> 00:02:31.445 and a lot of people are shot or bludgeoned or stabbed. 00:02:31.445 --> 00:02:39.391 My orientation was what happens to a body when it decays and how long does it take? 00:02:39.391 --> 00:02:42.657 >>[narration] He learned to read bones for signs of trauma, 00:02:42.657 --> 00:02:47.786 knife marks in ribs, unusual fractures in skulls. 00:02:47.786 --> 00:02:51.141 Drawing on unclaimed bodies from county morgues, 00:02:51.141 --> 00:02:56.039 he built an extensive collection of skeletons, 00:02:56.039 --> 00:03:02.139 but early in his career, Bass realized that bones weren't the only source of clues. 00:03:02.139 --> 00:03:06.567 Decomposing flesh had secrets to reveal as well. 00:03:06.567 --> 00:03:11.037 >>[Bass] I got a call one afternoon, it was between Christmas and New Years-- 00:03:11.037 --> 00:03:14.217 it was cold-- from the Williamson County Sherriff's office, 00:03:14.217 --> 00:03:18.605 telling me that they had a grave that had been disturbed, would I come and help? 00:03:18.605 --> 00:03:24.099 So I get over there. This is a family cemetery, back of a home. 00:03:24.099 --> 00:03:27.477 >>[narration] Someone had broken into the earth, near a headstone. 00:03:27.477 --> 00:03:34.862 Just beneath the surface, a headless male corpse. The remains looked fairly fresh. 00:03:34.862 --> 00:03:41.113 Police needed to know how fresh. Had a new body been added to an old grave? 00:03:41.113 --> 00:03:47.298 Dr. Bass agreed the body was in good shape, pink flesh still clung to the bones. 00:03:47.298 --> 00:03:52.308 >>[Bass] I looked at it, I said you have a 24 to 28 year old white male 00:03:52.308 --> 00:03:55.008 who's been dead about a year. 00:03:55.008 --> 00:03:59.688 >>[narration] But something didn't add up. Bass kept digging, 00:03:59.688 --> 00:04:03.628 ultimately identifying the body as Colonel William Shy, 00:04:03.628 --> 00:04:09.285 a rebel officer killed in the Civil War, buried in an air-tight cast iron coffin, 00:04:09.285 --> 00:04:12.315 the corpse had been incredibly well-preserved. 00:04:12.315 --> 00:04:16.443 Bass's original assessment had been off by more than a century. 00:04:16.443 --> 00:04:19.759 >>[Bass] People wonder why I started a body farm. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:23.256 It's because of a couple of experiences like that, 00:04:23.256 --> 00:04:28.303 that make you realize that, you know, you really don't know much about decay rates, 00:04:28.303 --> 00:04:30.788 and we need to do something about that. 00:04:30.788 --> 00:04:34.359 >>[narration] By now, more than four hundred human corpses 00:04:34.359 --> 00:04:37.325 have decomposed at the body farm, 00:04:37.325 --> 00:04:43.419 every phase documented under a wide range of conditions. 00:04:43.419 --> 00:04:47.528 Some critics say letting corpses decay here is irreverent, 00:04:47.528 --> 00:04:52.029 but the scientists insist the dead are held in the highest respect. 00:04:52.029 --> 00:04:54.567 >>[Dr. Murray Marks] It's important to remember that the anthropology department, 00:04:54.567 --> 00:04:56.600 the forensics center doesn't own these bodies. 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:00.662 They're a gift to us to study decomposition, but if the day comes 00:05:00.662 --> 00:05:05.515 and families ever decide that they want them, they belong to them. 00:05:05.515 --> 00:05:08.534 >>[Robin Miller] I always try and take a minute and say thank you, 00:05:08.534 --> 00:05:10.550 because without them, we wouldn't be able to do 00:05:10.550 --> 00:05:13.751 any of this research and this place would not exist. 00:05:13.751 --> 00:05:17.326 >>[narration] There's no doubt that the work done here is incredibly valuable, 00:05:17.326 --> 00:05:20.333 resulting in the convictions of countless violent criminals 00:05:20.333 --> 00:05:23.976 who may have otherwise walked free. 00:05:23.976 --> 00:05:27.032 And those bodies, so generously donated, 00:05:27.032 --> 00:05:32.417 are put to good use in earnest efforts to protect the living. 00:05:32.417 --> 00:05:35.809 >>[Bass] We've looked at decaying bodies in various scenarios: 00:05:35.809 --> 00:05:41.097 clothing, no clothing, sun, shade, buried, not buried, water, trunks of cars. 00:05:41.097 --> 00:05:45.237 We've been able to establish a sequence of events 00:05:45.237 --> 00:05:48.441 that occurs under all of these conditions. 00:05:48.441 --> 00:05:50.907 >>[Robin Miller] You can see all through here, 00:05:50.907 --> 00:05:53.238 where it's all decayed, and we've got some more bugs. 00:05:53.238 --> 00:05:56.445 >>[Marks] Forensic anthropology and forensic entomology 00:05:56.445 --> 00:06:00.015 really take off from right here where we're walking. 00:06:00.015 --> 00:06:06.210 I mean this is, in a sense, ground zero where this particular research takes place. 00:06:06.210 --> 00:06:07.957 >>[Robin Miller] It's interesting, because they say okay... [fades out] 00:06:07.957 --> 00:06:12.220 >>[narration] Dr. Murray Marks is one of the thousands who have studied at the facility. 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:14.949 Now he's on the faculty, guiding the research 00:06:14.949 --> 00:06:18.504 of a new generation of scientists. 00:06:18.504 --> 00:06:24.080 >>[Dr. Murray Marks] When I see remains like this, I'm always reminded that this 00:06:24.080 --> 00:06:27.852 is such a unique laboratory, because where else can we study 00:06:27.852 --> 00:06:31.518 this whole process of decomposition? 00:06:31.518 --> 00:06:36.035 We're there to speak for the victim, for the people that don't have a voice. 00:06:36.035 --> 00:06:39.916 By doing that, we get ever closer to the truth, 00:06:39.916 --> 00:06:45.881 and ever closer to making someone pay for their crime. 00:06:45.881 --> 00:06:48.067 >>[narration] The body farm's many successes has 00:06:48.067 --> 00:06:51.562 spread the facility's influence far and wide. 00:06:51.562 --> 00:06:54.850 A new program called the National Forensic Academy 00:06:54.850 --> 00:06:58.296 allows police and lab technicians from throughout the United States 00:06:58.296 --> 00:07:02.167 to hone their skills amid a cornucopia of fresh bodies, 00:07:02.167 --> 00:07:06.812 decomposing corpses, and overgrown skeletons. 00:07:06.812 --> 00:07:09.894 >>[Dr. Lee Jantz] If at any time you have a problem, I strongly recommend 00:07:09.894 --> 00:07:13.669 you turn around and take a deep breath. Okay? 00:07:13.669 --> 00:07:17.133 It is not a pleasant thing. It is something that you have to face 00:07:17.133 --> 00:07:20.353 at some point in your careers. 