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Erica Estep had her first visit with Dr. Bill Bass on Tuesday. Here’s what she posted on Facebook: “I was expecting a man who deals with death so much to be creepy, but he was fascinating, funny and I enjoyed the time we spent at his home. He talked with me about the Casey Anthony trial and why the science being introduced is reliable.”
Now that Erica is a Bass fan, she should come to the next “Dinner with the Bone Doctor” at Echo Bistro & Wine Bar on August 8th.
Vass-ed Knowledge
The buzz of my cell phone sounded every few minutes on Monday. My friend Janet was sending me Facebook updates on the Casey Anthony trial that has kept her glued to the TV lately. Last week I had asked her to let me know when any experts from the Body Farm were called to the stand. She wrote “There’s a goober scientist from Tennessee on the stand at the Anti-Christ trial.” I think she was surprised that I have met him a few times. He’s no goober.
The expert witness was Dr. Arpad Vass. He works at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and did some amazing research at the Body Farm. He invented a machine that works like the nose of a cadaver dog. It sniffs out the gases of human decomposition. His experiments indicate that there was a corpse in the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car.
As Dr. Vass testified, I also read the Twitter feed of News 13 in Orlando. Their recap of Monday’s proceedings is thorough and well done. I was pleasantly surprised when reporter Adam Longo posted a tweet with a link to a blog post of mine from 2006. I wrote another blog post about Longo last September when he reported on the connection between the Body Farm and the Anthony case.
When I had my picture made with Dr. Vass at a Bone Zones party last year, I was also flanked by Helen Taylor and Dr. Al Hazari. The other day Helen sent me a Facebook message asking if I could fill in for her at the “Fun with Forensics: Adventures in Chemistry” summer camp run by Dr. Hazari. I’m not really sure how that will work. I guess I can tell the middle-schoolers about my tour of Helen’s crematory or I can be the guy who hands out the stretchy skeletons Helen ordered for the kids.
Fifteen Bones
The FBI Knoxville Citizens’ Academy tried something new for its April meeting on Tuesday evening. They made it a fundraiser and charged admission. Of course, only a superstar speaker could warrant such a move. The guest was Body Farm founder Dr. Bill Bass. He was available to sign autographs, pose for pictures and answer questions about forensic anthropology.
One of the beneficiaries of the FBIKCAAA is the Richard Yoakley School. The group regularly sponsors a cake walk and a junior agent program at the alternative school. FBI employees often volunteer there as reading tutors.
When I approached the Bone Zones team about booking Dr. Bass to speak at the meeting, they were interested in supporting a cause that helped troubled youth. The plot of the latest Jefferson Bass novel, “The Bone Yard,” centers around a corrupt reform school in Florida. After speaking about the new book, Dr. Bass presented a slide show on the infamous Thomas “Zoo Man” Huskey case.
Dr. Bass surprised the group by inviting us to have a future meeting in the classroom space at the new William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Building, which should be open by the Fall. We enthusiastically accepted the invitation.
Manhuntington
A website about two murders on Long Island caught my attention. However it was not about any of the recent victims who have been discovered in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Alexander and Rebecca Smith were killed on November 13, 1842 in the house on the Gardiner Farm in Huntington, NY. The local paper, The Long Islander, reported the crime as follows:
Horrible Murder!
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Never has it been our melancholy task, on any former occasion, to present to our readers the details of a murder, so atrocious in every feature, as the one committed a few nights ago in the vicinity of our village. We do not remember to have heard of one so appalling, for many years.
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On Sunday evening last, Mr. Alexander Smith, extensively known as a worthy and wealthy farmer, residing at Old Fields, and his wife, were murdered. Their bodies were discovered on the following morning, lying on the hearth; that of Mr. Smith nearly consumed by the fire into which it had fallen, on receiving a blow from the assassin; and that of Mrs. Smith, near by, weltering in blood which had flowed from several wounds inflicted on the head.
When I took part in the FBI Citizens’ Academy, we did an evidence recovery exercise at a staged crime scene in a hotel room. The 1842 murders on Long Island can now be studied by high school and college forensics students. The clues and evidence come in a kit entitled Murder at Old Fields. For $449, schools receive a kit containing hair, blood, fingerprints and all sorts of materials.
Conversation Theory
Nine years ago today I arrived in Knoxville for the first time when a now-defunct radio station flew me in for an audition. I moved here about a month later for the opportunity to be on the air instead of behind the scenes. Today I was struck by how much my life has changed since moving. I was running some errands around the neighborhood when I met a listener. Here are the highlights of what she said during our brief talk:
- I recognized you by your voice
- I listen all the time
- I know you’re interested in forensics
- We think one of my relatives was murdered
- The police investigation hasn’t proved anything
- We hired an expert pathologist
Dismembers Only
One word I expected to see was missing from a news article titled “Dismembered bodies all too common in South Florida.” The missing word is “Dexter.” For five seasons, the fictional vigilante serial killer has been chopping up his victims and dumping them in the ocean off Miami. Now, all of a sudden, the Sun Sentinel is reporting on the real thing. Dismembered bodies are harder to identify. Establishing time since death can help police determine a victim’s identity, which is proof the Sunshine State needs its own body farm.
A couple of years ago I read “Dead Men Do Tell Tales” by University of Florida forensic anthropologist Dr. William Maples. His writing style portrayed an arrogance that made me think he would have only opened a body farm if he could pass it off as his own idea.
On the same day last week, The Atlantic published a story about the new body farm in Pennsylvania and the News Sentinel published a story about the bones collected at the original Body Farm in Knoxville.
The fifth season of “Dexter” has been very good. It’s tough for them to top last year’s outstanding Trinity Killer storyline. However the story of Lumen, played by Julia Stiles, has been excellent. The only thing tarnishing the current season has been a weak subplot involving Lieutenant Maria LaGuerta and some drug kingpins she was taking down. This new behind-the-scenes video has some great insight about the spark of humanity that Lumen has illuminated within Dexter Morgan.
Empowering Women
Elizabeth Bonilla, a victim’s advocate at the YWCA, was my classmate last year during the FBI Citizens’ Academy. When she asked me to support the YWCA’s “Week Without Violence,” I was happy to agree. On Monday, I participated in a “Walk a Mile in Their Shoes” around downtown Knoxville. It was a memory walk to honor victims of domestic violence. I learned that Tennessee has the unfortunate distinction of being ranked fifth in homicides of women by men.
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