The Bone Lady: Life As a Forensic Anthropologist - Hardcover

Mary H. Manhein (Author)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807124044 ISBN 13: 9780807124048

Publisher: LSU Press, 1999

Synopsis

"On the first day of the search, I failed to find the body." So writes forensic anthropologist and bioarchaeologist Mary H. Manhein--or "the bone lady," as law enforcement personnel call her. In this, one of dozens of stories recollected in her powerful memoir, Manhein and the state police eventually unearth a black plastic bag buried in the banks of the Mississippi River containing the body of a man who has been missing for five years. After the painstaking process of examining the remains, confirming the victim's identity, and preparing a formal report for the police, Manhein testifies for the prosecution at the murder trial. The defendant is convicted (in no small part because of Manhein), and "the bone lady" has helped solve yet another mystery.

As director of the Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Laboratory at Louisiana State University, Manhein unravels mysteries of life and death every day. In The Bone Lady, she shares, with the compassion and humor of a born storyteller, many fascinating cases that include the science underlying her analyses as well as the human stories behind the remains.

Manhein, an expert on the human skeleton, assists law enforcement by providing profiles of remains that narrow the identification process when the traditional means used by medical examiners or coroners to conduct autopsies are no longer applicable--simply put, when bones are all that are left to tell the story. She assesses age, sex, race, height, signs of trauma, and time since death, and creates clay facial reconstructions.

Although Manhein enjoys solving high-profile cases, her personal crusade is identifying the John and Jane Does who wait in her lab. Manhein's own words perfectly characterize her mission: "Identifying a victim can bring peace of mind to the family and can help them to go on with their lives. Sometimes, peace of mind is the only gift that I can give."

About this title

Synopsis:

In this memoir, Mary Manheim, a forensic anthropologist and bioarchaeologist known as "the bone lady" to her colleagues, recollects dozens of stories. In one story, Manhein and the state police eventually unearth a black plastic bag buried in the banks of the Mississippi River containing the body of a man who has been missing for five years. After the painstaking process of examining the remains, confirming the victim's identity, and preparing a formal report for the police, Manhein testifies for the prosecution at the murder trial. The defendant is convicted, and the bone lady has helped solve yet another mystery. As director of the Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Laboratory at Louisiana State University, Manhein unravels mysteries of life and death every day. In "The Bone Lady", she shares many cases that include the science underlying her analyses as well as the human stories behind the remains.

Manhein, an expert on the human skeleton, assists law enforcement by providing profiles of remains that narrow the identification process when the traditional means used by medical examiners or coroners to conduct autopsies are no longer applicable - simply put, when bones are all that are left to tell the story. She assesses age, sex, race, height, signs of trauma, and time since death, and creates clay facial reconstructions. The case studies Manhein includes in "The Bone Lady" highlight the diversity of the field of forensic anthropology. She presents some of her more lighthearted cases, such as that instigated by the suburban man who discovers a box of bones buried in his backyard labelled "Patsy Lou Bates - Sis". A coroner, police investigators, and swarms of media are present when Manhein identifies Patsy Lou as a dearly departed family pet. One of her most chilling cases concerns a husband who murdered his wife, buried her in their yard, planted a rose garden over her grave, and continued to garden there for eight years until his deed was discovered. Manhein's involvement in historic cases includes her participation in the exhumation of Dr.

Carl Weiss, the alleged assassin of Huey P. Long. Although Manhein enjoys solving high-profile cases, her personal crusade is identifying the John and Jane Does who wait in her lab. Manhein's own words characterize her mission: "Identifying a victim can bring peace of mind to the family and can help them to go on with their lives. Sometimes, peace of mind is the only gift that I can give".

From the Back Cover:

THE RIVETING TALE OF A TRUE-LIFE CRIME-FIGHTING SCIENTIFIC SLEUTH

When a skeleton is all that's left to tell the story of a crime, Mary Manhein, otherwise known as "the bone lady", is called in. For almost two decades, Manhein has used her expertise in forensic anthropology to help law enforcement agents -- locally, nationally, and internationally -- solve their most perplexing mysteries. In this eerie book she shares the extraordinary details of the often high-profile cases on which she works, and the science underlying her analyses. Here are the fascinating details of how, from a pile of bones, she assesses age, sex, race, signs of trauma, and time of death, and how she can even use clay to re-create a face.

Written with the compassion and humor of a born storyteller, The Bone Lady is an unforgettable glimpse into the lab where one scientist works to reveal the human stories behind the remains.

About this edition

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0807124044
• ISBN 13: 9780807124048
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 250