00:07:20.353 --> 00:07:23.895 >>[narration] In a wooded corner of the facility, the scientists have scattered 00:07:23.895 --> 00:07:28.091 a mixture of human bones, animal bones, bullet casings, 00:07:28.091 --> 00:07:30.226 and other simulated evidence. 00:07:30.226 --> 00:07:34.421 Stained by time, soil, and weather, and hidden by leaves, 00:07:34.421 --> 00:07:37.080 the scattered bones are difficult to find, 00:07:37.080 --> 00:07:41.859 just as they would be at an actual crime scene. 00:07:41.859 --> 00:07:47.375 Sorting through human remains can be an unsettling task, even for professionals. 00:07:47.375 --> 00:07:51.910 >>[Robin Miller] Sometimes that whiff is just too much. 00:07:51.910 --> 00:07:54.687 >>[narration] Next: how to find a murder victim when the body 00:07:54.687 --> 00:07:58.026 is already buried six feet under. 00:07:58.026 --> 00:08:02.305 National Geographic Channel Presents will be right back. 00:08:02.305 --> 00:08:10.272 Now, back to National Geographic Channel Presents. 00:08:10.272 --> 00:08:15.308 The secrets of the body farm aren't reserved solely for human students. 00:08:15.308 --> 00:08:18.308 Most cadaver dogs are trained to find corpses 00:08:18.308 --> 00:08:23.524 with synthetic samples that smell like decay. 00:08:23.524 --> 00:08:26.719 Here, dogs are able to practice on multiple human bodies, 00:08:26.719 --> 00:08:29.668 in varying states of decomposition. 00:08:29.668 --> 00:08:33.054 >>[dog handler] What you got? You find something? 00:08:33.054 --> 00:08:36.869 >>[narration] They're taught to lie down or bark when they find human remains. 00:08:36.869 --> 00:08:39.740 >>[dog handler] Oh, good girl. What you got? Show me. 00:08:39.740 --> 00:08:45.040 Good girl. Ready? Want to find some more? 00:08:45.040 --> 00:08:48.268 >>[narration] Finding corpses on the surface is just a warm-up. 00:08:48.268 --> 00:08:49.257 >>[dog handler] Out here. 00:08:49.257 --> 00:08:56.116 >>[narration] The dogs move on to a series of concrete slabs for the graduate course. 00:08:56.116 --> 00:09:02.624 Under the yellow arrows, a researcher has buried corpses and other debris. 00:09:02.624 --> 00:09:04.339 [dog barks] 00:09:04.339 --> 00:09:05.306 >>[dog handler] Very good! 00:09:05.306 --> 00:09:07.906 >>[narration] Success is rewarded immediately, to reinforce 00:09:07.906 --> 00:09:14.953 every dog's complete attention to the task. 00:09:14.953 --> 00:09:20.249 Jane Survey is in the early stages of training her dog to indicate a discovery. 00:09:20.249 --> 00:09:23.500 >>[Jane Survey] While there's such overwhelming scents, 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:28.216 we want them to concentrate and indicate on every one they find. 00:09:28.216 --> 00:09:32.384 What can happen, especially in early stages of training in something like this, 00:09:32.384 --> 00:09:34.666 is that they would go from one source, to another source, 00:09:34.666 --> 00:09:36.934 to another source without indicating. 00:09:36.934 --> 00:09:40.834 This is a great opportunity because it tells them every single one, 00:09:40.834 --> 00:09:43.757 indicate immediately, then go on to the next. 00:09:43.757 --> 00:09:46.549 >>[to dog] You did very good, you're a smart dog! 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:49.751 Find it. 00:09:49.751 --> 00:09:51.438 [dog barks] 00:09:51.438 --> 00:09:53.820 If you saw her head-- Flora, show me. 00:09:53.820 --> 00:09:57.580 [dog barks] No, you show me. Yes, good dog! 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:01.115 When she got over here, her breathing changes, 00:10:01.115 --> 00:10:04.406 and if you watch them very closely you can tell that. 00:10:04.406 --> 00:10:07.935 It's almost like they inhale and then they stop breathing, 00:10:07.935 --> 00:10:10.778 because they're processing the scent. 00:10:10.778 --> 00:10:13.584 Good dog! Are you the smartest girl? 00:10:13.584 --> 00:10:18.338 >>[narration] Even the best cadaver dogs can have a difficult time locating some corpses. 00:10:18.338 --> 00:10:22.214 The body farm is the perfect lab for developing new technologies 00:10:22.214 --> 00:10:24.917 that can help locate human remains. 00:10:24.917 --> 00:10:27.584 >>[Bass] We have a problem in the United States of the husband and wife, 00:10:27.584 --> 00:10:30.604 one of them gets mad, kills the other one, 00:10:30.604 --> 00:10:32.872 they take them out in the backyard and bury them. 00:10:32.872 --> 00:10:37.768 Then they pour a concrete slab over them and it's hard to find. 00:10:37.768 --> 00:10:44.775 >>[narration] This is an experimental ground-penetrating radar system, GPRS. 00:10:44.775 --> 00:10:48.423 On loan from the US government, it's one of only two units 00:10:48.423 --> 00:10:52.453 of this GPR model in the world. 00:10:52.453 --> 00:10:57.610 It's been developed to locate dinosaur bones, find unexploded artillery shells, 00:10:57.610 --> 00:11:02.603 and reveal hidden bodies. 00:11:02.603 --> 00:11:06.127 The system is about the size and weight of a weedwhacker, 00:11:06.127 --> 00:11:11.581 but it's packed with powerful electronics. 00:11:11.581 --> 00:11:15.640 Beneath these concrete paths at the anthropology research facility, 00:11:15.640 --> 00:11:19.792 lie seven human bodies. 00:11:19.792 --> 00:11:26.069 Michelle Miller buried the bodies at depths ranging from one foot to six feet. 00:11:26.069 --> 00:11:31.457 What would a body look like at each depth? Could the radar see through cement? 00:11:31.457 --> 00:11:36.678 And would a body under cement look different from a body under dirt? 00:11:36.678 --> 00:11:40.801 >>[Michelle Miller] I want to see the difference between cement and actual-- just the clay. 00:11:40.801 --> 00:11:42.462 The head of one individual is right here, 00:11:42.462 --> 00:11:44.398 and the head of the other individual is right there, 00:11:44.398 --> 00:11:47.741 and hopefully I'll be able to see the definite difference of the GPR 00:11:47.741 --> 00:11:51.024 shooting through the cement versus the non cement. 00:11:51.024 --> 00:11:54.741 >>[narration] Miller didn't stop there, she added other variables. 00:11:54.741 --> 00:12:00.518 Could the system distinguish between a fresh corpse and a bare skeleton? 00:12:00.518 --> 00:12:05.099 Or between a body and rubble? 