Famous Cases
This football star was tried in 1995 for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Who is O.J. Simpson?
This professional conducts autopsies, examines organs and tissues, and prepares official reports that explain causes of death. They often work closely with a coroner or medical examiner.
Who is a forensic pathologist?
This is the longest bone in the human body.
What is the femur?
This type of forensic evidence, made famous by shows like CSI, is often collected from crime scenes to help identify suspects by their unique genetic code.
What is DNA?
This term means "after death" and is often used to describe changes in the body following death.
What is postmortem?
This notorious gangster was finally brought down not by his violent crimes but by a conviction for tax evasion in 1931.
Who is Al Capone?
This official may be elected and isn’t always required to have a medical degree, but has legal authority to declare cause and manner of death.
Who is a coroner?
Name one major bone found in the human skull.
What is the cranium / frontal bone / mandible / parietal bone / temporal bone?
In many true crime shows, investigators use this kind of luminol-activated evidence to detect traces of blood at cleaned-up crime scenes.
What is luminol testing?
This legal classification refers to how a person died, such as natural, accidental, homicidal, suicidal, or undetermined.
What is manner of death?
This case was cracked when investigators used bite mark analysis to help convict a Florida man of the 1978 murders of two sorority sisters.
Who is Ted Bundy?
Unlike coroners, this death investigation official must be a licensed physician and is appointed rather than elected.
Who is a medical examiner?
This large opening at the base of the skull allows the spinal cord to pass through and connect to the brain.
What is the foramen magnum?
This 2021 missing persons case captivated the internet, as online sleuths used social media posts, van life videos, and Google Maps data to help locate the victim's remains in Wyoming. These sleuths also found the victim's partner was posting from their Instagram account well after they had been deceased.
Who is Gabby Petito?
This term refers to the specific reason or injury that caused death, like a gunshot wound or poisoning.
What is cause of death?
This 1996 cold case involving the death of a six-year-old girl in her Boulder, Colorado home remains unsolved, despite DNA evidence and years of investigation.
Who is JonBenét Ramsey?
This type of specialist is called in when remains are burned, decomposed, skeletonized, or recovered from mass disasters or unmarked graves.
Who is a forensic anthropologist?
This is the more common name for the os coxa.
What is the pelvic/ hip bone?
This hit podcast helped spark the true crime boom in 2014, when host Sarah Koenig dug into the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee.
What is Serial?
This term describes the pooling of blood in the lowest parts of the body after death, causing discoloration.
What is livor mortis?
This unidentified serial killer terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early ’70s, taunting police with cryptic letters and ciphers, one of which was only solved in 2020.
Who is the Zodiac Killer?
These lab-based specialists extract, amplify, and compare genetic material from crime scene evidence to match DNA profiles to suspects or victims.
Who are forensic DNA analysts?
These animal bones are commonly mistaken for human fetal bones in forensic investigations.
What are pig bones?
This type of forensic science, used to match bullets to a specific gun, became central in investigations like the assassination of JFK.
What are ballistics?
In forensic anthropology, this term describes injuries that occurred at or around the time of death.
What is perimortem trauma?