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Shaken Baby Syndrome | Craig Smith

The term “shaken baby syndrome” (SBS) was developed to explain those instances in which severe intracranial trauma occurred in the absence of signs of external head trauma. SBS is the severe intentional application of violent force (shaking) in one or more episodes, resulting in intracranial injuries to the child. Physical abuse of children by shaking…

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Science of Entomology – Prof. Jeffery Tomberlin

Predicting the postmortem interval of a decedent is a major task of law enforcement. Most methods implemented by death investigators rely on qualitative information (i.e. rigor mortis, livor mortis). Microbes represent 99% of somatic cells in and on a human body.   No data are available on the use of these organisms to predict the time…

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Forensic Entomology – Dr. Michelle Sanford Ph.D. , M-ABFE

Forensic entomology is the study of insects for medico-legal purposes. There are many ways insects can be used to help solve a crime, but the primary purpose of forensic entomology is estimating time since death. Once a person dies his or her body starts to decompose. The decomposition of a dead body starts with the action…

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Death Notifications | CT14

Death notification is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult tasks faced by law enforcement officers and other professionals, because learning of the death of a loved one often is the most traumatic event in a person’s life. The moment of notification is one that most people remember very vividly for the rest of…

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Blood Pattern – Bare Bones Forensics| CT13

Karen L. Smith earned her undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from the University of North Florida (Magna Cum Laude) and her Master’s Degree in Pharmacy with a concentration in Forensic Science from the University of Florida. Karen spent nearly 14 years as a police officer and detective at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in Florida. She…

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Ebola-Guidance for Handling Human Remains | CT11

These recommendations give guidance on the safe handling of human remains that may contain Ebola virus and are for use by personnel who perform postmortem care in U.S. hospitals and mortuaries. In patients who die of Ebola virus infection, virus can be detected throughout the body. Ebola virus can be transmitted in postmortem care settings…

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Private Investigators – Friend or Foe | ct9

Medicolegal / Death Investigation can provide a contextual view of the empirical evidence in both death and non-death cases. We have found that the use of a full medicolegal / death investigation is under utilized – from the investigator to the forensic pathologist. Associates in Forensic Investigations  specialize in the expert medicolegal consultation and legal…

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Child Death – Investigation Obstacles | CT8

On this weeks show I talk with Skip McGuire  about the obstacles in investigating child deaths. We all know that these  investigations bring on a whole new level of emotion and scrutiny than most other investigations. Also they seem to have a higher community impact than do other more “normal” deaths.  Obstacles covered today include; scene…

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Getting To Close to Victim Families | CT3

  By opening up lines of communication with the victim’s family, Greeley says he found himself inundated with keeping the family happy without jeopardizing the leads and evidence collected in the investigation.

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Compassion Fatigue | CT1

On this podcast, Anita Brooks, author of Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over joins me to discuss an overlooked issue for twenty-first century coroners — Compassion Fatigue. Helping others who have undergone a trauma from a natural disaster, accident, or sudden act of violence, can be highly satisfying work. But helping trauma victims can…

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