00:12:05.099 --> 00:12:07.376 >>[Michelle Miller] I want to see if it could really differentiate, you know, 00:12:07.376 --> 00:12:15.796 between a definite individual and not. 00:12:15.796 --> 00:12:18.625 What I did is I buried one individual on this side of the pad. 00:12:18.625 --> 00:12:20.675 On the other side of the pad, I actually made a mock-up. 00:12:20.675 --> 00:12:25.440 I used plastic buckets, metal buckets, two-by-fours, and metal tubing, 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:30.153 and actually built a body. 00:12:30.153 --> 00:12:33.970 >>[Bass] What we're trying to do is to match a situation like you're getting 00:12:33.970 --> 00:12:38.824 in terrorist attacks now, where you get not only the people being blown up, 00:12:38.824 --> 00:12:44.737 but you get all of the building or the surroundings filled in with them. 00:12:44.737 --> 00:12:49.150 Can you distinguish a body under all of that, what you may call "noise," 00:12:49.150 --> 00:12:53.868 if you want to say that, or something is confusing the picture. 00:12:53.868 --> 00:12:56.878 >>[narration] The system's field display shows little detail, 00:12:56.878 --> 00:13:01.728 just a series of swirls and squiggles, representing different densities. 00:13:01.728 --> 00:13:08.179 Miller wants to know if those patterns can be read as bodies. 00:13:08.179 --> 00:13:12.763 Back at the lab, the data is downloaded into a more sophisticated computer 00:13:12.763 --> 00:13:15.411 to enhance the display. 00:13:15.411 --> 00:13:19.047 The display shows a cross-section cutaway of the earth. 00:13:19.047 --> 00:13:22.215 A red band across the top shows the concrete, 00:13:22.215 --> 00:13:27.139 dense, but transparent as a windowpane to the GPRS. 00:13:27.139 --> 00:13:32.585 Beneath that, disturbed soil, which yields uniform signals of green. 00:13:32.585 --> 00:13:36.304 Then, two feet down, the signals go crazy, 00:13:36.304 --> 00:13:41.413 matching the size and shape of the body hidden there. 00:13:41.413 --> 00:13:45.402 Once a body's been found, the detective work truly begins. 00:13:45.402 --> 00:13:49.893 The one piece of evidence everyone wants? Time since death. 00:13:49.893 --> 00:13:53.319 >>[Bass] The police don't ask you "Who is that?" 00:13:53.319 --> 00:13:55.889 They ask you "How long have they been there?" 00:13:55.889 --> 00:13:58.116 Now I didn't have any experience with maggots, 00:13:58.116 --> 00:14:00.992 so I looked in the literature, and there was very little in the literature. 00:14:00.992 --> 00:14:04.319 So I decided this was an area that we needed to do research on. 00:14:04.319 --> 00:14:11.877 We need to find out what happens in the decay stages of human individuals. 00:14:11.877 --> 00:14:15.163 >>[narration] In the 1980s, Bass and a graduate student began 00:14:15.163 --> 00:14:20.091 charting the order and the timing of insect activity in corpses. 00:14:20.091 --> 00:14:23.672 Most numerous were blow flies. 00:14:23.672 --> 00:14:28.285 Iridescent flies that could sniff out a body within seconds. 00:14:28.285 --> 00:14:32.051 Each female blow fly laid eggs by the hundreds, 00:14:32.051 --> 00:14:37.358 usually in natural body openings or bloody wounds. 00:14:37.358 --> 00:14:41.764 In summertime, the eggs could hatch in just two hours, 00:14:41.764 --> 00:14:49.004 the resulting larvae, maggots soon formed a writhing, flesh-eating mass. 00:14:49.004 --> 00:14:54.746 The maggots were nourished to maturity by the proteins and lipids in the flesh. 00:14:54.746 --> 00:15:01.260 Some two weeks later, they formed pupa casings, or cocoons. 00:15:01.260 --> 00:15:05.428 A few days later, a new generation of adult flies emerged 00:15:05.428 --> 00:15:10.465 from those pupa casings, and the cycle began anew. 00:15:10.465 --> 00:15:14.513 Other insects joined the post-mortem food chain. 00:15:14.513 --> 00:15:23.940 Yellow jackets fed on blow fly eggs, and beetles nibbled cartilage off bones. 00:15:23.940 --> 00:15:29.861 But the key players were blow flies and their maggots. 00:15:29.861 --> 00:15:33.580 >>[Neal Haskell] Then we can go to the proper charts... [fades out] 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:38.239 >>[narration] The studies provided crucial data to scientists like Neal Haskell, 00:15:38.239 --> 00:15:41.971 a forensic entomologist, who teaches at St. Joseph's College in Indiana. 00:15:41.971 --> 00:15:46.010 He also testifies in murder trials. 00:15:46.010 --> 00:15:49.926 Coming up: a brutal and mysterious murder of a young family. 00:15:49.926 --> 00:15:52.798 Could insect activity crack the case? 00:15:52.798 --> 00:15:57.710 Find out when Secrets of the Body Farm continues. 00:15:57.710 --> 00:16:06.240 You're watching National Geographic Channel Presents. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:10.045 The expert testimony of forensic entomologist Neal Haskell, 00:16:10.045 --> 00:16:13.857 trained at the body farm, proved crucial as a grisly case 00:16:13.857 --> 00:16:17.493 unfolded in Las Vegas, Nevada. 00:16:17.493 --> 00:16:24.476 People renting storage space in a mini warehouse had noticed a nasty smell. 00:16:24.476 --> 00:16:26.908 >>[Neal Haskell] Adjacent neighbors that had their storage in there, 00:16:26.908 --> 00:16:30.991 they're complaining to the management, "Something really stinks around here, 00:16:30.991 --> 00:16:35.008 and it's time to get to the bottom of it." Well, they got a warrant to investigate, 00:16:35.008 --> 00:16:39.509 and then opened the storage unit up, found the garbage can in there, 00:16:39.509 --> 00:16:48.414 popped it open, and here is an absolutely disgustingly decomposing individual. 00:16:48.414 --> 00:16:53.070 >>[narration] The body, mostly liquified, was an elderly woman. 00:16:53.070 --> 00:16:57.042 Her daughter had rented the storage unit two years before. 00:16:57.042 --> 00:17:01.499 The daughter told police her mother had died unexpectedly. 00:17:01.499 --> 00:17:07.717 Grief-stricken, she stored the body while pondering funeral arrangements. 00:17:07.717 --> 00:17:11.558 But Haskell learned a different story from the bugs, 00:17:11.558 --> 00:17:15.557 specifically from the coffin flies. 00:17:15.557 --> 00:17:21.462 They're tiny, about the size of gnats, but they boldly go where other flies can't: 00:17:21.462 --> 00:17:25.624 deep underground. 00:17:25.624 --> 00:17:28.426 It's a highly-evolved survival strategy. 00:17:28.426 --> 00:17:32.946 Underground, they have a feast to themselves. 00:17:32.946 --> 00:17:38.017 >>[Haskell] Coffin Flies got their name by their very tenacious ability to identify 00:17:38.017 --> 00:17:41.658 where humans were buried in the wooden coffins. 00:17:41.658 --> 00:17:44.523 They can burrow up to four to five feet in the soil, 00:17:44.523 --> 00:17:51.762 access the coffins, and then lay their eggs, and they do their lifecycle there. 