2 Whodunnit
While a body is waiting in line to be examined, it is often
kept in a chilled space. This helps to preserve the body.
[Autopsy]
Introduction
A gem is stolen. A dead body is found.
In Europe in the 1200s, crimes like these
were not investigated the way they are
now. Instead, the victims family fought
the family accused of the crime. Later,
a practice called a trial by ordeal was
used. Suspects put their hands into
boiling water. A few days later, judges
then looked at the wounds. God was
said to heal the innocent. Infection
meant guilt.
In other parts of the world at this time,
people were using clues to solve crimes.
In 1247 in China, a man named Sung Tzu
wrote a book on forensics . Sung Tzu
lists ways to spot foul play . He discusses
the way a body changes aer death. He
describes some of the rst autopsies. In
an autopsy, a body is studied both inside and out.
Today, photos are taken at each step
of the exam. A written report lists
details that identify the body and
tries to explain the cause of death.
DID YOU KNOW?
About 4,000 years ago, one
of the first laws that asked
for evidence as proof of a
crime was written by King
Hammurabi of Babylon.
forensics: the results of a
scientic test done to help
solve a crime
foul play: criminal violence,
murder, or dishonest acts
Forensics
In a trial by ordeal, the worse a crime
was, the deeper a suspect was forced
to plunge their hand into a large
cooking pot of boiling water.
AUTOPSY
Forensics in Action
In 1812, Paris police put Franois-Eugne Vidocq at the head of one of
the worlds rst detective agencies. Vidocq had once been a crook. He had
forged documents. He had started ghts. He knew all the great criminals
of France, and he could think like a thief. is made him a very good spy.
In 1822, a woman named Isabelle dArcy was shot to death. Police said
dArcys rich husband had done it. DArcy was seeing
another man. Maybe her husband had gone
into a jealous rage.
4 Whodunnit
Franois-Eugne Vidocqs life and his work
as a detective have inspired books, TV shows,
and movies in both English and French.
forge: to illegally create
or change a document
Vidocq had other ideas. DArcys jewelry
was gone. Would her husband have stolen
jewels he had bought himself? Vidocq
suspected the boyfriend, and he ordered an
autopsy to prove it. He and the undertaker
had to do it secretly. At that time in France,
cutting into a body was taboo . People did
not want to dele the dead. But Vidocq
showed how an autopsy could let the dead
nd justice. e bullet taken from dArcys
skull did not match her husbands
gun. It did match her boyfriends.
Faced with the ndings, the guilty
boyfriend confessed.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 2015 in Minnesota, the
family of Mushkooub
Aubid, an Ojibwe tribal
elder, protested Aubid's
autopsy. The family said
that doing an autopsy went
against their beliefs.
Forensics
Isabelle dArcy was found shot in her own apartment, a
fact that made police suspect that she knew her killer.
taboo: something that a
culture or society bans
or avoids
dele: to dishonor or to
make something impure
bc
Greek doctors cut
into human bodies
to study disease.
1231
In Rome, Emperor Frederick II
passes a law that says human
dissection is legal.
1247
In China, Sung Tz'u's handbook
tells how to spot poisonings and
strangulations by inspecting the
body. The book is called
Hsi Yuan
Chi Lu
. This means "The Washing
Away of Wrongs."
1302
An official in Bologna,
Italy, asks for an
autopsy in a case of
suspected poisoning.
6 Whodunnit
History of Forensics
Even aer death, peoples bodies can still tell us a lot.
1973
Martial artist and
movie star Bruce Lee
is found dead in China
at the age of Some
suspect murder. But
an autopsy shows he
had a bad reaction to a
prescription painkiller.
1840
In France, tests are done on
the stomach contents of the
husband of Marie Lafarge.
She is found guilty of
poisoning him with arsenic,
a chemical used to kill
insects and weeds.
1855
In Germany, Rudolph Virchow
calls for the use of microscopes
to study a body's cells. The
practice is adopted in the study
of both disease and crime.
1918
As the first scientificallytrained
chief medical examiner for New
York City, Dr. Charles Norris works
to create a criminal justice system
that uses autopsy results and other
forensic science.
2015
As a result of the February
2015 case of Mushkooub Aubid,
Minnesota governor Mark
Dayton signs a state law that
protects a family's right
to protest an autopsy for
religious reasons.
Forensics
AUTOPSY
Crime and Autopsy
e death of a celebrity is big
news. People want to know
where stars were and who they
were with when they died. Most
of all, they want to know what
happened. Fans eagerly await the
autopsy report. But sometimes
the report creates more
mysteries. Such was the case
with the gangster John Dillinger.
In the early 1930s, Dillinger
robbed a string of banks, killed
a police ocer, and broke out
of jail. He was the FBIs Public
