Chapter 21 - Resolving Commingling Issues During the Medicolegal Investigation of Mass Fatality Incidents

Abstract

By definition, mass fatality incidents result in numerous deaths occurring over a relatively narrow time frame. These events produce complex multidisciplinary investigative challenges. From a medicolegal perspective, investigators seek to recover and examine decedents in a dignified and respectful manner, accurately determine cause and manner of death, perform accurate and efficient identification of victims, provide for the rapid return of victims’ remains to their legal next of kin, and exchange factual and timely information with families in a compassionate manner. Oftentimes, severe fragmentation and commingling of human remains are the byproducts of the causative forces and pose significant challenges to investigators. In a mass fatality context, the overarching tenet regarding commingling is that human remains with no anatomical/physical connection must be considered to be commingled. This principle also applies to remains that are spatially associated but present no valid anatomical connection. From the perspective of the forensic investigator, resolving commingling, and ultimately decedent identification, requires careful management of both the human remains and the data generated during recovery and postmortem examination. This chapter examines effects of fragmentation and commingling on the identification process and discusses the role of triage during the postmortem data collection process as a means to facilitate recognition and reassociation of commingled remains.