00:17:51.762 --> 00:17:56.718 >>[narration] It didn't surprise Haskell to find coffin flies in the container. 00:17:56.718 --> 00:18:03.091 What surprised him was not finding blow flies, death's quickest opportunists. 00:18:03.091 --> 00:18:06.412 >>[Haskell] Blow flies can come in within the first seconds to minutes, 00:18:06.412 --> 00:18:08.217 and if the temperatures are warm enough, 00:18:08.217 --> 00:18:12.283 you'll see them laying eggs within the first hour. 00:18:12.283 --> 00:18:14.763 >>[narration] But Haskell found no traces of blow flies. 00:18:14.763 --> 00:18:22.864 No flies, no eggs, no blow fly maggots. The blow flies hadn't gotten to the body. 00:18:22.864 --> 00:18:28.828 Haskell wondered why. Then it hit him: there wasn't time. 00:18:28.828 --> 00:18:32.144 >>[Haskell] Mom wasn't left laying around for a number of days. 00:18:32.144 --> 00:18:36.597 Mom was processed very, very quickly, placed in that garbage can, 00:18:36.597 --> 00:18:40.115 and put in that storage area. 00:18:40.115 --> 00:18:44.016 >>[narration] The evidence convinced the jury that the defendant killed her mother 00:18:44.016 --> 00:18:52.759 and moved swiftly to hide the body. The sentence: life in prison, no parole. 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:57.605 Since its inception, the body farm has conclusively connected insect activity 00:18:57.605 --> 00:19:01.117 with body decomposition, allowing prosecutors 00:19:01.117 --> 00:19:05.730 to bring countless criminals to justice. 00:19:05.730 --> 00:19:09.250 Just as an archaeologist can tell how long ago a civilization ended 00:19:09.250 --> 00:19:14.598 by sifting through generations of rubble, a forensic entomologist can estimate 00:19:14.598 --> 00:19:20.551 how long ago a life ended by combing through generations of insects. 00:19:20.551 --> 00:19:25.197 >>[Bass] One of the ways of determining the length of time is to gather the maggots. 00:19:25.197 --> 00:19:31.121 You want to gather the largest maggots, because that indicates the first hatch, 00:19:31.121 --> 00:19:37.778 and it would be a better indication of how long that individual has been dead. 00:19:37.778 --> 00:19:43.121 Up to about 14 to 21 days, depending on the temperature and environmental 00:19:43.121 --> 00:19:46.861 situation in which the death occurred. 00:19:46.861 --> 00:19:50.199 >>[narration] Recently, Mississippi prosecutors asked Dr. Bass 00:19:50.199 --> 00:19:57.911 to help pinpoint time since death in a brutal murder case. 00:19:57.911 --> 00:20:03.787 Someone had murdered a young family, a husband, wife, and their young daughter. 00:20:03.787 --> 00:20:06.310 The chief suspect, a relative of the victims, 00:20:06.310 --> 00:20:11.905 held a quarter million dollar life insurance policy on the child. 00:20:11.905 --> 00:20:19.645 But Bass was told the man had an alibi for the two weeks before the bodies were found. 00:20:19.645 --> 00:20:24.191 The suspect also claimed that he tried to visit the family twice, 00:20:24.191 --> 00:20:28.588 once in mid-November, and again in late-November. 00:20:28.588 --> 00:20:31.340 So he admitted to being at the crime scene, 00:20:31.340 --> 00:20:35.525 but he claimed on each occasion, no one was home. 00:20:35.525 --> 00:20:39.175 Pinpointing the time since death was crucial. 00:20:39.175 --> 00:20:41.736 >>[Bass] I asked them to send me pictures of the crime scene, 00:20:41.736 --> 00:20:44.105 to send me photographs of the bodies. 00:20:44.105 --> 00:20:49.893 >>[narration] Bass looked for signs of insect activity, taking into account 00:20:49.893 --> 00:20:54.781 the fact that the bodies were indoors, not outside. 00:20:54.781 --> 00:20:57.009 >>[Bass] The blow flies are outside of the house, 00:20:57.009 --> 00:21:00.465 it takes them a few days to realize, "Hey, there's a dead body or bodies 00:21:00.465 --> 00:21:04.757 in that house. How can I get in there?" you see. 00:21:04.757 --> 00:21:08.951 >>[narration] Finally, Bass spotted a key piece of photographic evidence, 00:21:08.951 --> 00:21:13.907 the discarded shells that maggots leave behind as they turn into flies. 00:21:13.907 --> 00:21:18.862 These pupa casings proved that once the flies finally reached the murder victims, 00:21:18.862 --> 00:21:25.494 the insects underwent a complete 14 day lifecycle and then some. 00:21:25.494 --> 00:21:29.755 Bass's report concluded that the family was killed in November, 00:21:29.755 --> 00:21:35.669 the date matching one of the defendant's admitted visits to the cabin. 00:21:35.669 --> 00:21:42.067 The blow flies helped prove opportunity, the insurance policy provided the motive. 00:21:42.067 --> 00:21:45.599 The suspect was convicted of murder. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:52.072 >>[Bass] It does make you feel good that you are able to look at the scientific data, 00:21:52.072 --> 00:21:55.050 which is there, and that's what I did. I didn't know any of the people 00:21:55.050 --> 00:21:59.757 involved in this at all, and from the scientific data, able to make 00:21:59.757 --> 00:22:09.981 an analysis that corresponds exactly to the events that occurred in this case. 00:22:09.981 --> 00:22:14.514 >>[narration] Bass's work proved that in cases where corpses were decomposed, 00:22:14.514 --> 00:22:18.452 forensic anthropologists could make an important contribution 00:22:18.452 --> 00:22:21.153 to a murder investigation. 00:22:21.153 --> 00:22:25.457 Still to come: when the blood's been washed away and evidence is scarce, 00:22:25.457 --> 00:22:30.857 one investigator finds the answer is in the bones. 00:22:30.857 --> 00:22:37.260 National Geographic Channel Presents now continues. 00:22:37.260 --> 00:22:42.695 The chronology of decomposing flesh provides CSI units with useful evidence, 00:22:42.695 --> 00:22:46.978 but Steve Sims, one of the body farm's most renowned graduates, 00:22:46.978 --> 00:22:52.591 focuses on what's left behind after the bugs have picked the bones clean. 00:22:52.591 --> 00:22:56.995 >>[Sims] Here, we do find a scatter five feet from somebody's foundation of their house, 00:22:56.995 --> 00:23:00.363 and I found the thoracic vertebrae, which are human. 00:23:00.363 --> 00:23:03.296 Over here there's a skull, and over here is an arm. 00:23:03.296 --> 00:23:07.994 Already, dogs have destroyed a lot of the ends of the bones. 00:23:07.994 --> 00:23:13.089 >>[narration] Originally, Sims planned for a career in archaeology. 