Recovery of fingerprints from deceased: a DVI case study

ABSTRACT

The recovery of post-mortem fingerprints during the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process is an integral part of the identification of human remains following a mass casualty event. As part of the vetting process, decisions must be made as to what forms of identification evidence may be recovered during post-mortem examination of the deceased and, therefore, which specialists should be engaged. We present a case study in which the initial triage – undertaken as is routinely performed in small to medium DVI incidents by members without specialist fingerprint experience – suggested that fingerprint recovery would be extremely difficult. The case was taken up, with approval of the coroner, by fingerprint specialists who subsequently recovered identifiable ridge detail from all deceased. This instance highlights the importance of involving persons with specialized knowledge in triage decisions.

KEYWORDS:

• DVI
• fingerprints
• triage
• identification
• specialist opinion
• deceased

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, and Matt Fisher and Craig Hewitson from the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department Fingerprint Sciences Group.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.