Chapter 6 - A missing grandmother and a near-miss for justice

Abstract

A cold case was reopened three years later, following a suspect’s confession. The victim, a mature lady suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, was murdered for financial reasons, and her body was dumped in the backyard of an abandoned country house. She was positively identified by genetic analysis on her skeletal remains. The inexperience of the expert witness appointed by the procurator led to the necessity of a re-assessment of the skeletal remains, in order to perform a thorough bone trauma analysis, which unearthed a history of domestic violence and abuse dating back at least several years before the homicide. Bone trauma analysis is crucial in the examination of skeletal remains, and it must be distinguished from both pathology and taphonomy. Once established, it should be investigated with regards to antemortem, perimortem or postmortem changes. The case showed a lack of understanding by the Italian judicial system and highlighted the significance of the cooperation between forensic pathologists and forensic anthropologists in the study of skeletal remains.