00:23:13.089 --> 00:23:18.860 After one class at the forensic facility, he left archaeology in the dust. 00:23:18.860 --> 00:23:25.150 >>[Sims] This is the right tenth rib. Right here, and right here. 00:23:25.150 --> 00:23:30.894 You see some trauma. Indicative of shot trauma or a knife stab wound. 00:23:30.894 --> 00:23:41.821 >>[narration] Today, he's taking bone trauma analysis to a new level. 00:23:41.821 --> 00:23:46.521 >>[Bass] One of the ways of killing an individual and trying to 00:23:46.521 --> 00:23:53.300 mask the identity of that individual is to saw the body up. 00:23:53.300 --> 00:23:58.531 Saw the arms off, saw the head off. 00:23:58.531 --> 00:24:01.422 >>[narration] Sims's speciality is reading signatures, 00:24:01.422 --> 00:24:04.599 the tell-tale signs that saws leave behind 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:07.674 when a killer cuts up a corpse. 00:24:07.674 --> 00:24:11.569 >>[Sims] I've seen everything used from knives to axes to 00:24:11.569 --> 00:24:14.155 serrated knives being used as a saw. 00:24:14.155 --> 00:24:15.571 I've seen power tools used. 00:24:15.571 --> 00:24:18.885 I've seen a bandsaw to cut up a body. 00:24:18.885 --> 00:24:22.947 I've seen circular saws used numerous times. 00:24:22.947 --> 00:24:26.050 >>[narration] Bone is an engineering marvel. 00:24:26.050 --> 00:24:30.495 It's a composite material, a flexible matrix of collogen fibers 00:24:30.495 --> 00:24:35.664 infused with calcium phosphate for stiffness and load-bearing. 00:24:35.664 --> 00:24:41.530 It's like steel-reinforced concrete, but lighter and stronger. 00:24:41.530 --> 00:24:46.557 It's a durable material, so the marks a saw leaves as it cuts up a body 00:24:46.557 --> 00:24:49.779 can endure for years. 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:53.721 Sims took up his grisly specialty after a detective asked him to 00:24:53.721 --> 00:24:57.493 identify a notch in a bone. 00:24:57.493 --> 00:24:59.894 >>[Sims] I said "It's a saw mark on an arm bone." 00:24:59.894 --> 00:25:04.373 And when I said, "It's a saw mark," I thought I was proud to give him some information. 00:25:04.373 --> 00:25:07.712 Well, he looked at me, he said, "But, I already know it's a saw mark." 00:25:07.712 --> 00:25:10.164 "You're the bone doc, what kinda saw is this?" 00:25:10.164 --> 00:25:12.226 And I didn't know. 00:25:12.226 --> 00:25:14.294 >>[narration] Sims needed to know. 00:25:14.294 --> 00:25:18.121 It was his third dismemberment case in just one month. 00:25:20.987 --> 00:25:25.007 He set out to fill this gruesome gap in forensic knowledge. 00:25:26.179 --> 00:25:29.400 It would take him 15 years of research. 00:25:30.313 --> 00:25:34.392 To the naked eye, all sawmarks look alike. 00:25:35.987 --> 00:25:37.981 [beeping, then camera flash sound] 00:25:38.707 --> 00:25:41.017 >>[Sims] It turns out that's not true. 00:25:41.017 --> 00:25:45.100 Every tooth leaves another mark, and the reciprocating action 00:25:45.100 --> 00:25:48.576 of these teeth, or continuous motion of these teeth 00:25:48.576 --> 00:25:51.944 leaves lots of indicators of toolmarks, 00:25:51.944 --> 00:25:55.985 lots of characteristics, and with enough characteristics, many times I can get, 00:25:55.985 --> 00:26:00.590 for example, the number of teeth per inch in a tool used to dimember a body. 00:26:01.296 --> 00:26:06.180 >>[narration] Now Sims can read a sawmark the way a handwritting expert can dissect a signature. 00:26:08.576 --> 00:26:13.053 He can even spot false starts, or skips in the stroke. 00:26:15.560 --> 00:26:20.785 And he can tell police what kind of saw to search for in a dismemberment case. 00:26:21.222 --> 00:26:24.051 You want to know more than "a saw," you want to know what kind of saw, 00:26:24.051 --> 00:26:26.650 how wide that saw is, how wide the blade is, 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:30.047 how wide the tooth is, the minimum kerf width, 00:26:30.047 --> 00:26:35.842 the number of teeth per inch, and how that saw was used to dismember a victim. 00:26:35.842 --> 00:26:40.612 All saws look similar or look identical, they really aren't. 00:26:41.245 --> 00:26:46.486 >>[narration] A killer may think that washing blood off a blade is enough to cover his tracks. 00:26:46.486 --> 00:26:49.057 But, not if Sims is on the case. 00:26:49.711 --> 00:26:52.532 >>[Bass] If you listed five people in the world who were 00:26:52.532 --> 00:26:56.027 the world leaders in this, Steve would be one of those five. 00:26:56.664 --> 00:26:59.759 >>[narration] Like fingerprints, footprints, and tire tracks, 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:05.149 tool marks can crack a case, even years after the crime. 00:27:06.089 --> 00:27:08.692 >>[Sims] Bone trauma is a moment frozen in time. 00:27:08.692 --> 00:27:12.460 All the soft tissues, and so on, disappear or change 00:27:12.460 --> 00:27:14.324 or deterioriate with time. 00:27:14.324 --> 00:27:16.857 Bone doesn't change or deterioriate, we just clean it up. 00:27:16.857 --> 00:27:20.243 It's there, it's good evidence, it's evidence you can take to court. 00:27:22.059 --> 00:27:25.667 >>[narration] The process of normal body decomposition and bone trauma 00:27:25.667 --> 00:27:28.820 are well-documented at the body farm. 00:27:29.981 --> 00:27:34.356 But, some killers try to cover their tracks with fire. 00:27:36.166 --> 00:27:40.500 Not long ago, burned bones marked a dead end. 00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:44.883 Fingerprints, faces, wounds: all gone, burned away. 00:27:48.257 --> 00:27:53.773 But, the Tennessee scientists were confident other evidence could be sifted from the ashes. 00:27:54.122 --> 00:28:00.166 >>[Bass] Okay, I bet that fits right there. >>[narration] To know what to look for though, 00:28:00.166 --> 00:28:06.132 they'd have to learn precisely what happens when fire meets human flesh and bone. 00:28:23.924 --> 00:28:26.356 >>[Elaine Pope] What I'm about to do is, 00:28:26.356 --> 00:28:29.641 I'm going to build several little contained systems. 00:28:29.641 --> 00:28:32.472 Right now I'm just testing for heat. 00:28:32.820 --> 00:28:36.844 >>[narration] Elaine Pope, a PhD student, got these body parts from an 00:28:36.844 --> 00:28:42.961 anatomical laboratory to which corpses had been willed or donated for medical research. 