To plot my next murder, I went to the Body Farm(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
To plot my next murder, I went to the Body Farm
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/books/review/body-farm-lisa-gardner.html
37 comments
Fortunately she had quite the grim sense of humour to help her deal with the cases she worked on.
Unfortunately, even a sense of humour doesn't protect you from PTSD when dealing with this sort of stuff, particularly on a daily basis. I recently listened to the audio book version of Dr Richard Shepherd's "Unnatural Causes" [1]. It's all very fascinating, and he's clearly passionate about his work while also providing a great service to society as a whole but as becomes clear, it has also affected his mental health and family life.
[1] https://amzn.to/2LBaOF4 - (The audio book is excellently narrated by the author himself; that doesn't always work out well, but it does in this case.)
Unfortunately, even a sense of humour doesn't protect you from PTSD when dealing with this sort of stuff, particularly on a daily basis. I recently listened to the audio book version of Dr Richard Shepherd's "Unnatural Causes" [1]. It's all very fascinating, and he's clearly passionate about his work while also providing a great service to society as a whole but as becomes clear, it has also affected his mental health and family life.
[1] https://amzn.to/2LBaOF4 - (The audio book is excellently narrated by the author himself; that doesn't always work out well, but it does in this case.)
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely grab a copy.
Great article! I learned a lot about human decomposition, and I'm glad there's a facility out there doing this kind of research.
One nitpick: The author mentions a recent study claiming that cell phone use can cause bone spurs on an individual's head as an example of how quickly our bodies can change while we're still alive (vs what happens over generations and while decomposing):
> Changes in DNA can take generations to occur. By contrast, our skeletons can show widespread changes in as short as 10 years — from the bony protrusions now increasingly common on the back of our skulls (“text necks,” some are calling them) to our increasingly low bone density as we transition from manual labor to office work.
There have been serious deficiencies identified in the original study, from not actually measuring and providing data to back up their claims, studying the wrong thing, and did not have a random, representative sample. This doesn't detract from the main point of the article, but goes to show how easily an inaccurate study can permeate the societal knowledge without being corrected.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/smartphones-arent-makin...
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/questions-raised-...
One nitpick: The author mentions a recent study claiming that cell phone use can cause bone spurs on an individual's head as an example of how quickly our bodies can change while we're still alive (vs what happens over generations and while decomposing):
> Changes in DNA can take generations to occur. By contrast, our skeletons can show widespread changes in as short as 10 years — from the bony protrusions now increasingly common on the back of our skulls (“text necks,” some are calling them) to our increasingly low bone density as we transition from manual labor to office work.
There have been serious deficiencies identified in the original study, from not actually measuring and providing data to back up their claims, studying the wrong thing, and did not have a random, representative sample. This doesn't detract from the main point of the article, but goes to show how easily an inaccurate study can permeate the societal knowledge without being corrected.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/smartphones-arent-makin...
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/questions-raised-...
I recently read A Dog's heart, by Mikhail Bulgakov. There is a part where he describes the operation on the dog. When I read that part, i told myself there is absolutely no way he could come up with such a vivid description if he had never operated on a live body.
Turns out, the author had been a doctor in world war 2 and had witnessed some terrible things. And they made their way into the book.
Turns out, the author had been a doctor in world war 2 and had witnessed some terrible things. And they made their way into the book.
I always pretend this body farm doesn’t exist. I think the research is very important, but I don’t like knowing it is a few miles from my office!
I’m a professor at UTK, where the farm is located.
I’m a professor at UTK, where the farm is located.
Yeah, when the zombie apocalypse starts you're in a bad spot.
For anyone who liked this article, I can recommend Mary Roach's "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" (2003) [1]. A fantastic book about what happens to human bodies after death. Part of the book is about visiting a body farm. She's a funny, very talented writer.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32145.Stiff
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32145.Stiff
This is interesting stuff, for sure.
But a key word doesn't appear in TFA: "motive".
No matter how well you hide/burn/dissolve/etc the remains of anyone with whom you have a relationship, you'll be a suspect. You can try to fake an alibi, and obscuring the time of death does help with that. However, any evidence for that having been done may implicate those with motives, because a random serial killer likely wouldn't bother.
That's why most unsolved murders involve ~random selection of victims.
But a key word doesn't appear in TFA: "motive".
No matter how well you hide/burn/dissolve/etc the remains of anyone with whom you have a relationship, you'll be a suspect. You can try to fake an alibi, and obscuring the time of death does help with that. However, any evidence for that having been done may implicate those with motives, because a random serial killer likely wouldn't bother.
That's why most unsolved murders involve ~random selection of victims.
Only 60% of murders in the US are solved. The police are not as diligent as you'd think.
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/24/17896034/murder-crime-clearanc...
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/24/17896034/murder-crime-clearanc...
Sure. But what's the murder clearance rate among general HN readers? I bet that it's substantially greater than 60%. As either victim or killer.
As an extension- A reminder to always get a lawyer when questioned by police!
Yes. And you can only count on making one phone call. But not on having an opportunity to google for lawyers. So that phone call goes to someone you can trust to find a criminal lawyer. And contrary to fantasy, having one on retainer is too expensive for most people who aren't seriously professional criminals.
That's a well-placed cliffhanger at the end
it's weird, it's almost advertisement for murderers to buy the book...
So you just have to track who bought the book (eg. ask Amazon) to find potential suspects!
It reminds of https://www.marianne.net/societe/attentat-colis-piege-lyon-a... : someone built a bomb using Amazon Basics batteries and acetone bought on Amazon
It reminds of https://www.marianne.net/societe/attentat-colis-piege-lyon-a... : someone built a bomb using Amazon Basics batteries and acetone bought on Amazon
Quote: "I finally hit on a possible scenario during my last afternoon. I ran my idea by Jantz. She told me she thought it was deeply disturbing but also brutally effective. I went home and got to work."
Yeah, everybody whom watched Breaking Bad knows it too. It involves 2 barrels of plastic and acid.
Yeah, everybody whom watched Breaking Bad knows it too. It involves 2 barrels of plastic and acid.
Although you're better of using strong alkalines.
That ambiguous ending left me hanging and twisting in the wind.
Who watched, not whom watched. "Whom" is only applicable for the object of a clause.
Completely unrelated, but I only recently learned and became comfortable with this distinction (despite somehow intuiting it in my use of the word) after getting further in my German and French classes. We seem to do a poor job of actually teaching English grammar in this country, and then we stumble upon these rules when learning other languages!
I only really learned English grammar properly when I studied Latin in high school.
You're right about the need for hard evidence to back up unsubstantiated medical claims. Sometimes crooked doctors actually make fake diagnoses of bone spurs as favors to their draft-dodging patients.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/...
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/...
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20490344 and marked it off-topic.
wizzairflyer(3)
I also learned, after asking some questions about the case, that sometimes you are better off being ignorant of the details. And that some people are really capable of terrible, terrible acts against others. :( Fortunately she had quite the grim sense of humour to help her deal with the cases she worked on.