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New forensic research facility will assist police, aid student training
By Lynn Hotaling
A new forensic research facility being developed at Western Carolina University will help prepare students for careers in forensics, enhance the skills of law enforcement officials statewide, and assist local police and sheriff’s departments with crime scene investigations.
The facility, only the second of its kind in the United States, is part of WCU’s growing academic programs in forensic anthropology and forensic science. Patterned after a similar facility at the University of Tennessee, Western’s forensic research station is designed to help scientists determine how the unique geography and climate of the Western North Carolina mountains influence postmortem decay.
The forensic anthropology research area will be located across N.C. 107 from WCU’s existing campus near the center of a 344-acre tract the university purchased last year. Letters went out this week to neighboring property owners to advise them of the plan, said university spokesman Randall Holcombe.
WCU’s planned facility will be led by John Williams, director of the university’s forensic anthropology program. The enclosed area will initially be some 40 feet by 60 feet and will have two fences, an inner, opaque privacy fence; and an outer chain length fence to keep unauthorized persons and large animals out, Williams said.
Bodies that have been donated to science will be placed in the research area and then allowed to decompose naturally, Williams said. The site is expected to be ready for such studies to begin in September or October, he said.
The research facility will be a secure area that is patrolled by campus police, Williams said.
In order to let nature take its course, the site will be disturbed as little as possible. Trees and other vegetation will be left in place – only trees affecting placement of fencing will be removed, Williams said.
Such forensic research is becoming what Williams, one of only 58 board-certified forensic anthropologists in the United States, termed an “area of expansion” in the field.
“As more such facilities develop, we’ll get a better idea of how the process of deterioration proceeds,” Williams said.
The facility is expected to provide significant learning opportunities for students and will give scientists a better understanding of the complex process of how bodies deteriorate into skeletons, said Williams.
“Through the study of skeletal remains, forensic anthropologists can help law enforcement officials determine the time of a person’s death, which is a vital step in determining the cause of death,” said Williams. “The ultimate goal is to help law enforcement officers in Western North Carolina work toward the speedy solution of homicides or accidental death investigations.”
Each geographic area presents its own set of variables, he said.
“In our case, we’ll look at a mountain environment influenced by altitude, humidity and less sunlight,” he said of WCU’s planned site.
Once a body is placed in the facility, research teams will visit at least once a day to record data, Williams said.
“A lot happens very quickly initially,” he said. “If we don’t look often we could miss important changes.”
At this point, Williams and others at WCU don’t even have an estimate as to how long decomposition takes in the WNC mountains, he said
The new center will depend on bodies donated for scientific purposes, as does the one at UT, Williams said.
“UT gets almost all its donations from people who specifically indicate they want their bodies donated to that facility, and I expect that will happen here as ours becomes better known,” he said.
North Carolina’s chief medical examiner says WCU’s facility will add to the forensic data gained from the work of Dr. Bill Bass at the nationally known research center at Knoxville.
“Dr. Bass’ Tennessee facility has contributed to our understanding of this important process and aided death investigators around the country in more accurately estimating postmortem interval in human remains,” said Dr. John Butts, chief medical examiner for the state. “Studies out of a Western Carolina facility could help to determine whether there are any substantial differences in these processes in other geographic areas, which could prove helpful in the training of death investigators in this important area.”
Research at WCU’s new station will be conducted in conjunction with the university’s existing Western Carolina Human Identification Laboratory, a fully equipped, 1,100-square-foot facility dedicated to the recovery, storage and analysis of human remains.
Jerry Melbye of the department of anthropology and sociology at Texas State University said the work conducted at the laboratory and the new forensic research station will have “far-reaching implications for law enforcement and the adjudication of criminal matters.”
“Such a facility would result in premiere research grounds for forensic anthropology, entomology and other areas of the forensic sciences, and I am confident that it would result in the forensic science program at Western Carolina University becoming a recognized leader in forensic research in North Carolina, the United States and abroad,” said Melbye, who is planning a similar facility at Texas State University.
For more information about WCU’s forensic anthropology program, contact John Williams at 227-2430.
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