00:28:44.577 --> 00:28:48.627 Before these limbs were provided to her, they were used by medical students 00:28:48.627 --> 00:28:53.632 to practice surgical procedures. She starts with an arm. 00:28:54.403 --> 00:28:58.745 >>[Pope] And I'm gonna photograph it before I place it in the fire. 00:29:01.220 --> 00:29:05.005 I'm gonna do each element that way and document what it looks like before, 00:29:05.005 --> 00:29:08.771 including the size, shape, and position of it. 00:29:09.177 --> 00:29:12.858 >>[narration] During daylight, smoke obscures the details, 00:29:12.858 --> 00:29:16.520 not so much from the eyes, as from the camera lens. 00:29:16.520 --> 00:29:20.201 So, Pope experiments and photographs at night. 00:29:24.150 --> 00:29:28.779 As the arm heats, it actually begins to move. 00:29:28.779 --> 00:29:33.576 >>[Pope] What I want to do is see how the arm draws up 00:29:33.576 --> 00:29:36.767 and how it reacts to heat. When the arms react to heat 00:29:36.767 --> 00:29:40.613 they go into the pugilistic posture, which is where the muscles of the arm, 00:29:40.613 --> 00:29:44.013 the flexors, pull the arm into flexion like this. 00:29:44.013 --> 00:29:48.003 And so I want to observe that process as it occurs. 00:29:48.003 --> 00:29:52.408 >>[narration] As muscles burn, their fibers shrivel, and contract. 00:29:52.408 --> 00:29:58.708 The stronger muscles (usually the flexors) overpower the weaker ones (the extensors). 00:29:59.027 --> 00:30:04.380 In fact, the arms flexing is so consistent that if a body is found with the arms 00:30:04.380 --> 00:30:08.345 extended, it could be a sign of foul play. 00:30:10.302 --> 00:30:15.378 >>[Sims] The body will assume that pugilistic pose at all costs, unless stopped from doing it. 00:30:15.621 --> 00:30:18.735 The muscles are very strong and it pulls you into that pose. 00:30:18.735 --> 00:30:23.039 So, if I see something that goes against this post, I'm suspicious. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.404 >>[Pope] If the arm was outstretched, and it wasn't able to assume a 00:30:25.404 --> 00:30:29.694 pugilistic posture with the elbow, that would possibly indicate that 00:30:29.694 --> 00:30:34.875 the arms had been tied, even if there's an absence of the actual material 00:30:34.875 --> 00:30:38.108 (they could have used string or rope which would have burned away). 00:30:38.108 --> 00:30:41.681 >>[narration] But, is that movement the same in an accidental house fire, 00:30:41.681 --> 00:30:47.003 as it is in an intentional fire made hotter by accelerants like gasoline? 00:30:49.459 --> 00:30:52.412 >>[Pope] I'm gonna do the slow burn so that we can watch the gradual 00:30:52.412 --> 00:30:59.733 progression of it, and then the other arm, I'm gonna do in a really fast, hot, intense fire. 00:31:01.873 --> 00:31:04.661 >>[narration] And will the arm hold its position, 00:31:04.661 --> 00:31:08.314 even after all organic matter has burned away? 00:31:12.137 --> 00:31:15.855 >>[Pope] As you can see, the arm has reacted as we expected. 00:31:15.855 --> 00:31:19.365 It drew into the pugilistic posture with this being the elbow here, 00:31:19.365 --> 00:31:21.135 and this being the wrist here, 00:31:21.135 --> 00:31:22.955 and these being the hands. 00:31:27.264 --> 00:31:32.552 >>[narration] The main torso, despite the separation of its limbs will also yield clues. 00:31:33.843 --> 00:31:39.316 Does a dismembered body still seek the pugilistic posture? 00:31:40.786 --> 00:31:43.107 >>[Pope] I'm mainly interested in this one 00:31:43.107 --> 00:31:49.056 because it still has the portion of the humerus and the femur attached. 00:31:49.056 --> 00:31:52.798 And so, I'm wanting to see if it reacts the same way as if the arm 00:31:52.798 --> 00:31:58.660 were still attached, to see if it's gonna be drawn up, and if the femur gets kinda drawn up. 00:32:01.074 --> 00:32:06.069 >>[narration] Even stumps of limbs still try to assume a fighting stance. 00:32:07.372 --> 00:32:09.954 >>[Pope] We're trying to establish normal patterns of burning. 00:32:09.954 --> 00:32:13.225 That way we can look for unusual cases. 00:32:13.225 --> 00:32:19.030 If a burn pattern is disrupted, it could be indicative of preexisting trauma or dismemberment. 00:32:22.530 --> 00:32:27.937 >>[narration] Some researchers, including Pope, have done studies with animal limbs. 00:32:27.937 --> 00:32:33.635 But when a murder case hangs in the balance, there's no substitute for the real thing. 00:32:33.888 --> 00:32:36.223 >>[Pope] The reason why we use human material 00:32:36.223 --> 00:32:40.260 is to accurately simulate house fires and vehicular fires. 00:32:40.260 --> 00:32:44.049 For one thing, it stands up, it's more credible in court, 00:32:44.049 --> 00:32:46.918 to say, "Yes, we've tested this and we know exactly what happens." 00:32:46.918 --> 00:32:50.569 It helps with the medical examiner, their testimony. 00:32:51.571 --> 00:32:54.375 >>[narration] There are many variables to explore. 00:32:54.375 --> 00:32:57.927 Can decomposing muscles still flex an arm? 00:32:58.585 --> 00:33:01.587 At what temperature does flesh ignite? 00:33:03.191 --> 00:33:08.505 After burning the specimens, Pope gathers up the charred bones, 00:33:08.505 --> 00:33:11.920 cleans them, and studies the patterns. 00:33:12.546 --> 00:33:15.649 She notes color changes in transition zones 00:33:15.649 --> 00:33:19.693 where protected, unburned bones give way to charred material. 00:33:22.384 --> 00:33:26.865 To fully grasp the patterns, she makes detailed drawings. 00:33:27.884 --> 00:33:30.983 One clear difference is fracture patterns, 00:33:30.983 --> 00:33:38.038 another is calcination: the transformation of dense bone into a light, chalky material. 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:42.492 >>[Pope] I burned these two different tibia 00:33:42.492 --> 00:33:46.102 at different temperatures, and different times and durations. 00:33:46.102 --> 00:33:49.967 This one is more calcine, it's burned to a further extent. 00:33:49.967 --> 00:33:53.383 And you can see it has a higher frequency of fracture patterns. 00:33:53.383 --> 00:33:57.638 Whereas, this one was burned to a lower temperature and less amount of time, 00:33:57.638 --> 00:34:01.789 and it took on more of the char of the blackness. 00:34:03.182 --> 00:34:05.696 >>[narration] Do fracture patterns change when 00:34:05.696 --> 00:34:09.781 a stream of cold water from a fire hose hits hot bone? 00:34:10.562 --> 00:34:14.738 What patterns might be left when accelerants are used to heat up a fire 00:34:14.738 --> 00:34:17.347 and hide evidence of murder? 00:34:17.999 --> 00:34:21.847 There is so much to be learned from bone, even after fire, 00:34:21.847 --> 00:34:27.066 but only time and research witll tell just how much evidence can survive. 