In the Poconos case, body parts were found in various locations along Interstates 80 and 380. The remains are those of a heavy-set white woman, about 5-foot-7, with dark hair containing some gray.
An autopsy found the woman suffered "multiple violent injuries," any of which could have killed her. The forensic pathologists who performed the autopsy at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest would not discuss how they do their work. But medical examiners who have worked on similar cases said they take the same approach in an autopsy to identify the victim, find a cause of death and clues to the killer, whether they are looking at body parts or a body that's intact.
"It's just a greater challenge if you don't have all the pieces," said Dr. John D. Howard, the chief medical examiner in Spokane, Wash., and vice president of the Atlanta-based National Association of Medical Examiners.
One challenge is that examiners must determine whether all the severed parts came from the same person. Sometimes, it's a matter of piecing together a tatoo, scar or the diameter of cut bones. The more conclusive test is laboratory matching of DNA from samples of blood, bone or muscle.
"Each part is considered a human remain," Howard said. "So you treat it with dignity but identify as much from that part as you can."
If the head is available -- as with the woman found locally -- a sketch of the face, dental X-rays and dentures engraved with a name or initials can sometimes help identify the victim, experts said.
Likewise, a hand can yield fingerprints for a match if the victim had ever been fingerprinted as a child or as a crime suspect.
The victim's height can be obtained from as little as a leg bone, Howard said. Anthropology studies of various populations over time have produced formulas for determining height from a single femur or tibia. Such studies also help medical examiners approximate age by looking at the fourth rib, collar bone and pelvis.
To determine the victim's cause of death, examiners search the skin for bruises, cuts other than those that severed the body parts, and any other signs of illness or injury. They also X-ray the parts for broken bones, anatomical anomalies and metal fragments that could come from a knife or bullet.
Finding clues about the killer more often involves police work or profiling by mental health experts. However, Dr. Stephen Pustilnik, chief medical examiner in Galveston, recalled one murder case in Alabama about 20 years ago in which the autopsy yielded key evidence. "The killer carved his initials into the victim," he said.
Katherine Ramsland, a DeSales University professor, author and authority on serial killers and forensic psychology, said police accounts of how the woman's body parts were discarded last week in the Poconos might say something about her killer.
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