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The skull arrived hairless, skinless and nameless, found under a brush pile on an East Knox County farm the day after Thanksgiving 2008.
Murray Marks put a name and a face on it - Byron Barker, a 47-year-old West Knoxville hairstylist who'd disappeared more than three years earlier. Police believe he'd been killed by an ex-lover.
"Bone lasts forever," said Marks, a forensic anthropologist. "Every skeleton's different, and every situation that gets it to you is different. But bone keeps a memory of what happens to it. The bones will tell you everything."
For Marks and others at the Knox County Medical Examiner's Office, the end of life is where their job starts. The staff, based in the University of Tennessee Regional Forensic Center, work with law enforcement to investigate who dies, how and why.
"Our clients are not just the police," said Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, chief medical examiner. "They're also the families. It's the families left behind who need to understand what happened and want an explanation. It's also about public health. It's about catching trends, not just solving crime.
"I'm the spokesperson for the dead because they cannot speak for themselves."
Even producers from shows such as "CSI" call now and then posing hypothetical questions about a fictitious murder.
The center serves mainly Knox and Anderson counties, along with about a dozen surrounding counties on a contract basis and outlying counties by request. Its two examiners performed nearly 800 autopsies last year in deaths that ranged from murder to suicide to natural causes.
A forensic foundation
A homicide finding by the medical examiner becomes the foundation for any murder case. But the autopsy is just half of the story.
"It's a lot like being a pediatrician or a veterinarian, because the patient can't tell you what's wrong," said Dr. Steve Cogswell, deputy medical examiner. "It's a historical and physical investigation - performing the autopsy, examining the medical history. You can't have one without the other."
The center's two investigators, headed by former Knoxville police detective Larry Vineyard, work day and night to personally visit the scenes of mysterious or unattended deaths. Homicides and other violent deaths typically take priority.
"A death in (police) custody is No. 1," Mileusnic-Polchan said. "We review all child deaths and industrial deaths. We try to go to as many scenes as possible and do our own independent investigation."
Sometimes homicide is obvious - a shooting in front of witnesses, for example, such as the recent murder-suicide in front of Parkwest Medical Center. But a jury tasked with taking the freedom of an accused person has to hear the details - how many gunshots, what caliber bullet, which organs suffered damage and how quickly the victim died.
A baby's death might look sinister until investigation reveals an undiagnosed medical problem. Bones in the woods might be an animal's - or a murder victim's.
Sometimes the death is not as simple as it looks. When Sevier County deputies and the Tennessee Highway Patrol found Shannon Dawn Hercutt's body in August in her smashed sport utility vehicle at the bottom of a 125-foot cliff, the case looked clear-cut.
Then an autopsy showed she'd been killed elsewhere - apparently beaten with a baseball bat in her garage, according to relatives. The case remains unsolved.
"Not every hanging is simple," Mileusnic-Polchan said. "Not every drug overdose is simple. Even if it's an overdose, we have to know what kind of drug was used to see how it fits the greater public health pattern."
Because of the lack of training among physicians about death, Mileusnic-Polchan said she wonders how many murders even today go undetected.
"There is a vulnerable population where someone is old and the death looks natural, but it could be something else," she said.
From funeral home to forensic center
Authorities say that's a lesson that's finally started to take hold around the region. Veteran police and prosecutors remember when death cases could be closed on appearances or a family member's word.
"Law enforcement understands now to treat every apparent suicide as a possible homicide," said William Paul Phillips, 8th Judicial District attorney general. "In the past, violent deaths were sometimes classified as suicides too quickly. But over the past 35 years, we have gradually gotten sheriffs and police chiefs to accept the importance of having forensic examinations in death cases."
The tide began to turn in the 1970s with the advent of board-certified pathologists such as Dr. Cleland Blake of Morristown, who built a personal forensic workshop and began visiting scenes with police instead of waiting for bodies to arrive. That progress helped lead to the creation of UT's Forensic Center, which opened in 1997.
"Autopsies then were done by pathologists in Knoxville or Oak Ridge who were competent doctors, but forensic pathology was not their specialty," Phillips said. "It was kind of a favor they did for the community. There was not even a single board-certified pathologist in East Tennessee. Dr. Blake was the earliest."