00:34:30.795 --> 00:34:34.606 In the body farm's quest to identify unkown crime victims, 00:34:34.606 --> 00:34:38.698 new technologies meet old-fashioned techniques head-on. 00:34:44.612 --> 00:34:48.088 Joanna Hughes is a forensic sculptor, 00:34:48.088 --> 00:34:53.230 putting clay on skulls, she reconstructs human faces. 00:34:53.579 --> 00:34:59.349 Hughes hopes her work can someday help I.D. a murder victim and catch a killer. 00:35:01.811 --> 00:35:05.711 The technique employed by Hughes is not only time-consuming, 00:35:05.711 --> 00:35:10.739 but it's ultimate success hinges on a high degree of artisic talent. 00:35:11.507 --> 00:35:14.421 >>[Joanna Hughes] If you are off by even a millimeter, 00:35:14.421 --> 00:35:20.101 then you run the risk of having an incorrect, or an unidentified, individual. 00:35:20.101 --> 00:35:25.857 And for every unidentified individual, there is a criminal perpetrator, murderer, 00:35:25.857 --> 00:35:28.729 walking the streets. 00:35:31.968 --> 00:35:36.435 >>[Bass] To do a good facial reconstruction of an individual, 00:35:36.435 --> 00:35:39.771 you have to have a lot of artistic ability. 00:35:39.771 --> 00:35:42.456 You have to be able to get the face 00:35:42.456 --> 00:35:46.646 so it has some expression on the face, so it looks like a face. 00:35:46.646 --> 00:35:51.265 I've done this before and my heads look like clay heads. 00:35:51.709 --> 00:35:54.026 >>[narration] This head looks human. 00:35:54.026 --> 00:35:57.550 It also looks remarkably like the actual subject: 00:35:57.550 --> 00:36:01.555 a man who donated his body to the forensic facility. 00:36:03.315 --> 00:36:06.368 Hughes did this reconstruction for practice, 00:36:06.368 --> 00:36:09.324 then checked her work against the photos. 00:36:09.324 --> 00:36:11.875 >>[Hughes] Ah! It's him! 00:36:12.884 --> 00:36:15.444 >>[narration] But, what if she'd guessed wrong about 00:36:15.444 --> 00:36:19.577 the size of the nose, or the fleshiness of the jowls? 00:36:19.577 --> 00:36:24.724 In a real murder case, the stakes are high and time is precious. 00:36:25.953 --> 00:36:30.619 Clay reconstruction yields a single guess about a victim's looks. 00:36:30.619 --> 00:36:34.462 One mistake could stall an investigation. 00:36:36.385 --> 00:36:39.594 Murray Marks hopes to overcome those short-comings 00:36:39.594 --> 00:36:43.571 by bringing facial reconstruction into the computer age. 00:36:43.571 --> 00:36:48.512 For help, Mark has joined forces with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 00:36:51.216 --> 00:36:56.075 The government research lab has supercomputers and imaging experts. 00:36:56.075 --> 00:37:00.722 Marks has cranial dimensions from some 1,000 modern skulls, 00:37:00.722 --> 00:37:04.255 the largest database of its kind in the world. 00:37:06.771 --> 00:37:10.287 But, to build a face from a skull, he needs to know more about 00:37:10.287 --> 00:37:13.313 the intimate marriage of skin and bone. 00:37:13.313 --> 00:37:18.408 That requires state-of-the-art MRI and CAT scan expertise. 00:37:19.865 --> 00:37:22.760 Some of the world's leaders in this field work in the 00:37:22.760 --> 00:37:27.889 research imaging center at the University of Texas Health Science Center. 00:37:27.889 --> 00:37:30.740 The center's director, Dr. Peter Fox, 00:37:30.740 --> 00:37:34.043 is intrigued by the facial reconstruction project. 00:37:36.901 --> 00:37:40.358 To provide baseline images from a known individual, 00:37:40.358 --> 00:37:44.843 he's offered his scanners and his own flesh and bone. 00:37:49.446 --> 00:37:52.909 Fox's MRI maps the surface of his face. 00:37:52.909 --> 00:37:58.375 His CAT scan yields a 3D image of the skull beneath the skin. 00:37:58.610 --> 00:38:06.334 Now the challenge is to recreate by computer, a face that looks like the living Dr. Fox. 00:38:08.013 --> 00:38:11.471 If they can figure out how to do it with a known face, 00:38:11.471 --> 00:38:15.492 they're optimistic they can do it with an unknown one. 00:38:15.909 --> 00:38:19.028 A wireframe model helps translate the relationship 00:38:19.028 --> 00:38:23.515 between Fox's face and his skull into mathematical formulas. 00:38:24.683 --> 00:38:28.998 Those formulas can then be used to create a facial mask. 00:38:28.998 --> 00:38:32.698 In this case, a mask of Fox's face. 00:38:33.168 --> 00:38:35.928 Once the software development is complete, 00:38:35.928 --> 00:38:40.807 police or witnesses could easily modify such masks. 00:38:43.040 --> 00:38:46.341 >>[Marks] What if they were heavier? What if they were lighter? 00:38:46.341 --> 00:38:48.847 Change that hairline, change the eye color. 00:38:48.847 --> 00:38:52.989 Or, you know, add a beard, add a mustache, things like this. 00:38:56.843 --> 00:39:00.594 >>[narration] The Tennessee scientists are taking promising steps toward 00:39:00.594 --> 00:39:04.513 one of the final frontiers in forensic anthropology: 00:39:04.513 --> 00:39:10.449 to restore a face and with it, the identity and humanity of a victim. 00:39:11.812 --> 00:39:16.115 The conclusion of Secrets of the Body Farm, next. 00:39:17.921 --> 00:39:22.158 And now the conclusion of Secrets of the Body Farm. 00:39:23.577 --> 00:39:27.975 In the early years, the research conducted at the Anthropology Research Facility 00:39:27.975 --> 00:39:30.280 was not widely known, but then, 00:39:30.280 --> 00:39:33.979 its unofficial nickname coined by police and FBI agents, 00:39:33.979 --> 00:39:38.069 became the title of a best-selling crime novel by Patricia Cornwell. 00:39:38.069 --> 00:39:41.553 The body farm hit the mainstream. 00:39:42.058 --> 00:39:45.583 More books, movies, and hit TV shows followed, 00:39:45.583 --> 00:39:50.543 raising the facility's profile and communicating the importance of its work. 00:39:50.543 --> 00:39:55.804 >>[Robin Miller] The drill is that we are going to pull him out of the truck. 00:39:57.464 --> 00:40:00.293 >>[Michelle Miller] I'm afraid the upper body's gonna drop. 00:40:00.293 --> 00:40:02.224 You have the strength? >>[Robin] Yep. 00:40:07.732 --> 00:40:12.239 >>[narration] Here, death marks not an end, but a beginning. The start of an amazing 00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:17.384 odyssey, carefully observed and recorded in minute detail by researchers. 00:40:17.384 --> 00:40:20.003 >>[Robin] Alright, here's good. >>[narration] Robin Miller is 00:40:20.003 --> 00:40:23.221 studying a specific component in human decomposition. 