Forensic Analysis and Identification Processes in Mass Disasters: Explosion of Gun Powder in the Fireworks Factory

A mass disaster is a situation that involves criticality between the number of victims and resources, in terms of both men and means, present on the site of an event that is mostly unexpected and sudden. In the multidisciplinary teams that intervene, the role of forensic pathologists, who are responsible for the direction and coordination of post-mortem operations, is central, and must remain so. The authors report the case of an explosion of a pyrotechnic artifice factory, as a result of which numerous victims and injuries are recorded. So, the team completed the autopsies and created a protocol to obtain biological samples (bones, blood, teeth, muscles), while the forensic pathologists contacted the families of the alleged victims and each provided a blood sample that was collected for the DNA. The geneticist, using the method of gene extraction and amplification, obtained the DNA from each bone, tooth, and muscle of blood taken from the victims and then compared it with that extracted from the blood samples of the relatives; the electropherograms showed at least one allele for each genetic marker of the “Combined DNA Index System” in common between the victims and the families, thus allowing to establish the identity of all the subjects involved in the event. Having established the identity of all workers, it was possible to determine their whereabouts in the environment at the time of the location of fires and explosions. The results of the various forensic analyzes (autopsies, genetic investigations and even traumatological investigations) have allowed us to validate a scientific method useful in all mass disasters even when any type of anthropological or forensic dental research is difficult

VALUE OF THE MEDICAL-LEGAL INVESTIGATION. CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FINDINGS WITH LEGALLY ESTABLISHED REALITY

In recent years, violence against minors has been the subject of in-depth study in all its historical, social and cultural dimensions, being able to be identified and treated according to rigorous scientific methodologies. The A.A. report the case of an 8-year-old girl, who disappeared in a rural area, found dead a few hours later, on the recommendation of a young man who, despite having admitted to having gone away with the child, had not provided further details. The forensic inspection revealed that the discovery area included an area with burnt undergrowth about 4 meters in diameter. Examination of the external genitalia showed that the hymen was hemorrhagic in the right hemicycle, at 11 o'clock, with laceration of the most superficial layers of the anterior face. In the present case, therefore, despite having limited historical and circumstantial data, it was possible to reconstruct the following damaging dynamic: the little girl, after having gone away with her aggressor, was first the victim of an attempt of sexual violence by the latter and later immobilized by placing a foot on the slender abdomen. She had been covered with brushwood which the attacker had set fire to, thus killing her. This reconstruction of the criminal events, proposed to the investigating magistrate, was confirmed in each passage by the confessions made by the murderer, during the various degrees of trial, so much so that the final sentence reported in full the specific steps of the medico-legal relationship

DNA extracration and Anthropological Aspects from 6th to 7th Century A.D. Bone Remains.

New Orleans, LA, US