Discovering Dominga: Discover More: Evidence in the Remains

• Conducting an Investigation: Introduction
• The Interviews
• Exhumation and Physical Anthropology

Conducting an Investigation: Introduction

The Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG) has been investigating genocide cases in Guatemala for over 10 years. The FAFG was started in response to the government's unwillingness to set up its own task force in the early
1990s. Their work is challenging, can be dangerous and does not often result in positive identifications.

In Guatemala, where the majority of the victims of the military's counterinsurgency campaign of the early 1980's belonged to the rural peasant Mayan Indian population, positive identifications through dental or medical records are a rarity. It is extremely challenging to gather witness testimony that can help the forensic anthropologist identify the remains they exhume in circumstances where survivors are still threatened by the perpetrators who often live amongst them. Without the support of costly DNA identifications, such as those commonly used in places such as Kosovo or Bosnia, the forensic anthropologists in Guatemala have to rely on gaining the population's trust in order to gather the information they need for identifications.

Faced with these challenges, investigators are forced to piece together the identity of the missing from interviews with family members and neighbors, clothing and jewelry found on the remains, and the estimated height and age of victims at the time of death. As FAFG President Freddy Pecerrelli says, "First we have to prove that people were alive before we can prove they are dead."

The FAFG team members use social anthropology, physical anthropology and archaeology in their work. Read more about the investigative process on the following pages.

• Conducting an Investigation: Introduction
• The Interviews
• Exhumation and Physical Anthropology

The Interviews

The social anthropologist conducts two types of interviews: an antemortem interview and a historical interview.

Antemortem Interview
The antemortem interview ("pre-death") helps to establish a skeletal medical record. It's a sort of history -- an osteological history of the skeleton. Investigators ask family members questions like, "How old was he? How tall? Did he work with his left hand or with his right hand? Did he ever break a leg? Did he ever complain of tooth pain? Did he have all his teeth? Was he born OK? Was one of his arms shorter? Did he walk funny? Did he ever suffer any illness?" The answers to these questions are reported to the physical anthropologist who refers to them in his analysis of the skeletal remains.

Historical Interview
The historical interview tries to piece together what happened. Witnesses and survivors are asked questions like, "What happened during the killings? What happened to the survivors after? What happened to the bodies? Where were they buried?" Investigators use this information to pinpoint the location of the graves. It is often the case that family members and neighbors buried the victims. If the trauma they describe in their interviews is found on the skeletal remains, it gives credibility to their accounts and strengthens the case against the perpetrators.

These historical interviews happen before, during and after the exhumation. In fact, it is often during the exhumation that additional witnesses come forward with their testimony. The fact that actual work is being done to unearth past crimes seems to give people the courage to speak out about what they saw. In this sense, collecting witness accounts and the process of exhumation go hand in hand.

• Conducting an Investigation: Introduction
• The Interviews
• Exhumation and Physical Anthropology

Exhumation and Physical Anthropology

Exhumation

An exhumation, just like any archaeological dig, is an intrusive event which tends to destroy the context as the team proceeds with the investigation. It is for this reason that it is so important to document every little detail encountered. Each step of the exhumation is documented. Every time a skeleton is recovered, photographs are taken and measurements made.

Physical Anthropology

Chain of custody is part of the documentation of what happens with the exhumed remains and evidence. This also means that the remains are
transported and kept in secure conditions at all times until returned to their families. Physical anthropologists analyze the remains to determine age, sex, stature, race, handedness, etc. They try to answer questions like, did they have any trauma that contributed to their death? Did they have any trauma that would individualize the person? For example, if a person broke a rib, or a leg -- is it an old injury that has healed? And can it be matched with data from the antemortem interviews?

Final Report and Proper Burial
The information gathered in the laboratory is compared with the information from the interviews to try to make identifications and to determine the cause of death. A report is forwarded to the case prosecutor and family members of the victim. Finally, the remains are returned to family members or neighbors so that the victim can receive a proper burial, according to their customs.