Defense Date
2024
Document Type
Directed Research Project
First Advisor
Tal Simmons
Second Advisor
Baneshwar Singh
Third Advisor
Brian Shannon
Abstract
The East Marshall Street Well (EMSW) was uncovered during the construction of the Hermes A. Kontos building on the Medical College of Virginia campus in Richmond, Virginia. Human remains, artifacts, and other historical items dating to the mid-19th century were discovered inside the well. These items were hastily removed with a backhoe and deposited outside a barricade for archaeologists to sort. This removal process resulted in a severe comingling of the human remains. Historical records from the university's archives indicate that they were likely victims of grave robbing, anatomical dissection, and amputation practice by medical students. This study aimed to re-associate highly degraded human skeletal groups through Insertion Null (INNUL) and Short Tandem Repeat (STR) genotyping.
In this study, 536 human skeletal elements from the EMSW were processed. In total, 257 of the 536 highly degraded bone elements exhibited quantitation values above 0.025 ng. Of those 256 profiles, 146 produced partial or full INNUL profiles. All obtained profiles were then analyzed with Familias to calculate likelihood ratios (LR). A total of 19 individuals were identified using INNULs. STR analysis supported 15 of the groups but removed four groups due to concerns of contamination or inconclusive DNA results. Additionally, four crania and one mandible were associated to four individual groups using STRs.
The integration of INNUL and STR genotyping analysis along with anthropological assessment generated greater confidence and accuracy in matches during the process of reassociating highly degraded and commingled human skeletal assemblages and enabled the connection of non-articulating skeletal elements.
Rights
© The Author(s)
Is Part Of
VCU Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects
Date of Submission
4-24-2024