Beyond The Body Farm

Download or read book Beyond the Body Farm written by Bill Bass and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “excellent” collection of case studies and stories from the forensic anthropologist who founded Tennessee’s “Body Farm” (Charleston Post & Courier). A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Bill Bass created the world’s first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition—three acres on a Tennessee hillside where human bodies are left to the elements. His research at the Body Farm has revolutionized the field, helping crack cold cases and pinpoint time of death. But during a forensics career that spans half a century, Bass’s work has ranged far beyond the gates of the Body Farm. In this riveting book, the bone sleuth explores the rise of modern forensic science, using fascinating cases he’s worked on to take readers into the real world of C.S.I. Some cases rely on the simplest of tools and techniques, such as reassembling—from battered torsos and a stack of severed limbs—eleven people hurled skyward by an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory. Other cases hinge on sophisticated techniques Bass couldn’t have imagined when he began his career: harnessing scanning electron microscopy to detect trace elements in knife wounds, or extracting DNA from a long-buried corpse, only to find that the murder victim may have been mistakenly identified a quarter-century before. Beyond the Body Farm follows Bass as he explores the depths of a lake with a twenty-first-century sonar system in search of an airplane that vanished thirty-five years ago; exhumes a fifties pop star to determine what injuries he suffered in the plane crash that killed three rock and roll legends; and works to decipher an ancient Persian death scene. Witty and engaging, Bass dissects the methods used by homicide investigators every day on an extraordinary journey into the high-tech science that it takes to crack a case. “Case studies and anecdotes from the field of corpse identification [with] careful attention to detail and the occasional darkly humorous aside.” —Publishers Weekly “The real crimes and mysteries here are just as or more intriguing than any fictional crime drama . . . offers a real-life understanding of forensic anthropology and the science behind it.” —Knoxville News-Sentinel

Download or read book Death's Acre written by William Bass and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-10-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Fans of the forensics-oriented novels of such mystery writers as Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell...not to mention television series like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, will make an eager audience for this one.”—Booklist On a patch of land in the Tennessee hills, human corpses decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria, and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. This is Bill Bass’s “Body Farm,” where nature takes its course as bodies buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, or locked in car trunks serve the needs of science and the cause of justice. In Death’s Acre, Bass invites readers on an unprecedented journey behind the gates of the Body Farm where he revolutionized forensic anthropology. A master scientist and an engaging storyteller, Bass reveals his most intriguing cases for the first time. He revisits the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, explores the mystery of a headless corpse whose identity astonished police, divulges how the telltale traces of an insect sent a murderous grandfather to death row—and much more. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

Download or read book Bone Detective: written by Lorraine Jean Hopping and published by Joseph Henry Press. This book was released on 2006-04-30 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diane France loves bones. Why? Because they talk to her. Every skeleton she meets whispers secrets about the life-and death-of its owner. Diane France can hear those secrets because she's a forensic anthropologist, a bone detective. She has the science skills and know-how to examine bones for clues to a mystery: Who was this person and how did he or she die? Bones tell Diane about the life and times of famous people in history, from a Russian royal family to American outlaws and war heroes. They speak to her about murders, mass disasters, and fatal accidents. One day she's collecting skeletal evidence at a crime scene. A phone call later she's jetting to the site of a plane crash or other unexpected tragedy to identify victims. Young readers will be captivated by the thrilling real-life story of this small-town girl full of curiosity and mischief who became a world-famous bone detective.

Download or read book Bones of Betrayal written by Jefferson Bass and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The forensic thriller meets a formidable slice of history….A riveting mystery with an intricately emotional conclusion.” —Washington Post Bones of Betrayal is the fourth heart-racing “Body Farm” thriller from the world’s top forensic anthropologist. Kathy Reichs calls author Jefferson Bass, “the real deal,” and his hero Bill Brockton has already taken his rightful place alongside Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta and the investigators on TV’s “C.S.I.” In Bones of Betrayal, a hideous murder has links that connect it to World War Two’s Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb—adding a fascinating historical element that enriches an already superior crime series.

Download or read book Flesh and Bone written by Jefferson Bass and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton founded Tennessee's world-famous Body Farm—a small piece of land where corpses are left to decay in order to gain important forensic information. Now, in the wake of a shocking crime in nearby Chattanooga, he's called upon by Jess Carter—the rising star of the state's medical examiners—to help her unravel a murderous puzzle. But after re-creating the death scene at the Body Farm, Brockton discovers his career, reputation, and life are in dire jeopardy when a second, unexplained corpse appears in the grisly setting. Accused of a horrific crime—transformed overnight from a respected professor to a hated and feared pariah—Bill Brockton will need every ounce of his formidable forensic skills to escape the ingeniously woven net that's tightening around him . . . and to prove the seemingly impossible: his own innocence.

Download or read book Cut to the Bone written by Jefferson Bass and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jefferson Bass’s Cut to the Bone, the long-awaited prequel to his New York Times bestselling mystery series, turns the clock back to reveal the Body Farm's creation—and Dr. Bill Brockton's deadly duel with a serial killer. In the summer of 1992, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee Senator Albert Gore begin their long-shot campaign to win the White House. In the sweltering hills of Knoxville at the University of Tennessee, Dr. Bill Brockton, the bright, ambitious young head of the Anthropology Department, launches an unusual—some would call it macabre—research facility, unlike any other in existence. Brockton is determined to revolutionize the study of forensics to help law enforcement better solve crime. But his plans are derailed by a chilling murder that leaves the scientist reeling from a sense of déjà vu. Followed by another. And then another: bodies that bear eerie resemblances to cases from Brockton’s past. But as the body count rises, the victims’ fatal injuries grow more and more distinctive—a spiral of death that holds dark implications for Brockton...and everyone he holds dear.

Download or read book Identity Crisis written by Jefferson Bass and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-04-28 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned forensic anthropologist Bill Bass—founder of the Body Farm—tackles one of his most baffling cases ever in this real-life spellbinder In 1978, 56-year-old Leoma Patterson left a bar in Clinton, Tennessee, and was never seen again. Six months later, a female skeleton was found on a wooded lakeshore in a neighboring county. The bones were consistent with those of the missing woman, and one of Patterson's daughters recognized a ring found at the death scene as her mother's. The bones were buried, and six years later, a relative of Patterson's—one of the men she was last seen alive with—confessed to killing her. Case closed. But the tentative identification—made years before DNA testing was available to confirm it—failed to convince some of Patterson's relatives. And so it was that in 2005 Dr. Bass found himself winding around hairpin curves to the mountainside grave, where he would unearth the disputed remains and collect DNA samples. The forensic twists and turns that followed would test the limits of DNA technology … and of Dr. Bass's half-century of forensic knowledge.