00:40:23.221 --> 00:40:25.391 >>[Robin] Okay. >>[narration] A possible linkage 00:40:25.391 --> 00:40:28.366 between clothing and the rate of decay. 00:40:31.125 --> 00:40:34.144 >>[Robin] Lift his legs up. And put one leg at a time 00:40:34.144 --> 00:40:38.494 in through here, and then hold his legs up while someone else pulls it over his... [trails off] 00:40:40.585 --> 00:40:44.405 Half of all cases that we work on in the United States 00:40:44.405 --> 00:40:47.487 are people that we have found with clothing on them. 00:40:47.487 --> 00:40:50.386 My research hopes to answer the question: 00:40:50.386 --> 00:40:55.831 Can we use that data in order to determine a time since death? 00:40:56.654 --> 00:41:00.537 >>[narration] This corpse, donated by family per the dead man's wishes, 00:41:00.537 --> 00:41:03.531 will prove invaluable in Miller's research. 00:41:03.531 --> 00:41:08.511 To protect his identity, he is now known simply as Corpse 3101. 00:41:08.788 --> 00:41:13.832 But, anonymity can't diminish his generous nature, or his willingness to help others, 00:41:13.832 --> 00:41:19.767 even after his death. His contribution reaches far beyond pure science. 00:41:19.767 --> 00:41:25.005 It may influence real-world murder cases and help bring killers to justice. 00:41:25.817 --> 00:41:30.766 Drawing on prior research, Miller has divided decomposition into four stages: 00:41:30.766 --> 00:41:34.791 Stage one spans the first day or so after death. 00:41:34.791 --> 00:41:38.259 >>[Robin] Stage one is where-- is what we call the "fresh stage." 00:41:38.259 --> 00:41:42.229 Where there is no maggot activity, we just have the basic 00:41:42.229 --> 00:41:45.225 rigor, algor, and liver mortis. 00:41:45.579 --> 00:41:51.032 >>[narration] Stage one is marked by stiffening, discoloration, then relaxation. 00:41:51.294 --> 00:41:54.106 >>[Robin] As we get out of stage one, into stage two, 00:41:54.106 --> 00:41:57.489 is when the blow flies come in and start to lay their eggs. 00:41:57.489 --> 00:42:00.496 And their eggs will, of course, hatch into maggots. 00:42:00.496 --> 00:42:03.837 The maggots will take over and start consuming the body. 00:42:05.347 --> 00:42:08.715 >>[narration] Stage two includes a flurry of insect activity: 00:42:08.715 --> 00:42:11.726 yellowjackets, blow flies, and maggots. 00:42:15.106 --> 00:42:19.080 >>[Robin] The eggs that were laid a couple days ago in the nose, have hatched. 00:42:19.080 --> 00:42:23.363 So, we have a maggot mass that's going to work around his nostrils. 00:42:23.363 --> 00:42:28.039 And in his right ear, and near his right eye. 00:42:28.039 --> 00:42:31.849 They've eaten away on the inside of the mouth. 00:42:32.391 --> 00:42:35.619 I can see some eggs that have been laid on the tongue 00:42:35.619 --> 00:42:38.965 and in the left cheek area. 00:42:39.849 --> 00:42:42.536 >>[narration] The proteins and fats in human cells 00:42:42.536 --> 00:42:45.991 are a near perfect food for maggots. 00:42:47.029 --> 00:42:51.188 The swarm of insects is a gruesome reminder of mortality, 00:42:51.188 --> 00:42:54.056 as is the smell of decomposition. 00:42:55.713 --> 00:43:00.546 Inside the body, the bacteria are starting to work on the internal organs. 00:43:03.423 --> 00:43:07.537 >>[Robin] As that happens, gases are also released inside the body, 00:43:07.537 --> 00:43:11.926 there's a process called "autolysis," where the cells inside burst, 00:43:11.926 --> 00:43:16.612 because the pH level is disrupted. 00:43:17.589 --> 00:43:20.048 >>[narration] Some of the gases escape the corpse 00:43:20.048 --> 00:43:24.243 through natural body openings, creating putrid smells. 00:43:25.499 --> 00:43:29.540 Gases that are trapped within distend the veins in the body, 00:43:29.540 --> 00:43:32.092 a process called "marbling." 00:43:32.148 --> 00:43:37.470 Sometimes the gases build up enough to burst a corpse's abdomen. 00:43:38.303 --> 00:43:41.786 Stage three is the longest phase of decomposition, 00:43:41.786 --> 00:43:44.958 and is greatly influenced by the changing seasons. 00:43:44.958 --> 00:43:49.527 >>[Robin] We definitely have a decrease in maggot activity and fly activity 00:43:49.527 --> 00:43:53.788 because the larvae and the eggs can't live below a certain temperature. 00:43:53.788 --> 00:43:57.581 So the cold weather is having an effect on the decomposition here. 00:43:57.581 --> 00:43:59.757 >>[narration] But the cycle does continue. 00:43:59.757 --> 00:44:02.401 Fifty-two days after the start of the experiment, 00:44:02.401 --> 00:44:08.193 3101 enters stage four of decomposition. He is essentially mummified. 00:44:08.676 --> 00:44:11.857 Any remaining skin has the texture of leather, 00:44:11.857 --> 00:44:15.577 and nearly all of the soft tissue is gone. 00:44:15.577 --> 00:44:19.497 Already it appears that clothing may have slowed the rate of decay, 00:44:19.497 --> 00:44:22.883 but confirming that assumption will require a scientific review 00:44:22.883 --> 00:44:25.569 of the data in the weeks ahead. 00:44:28.322 --> 00:44:32.491 A gentle hillside in Tennessee, unique in all the world, 00:44:32.491 --> 00:44:38.746 a singular place set aside for gleaning knowledge and truth from flesh and bone. 00:44:39.214 --> 00:44:41.915 >>[Haskell] The anthropological research facility here in Knoxville 00:44:41.915 --> 00:44:48.885 is absolutely critical in research, when it comes to assessing human death. 00:44:49.706 --> 00:44:52.689 >>[Bass] There's a lot of really cutting-edge research going on 00:44:52.689 --> 00:44:56.357 at the body farm right now, it's the only research essentially, 00:44:56.357 --> 00:44:59.243 of this type in the world. 00:44:59.664 --> 00:45:02.980 >>[narration] Lee Jantz believes the work is so important, 00:45:02.980 --> 00:45:06.767 she's made an extraordinary commitment, in spite of her discomfort 00:45:06.767 --> 00:45:08.852 with what she knows will follow. 00:45:08.852 --> 00:45:13.712 >>[Lee Jantz] I am a donor. When I die, I expect my family to honor my wishes 00:45:13.712 --> 00:45:16.848 and donate me to the anthropological research facility 00:45:16.848 --> 00:45:21.352 in the department of anthropology. It is not a pleasant thought. 00:45:21.685 --> 00:45:26.290 I don't like to think of what my body will go through, but it's gonna happen. 00:45:26.290 --> 00:45:31.144 >>[narration] The dead remain the focus of scientific scrutiny at the body farm, 00:45:31.144 --> 00:45:35.413 but the reason for the research, the motivation and the inspiration 00:45:35.413 --> 00:45:38.366 will always remain the living. 00:45:39.033 --> 00:45:44.338 [up-tempo closing music]