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Stable Isotope Forensics as an Investigative Tool in Missing Persons Investigations

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Handbook of Missing Persons

Abstract

Recent forensic applications of stable isotope analysis (SIA) have demonstrated its value as an investigative tool in the identification of unknown decedents. Stable isotope ratios measured in bones, teeth, hair, and nails provide a record of a person’s dietary preferences, travel history, and residence patterns. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotopes of human tissues provide information regarding a decedent’s dietary preferences, which in turn may reflect a person’s geographic region of origin. Additionally, stable oxygen and strontium isotopes in body tissues can be used to provenance human remains, because these isotopes reflect the source of drinking water and local geology, respectively. When combined, a multi-isotope approach provides a powerful geolocation tool for predicting a region of origin or recent travel history for unidentified human remains. In this study, we present on two forensic cases that used SIA to predict the travel history and region of origin of unknown decedents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, California State University-Chico, 400 West 1st Street, Chico, CA, 95929-0400, USA

    Eric J. Bartelink Ph.D., D-A.B.F.A., Amy T. Mackinnon & Julia R. Prince-Buitenhuys

  2. IsoForensics, Inc., 421 Wakara Way, Suite 100, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA

    Brett J. Tipple & Lesley A. Chesson

Authors
  1. Eric J. Bartelink Ph.D., D-A.B.F.A.
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  2. Amy T. Mackinnon
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  3. Julia R. Prince-Buitenhuys
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  4. Brett J. Tipple
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  5. Lesley A. Chesson
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Correspondence to Eric J. Bartelink Ph.D., D-A.B.F.A. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing and Health Sciences, California State University, East Bay, San Francisco, California, USA

    Stephen J. Morewitz

  2. Forensic Archaeology and Genocide, Investigation, Staffordshire University, Staffordshire, United Kingdom

    Caroline Sturdy Colls

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Bartelink, E.J., Mackinnon, A.T., Prince-Buitenhuys, J.R., Tipple, B.J., Chesson, L.A. (2016). Stable Isotope Forensics as an Investigative Tool in Missing Persons Investigations. In: Morewitz, S., Sturdy Colls, C. (eds) Handbook of Missing Persons. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40199-7_29

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