NCJ Number
227700
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2009 Pages: 793-797
Date Published
July 2009
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The hind limbs of 11 fresh pigs - including the femur, tibia, and fibula with contiguous surrounding flesh - received wounds inflicted with 2 axes and 2 hatchets, followed by scanning electron microscopy analysis of the wounds.
Abstract
The findings suggest that although chopping weapons tend to impact bone with a high amount of energy because of the swinging action used and the mass and dimension of the blade, the resulting secondary fractures involve a lower amount of energy. In addition, as flesh is known to act as a shock absorber, the findings suggest that the defleshed bones exhibited characteristics more indicative of a higher energy impact because of the absence of flesh. Further, the findings indicate that fleshed bones will depict the opposite, showing characteristics more indicative of a lower energy impact. Lamellar separation was also observed at the impact sites and fracture surfaces of both fleshed and defleshed specimens. A consistently rough morphology was characteristic of fracture surfaces, while impact surfaces were smooth and yielded evidence of striations from each implement. Eleven fully fleshed juvenile domestic pig hind limbs and 9 defleshed domestic pig bones were used in this study. The instruments used to inflict wounds included two used axes, one used hatchet, and one newly purchased unused hatchet. This report describes the trauma infliction, sample preparation, and microscopic analysis. 3 tables, 4 figures, and 13 references