Post-Mortem Data (PM)
Definition
Information recovered from unidentified remains: dental charting of recovered dentition, fingerprints from preserved skin, skeletal measurements, pathological findings, DNA profile from bone or tissue, and clothing/effects inventory.
- Source
- Unidentified remains
- Included
- Dental chart, fingerprints, skeletal measurements, DNA profile
- Also included
- Pathological findings and clothing or effects inventory
- Matched against
- Ante-mortem data in identification work
Common questions
Why are multiple data types collected instead of relying on one?+
Condition of the remains often rules some methods out; decomposition can destroy fingerprint ridges while leaving teeth and bone intact, so collecting several independent lines lets identification proceed with whichever method the remains still support, and lets findings cross-check each other.
What determines which post-mortem data type gives the fastest identification?+
Speed depends on what ante-mortem records exist for comparison: dental charting is fast if the person's dental records are on file, while DNA needs a reference sample or relative and takes longer to process, so investigators typically pursue several channels in parallel.
Related terms
- Ante-Mortem Data (AM)
- Information about a person recorded before death: dental charts, medical records, photographs, physical descriptions, fingerprints, and DNA reference samples from biological relatives....
- INTERPOL DVI Forms
- Standardised yellow (AM) and pink (PM) forms developed by INTERPOL for recording ante-mortem and post-mortem data in a comparable structure. Used across...
- Likelihood Ratio (LR)
- The ratio of two conditional probabilities: the probability of the observed evidence given the prosecution's hypothesis (same source), divided by the probability...
- Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI)
- The smallest number of distinct individuals required to account for all skeletal elements present in an assemblage. Determined by identifying the element...
- STR Profiling
- Short tandem repeat profiling: the same multi-locus PCR-based method used for human identity testing, adapted for target species with species-specific primer sets....