When Bill Bass developed the UT Anthropological Research Facility - also called the "Body Farm" - in 1981, the science of death grew by leaps and bounds.
"Basically, everything we know about rotting bodies and insects came from Bill's Body Farm," Marks said.
Bass' studies helped determine how long a person had been dead in various environments. Now researchers know a squirrel won't gnaw on a human bone for 18 months because of leaching body fats, while a rat will waste no time eating the remains.
Since Bass' innovative work, other body farms have been established across the nation.
With all the steps forward, death investigators still face misunderstandings, even from their brothers and sisters in medicine.
"Most doctors aren't trained to fill out death certificates," Cogswell said. "It's simply not taught in medical school, because modern medicine doesn't like to acknowledge that people die."
He credits some of the greatest advances in the field to another profession - the lawyers who grill him on the witness stand.
"Defense attorneys keep us honest," Cogswell said. "They're the guys who make me explain why I believe what I believe, and that keeps me from becoming complacent. Twenty years ago, you could proclaim yourself an expert, and juries bought into it. People know more now about what we do. We're much more demanding. For that, you have to thank the defense attorneys."
Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/may/26/forensic-riddles/
The quickly growing field of forensic nursing offers great opportunities and rewarding career options. Because of this it can be hard to set yourself apart from your colleagues and peers, the Certified Forensic Nursing program can help you do just that.
What the CFN program can do for you
The Certified Forensic Nurse program will prepare as well as educate you onthe following things:
Want to know more about the American College of Forensic Examiners? Read the definitive history of the world's foremost association for foresnic experts, mental health professionals, and homeland security experts. If you want to understand the rise of ACFEI, this is the only book you'll ever need.
You can access United for Truth here.
Aside from our many strategic alliances and accreditations, here are some more things to keep in mind before choosing a credentialing program, and why the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute and its sister associations are a good choice to make:
For more information about credentials, the associations, or our journals, please visit us:
The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute: www.acfei.com
The American Psychotherapy Association: www.americanpsychotherapy.com
The American Association of Integrative Medicine: www.aaimedicine.com
The American Board for Certification in Homeland Security: www.abchs.com
Membership. Some of The American College of Forensic Examiners’ well-known members and Board members include; Dr. Henry Lee, Dr. Greg Vecchi, Dr. Zhaoming Chen, Dr. Marc Rabinoff, Congressmen Billy Long and Steven King, and Governor Tom Ridge. These individuals, as well as many other not listed here, have helped mold and guide ACFEI to be the prestigious, online, interactive, multimedia publisher that it is today. They have contributed their knowledge and expertise to ACFEI’s online credentialing programs such as the Certified Forensic Physician®, CFP program; the Registered Investigator®, RI®, program; and the Certified Forensic Consultant, CFC® program; to name a few.
ACFEI and all of its associations are continually seeking further validations, alliances, and accreditations in order to offer maximum continuing education benefits to its thousands of members. Sometimes it is our very members who foster these relationships; we encourage you to get involved and share your ideas for future alliances! This is a group of associations that recognize themselves as yours. We invite you to add your expertise to the pool and make it even greater.
Call (800) 423-9737 for more information, or visit acfei.com.
ACFEI is also an approved provider of training by the following professional organizations:
The outside bodies listed above, as well as the many other attest to the fact that the ACFEI has met or exceeded their regulations and standards to be approved providers of training. Organizations that represent medical doctors, accountants, psychologists, attorneys, law enforcement officers, dentists, military personnel, and numerous other professions and specialties would never approve an lesser, unregulated institution to provide training to these important persons.
Please contact either the American College of Forensic Examiners International, The American Board for Certifcation in Homeland Security, The American Association of Integrative Medicine, or the American Psychotherapy Association for more information about their respective programs, accrediting organizations, and educational opportunities:
www.acfei.com; (800) 423-9737
www.abchs.com; (877) 219-2519
www.aaimedicine.com; (877) 718-3053
www.americanpsycotherapy.com; (800) 205-9165
As the editor in chief of The Forensic Examiner, Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, and Inside Homeland Security (all peer-reviewed and available on newsstands); and for the associations themselves (The American College of Forensic Examiners International, The American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, the American Psychotherapy Association, and the American Association of Integrative Medicine), I have the privilege of working not only with individuals with remarkable talent, credentials, experience, and professionalism here at the ACFEI Headquarters, but also with the thousands of members who renew their memberships year after year to learn, network, and even teach one another.
I am proud to work with the courses and articles conceived and written by dedicated professionals who have made it their living to help heal, defend, serve, protect, and save their fellow citizens from terrorism, criminals, mental illness, disease, and so many other world problems and pandemics. I have reviewed dozens of resumes and curriculum vitae for my peer reviewers and course authors. Their degrees, credentials, and experience speak for themselves of the excellence embraced and exuded by the associations.
Under the umbrella of the American College of Forensic Examiners International, I have reviewed and edited articles that discuss cutting-edge research written with government agents I interviewed in person at Quantico; I have met forensic legends Dr. Cyril Wecht and Dr. Henry Lee (both long-time ACFEI members); and I get to see to completion the modules and coursework that are born of the passion of many prominent individuals from an array of important fields. I know for a fact that the continuing education curricula individuals like these and others help create are forged from impeccable research, training, and consultation. These people are far too intelligent, prestigious, and philanthropic to waste their time with lesser organizations; Dr. Robert O’Block’s ACFEI stands only for legitimacy and professionalism.
What is it that draws so many—nurses, physicians, soldiers, investigators, government employees, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and a sheer multitude of other honorable professions—into the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute fold? Decide for yourself, as thousands wisely did before you:
www.acfei.com
www.abchs.com
www.americanpsychotherapy.com
www.aaimedicine.com
The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute began in 1992; it is still here. Most membership associations rise and fall in less than a decade, but the passion of ACFEI’s founder, Dr. Robert O’Block, and the thousands of reputable people his associations help each year, has fueled continued growth since ACFEI’s inception nearly two decades ago.
As we continually improve our continuing education coursework, Web presence, and printed publications, that growth is bound to continue. The fields in which our members work, study, and fight—homeland security, all areas of forensics, integrative medicine, and psychotherapy—are not going anywhere anytime soon, and are dynamic and ever evolving. When you join the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, the American Association for Integrative Medicine, the American Psychotherapy Association, or the tried-and-true American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, you will see that we rise above the competition in offering continuing education excellence. Dr. Robert O’Block has created a unique opportunity for you to meet like-minded professionals to network, learn, and teach one another and the world at large.
To learn more about each of these associations, please come see us:
The American College of Forensic Examiners: www.acfei.com
The American Board for Certification in Homeland Security: www.abchs.com
The American Association of Integrative Medicine: www.aaim.com
The American Psychotherapy Association: www.americanpsychotherapy.com
The American College of Forensic Examiners International began in 1992; it is still here. Most membership associations rise and fall in less than a decade, but the passion of ACFEI’s founder, Dr. Robert O’Block, and the thousands of reputable people his associations help each year, has fueled continued growth since ACFEI’s inception nearly two decades ago.
As we continually improve our continuing education coursework, Web presence, and printed publications, that growth is bound to continue. The fields in which our members work, study, and fight are not going anywhere anytime soon, and are dynamic and ever evolving. When you join the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, the American Association for Integrative Medicine, the American Psychotherapy Association, or the tried-and-true American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, you will see that we rise above the competition in offering continuing education excellence. Dr. Robert O’Block has created a unique opportunity for you to meet like-minded professionals to network, learn, and teach one another and the world at large.
To learn more, please visit www.acfei.com.
What is it that draws so many—nurses, physicians, soldiers, investigators, government employees, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, forensic dentists, and a sheer multitude of other honorable professions—into the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute fold? Let me share with you just a few of the numerous reasons so you can better decide for yourself, as thousands wisely did before you:
Accreditation. The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute is an approved provider of continuing education by the following:
Continuing education alignments. In addition to the several accreditations above, we are also proud to inform you that:
To learn more, visit www.acfei.com
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ABFD,
ACFEI,
and ABCHS. All rights reserved. Dr. Robert O'Block, Founder, CEO, and Publisher.
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