Death's Acre: Inside The Legendary Forensic Lab The Body Farm by Bill Bass (essential books to read txt) 📕

true friend and a member of the Bass family.

—W.M.B. III

As Goethe once said (a bit more elegantly), the instant you burn your bridges and fling yourself at something, magic happens: Providence moves, doors open, coincidences add up to destiny. This book bears that out. Long before I met her, Cindy Robinson had the foresight to study with a memorable professor; twenty years later she shared her stories of Dr. Bass and his Body Farm with me, a guy who’d had the foresight and good fortune to marry her in the meantime. The best reader and keenest critic I know, Cindy helped me make this book far better.

Many people accompanied and encouraged me on my trek through the realms of the dead, including the two who brought me into the land of the living. Bill and Gloria Jefferson never dreamed this is where their son would end up, but they’ve remained interested and encouraging throughout my meandering career. So have my children, Ben and Anna, who likewise seem partial to roads less traveled.

My close friend and fellow journalist Steven Keeva published my first story about Dr. Bass and the murder cases he has helped solve. Steve also opened the door that led to my forensic documentaries for the National Geographic Society, and he offered, time and again, faith and hope when my own ran dry. So did John Hoover, a good friend, great listener, and wise counselor. Other mainstays have been my beer buddies from the Wednesday Night Prayer Group: John Craig, J.J. Rochelle, Wendy Smith, and David Brill. David, a fine writer and generous friend, introduced me to Giles Anderson, agent extraordinaire, whose energy and enthusiasm for this project have been inspiring and contagious. Giles, in turn, brought us Danny Baror, our superb international agent.

David Highfill, our editor at Putnam, stepped far out onto a limb to help us bring about the book we so blithely promised him in the first place. Robert Roper has advised me well and guided me past many pitfalls. Nancy Young generously loaned me her cozy cabin and the Carolina mountains when I needed to get away from a myriad of excuses not to write.

Patricia Cornwell’s contribution, in spotlighting forensic science in general and the Body Farm in particular, can’t be overstated. Her flood tide lifted our boat as surely as her helicopter lifted our spirits that gray day when she hovered with us in the treetops above the Body Farm.

Most of all, I thank Bill Bass and his lovely wife, Carol—a gracious hostess and a lively lunch companion. Bill first suggested this book three years ago; lucky me, to be his collaborator. Working with him has been not just a rare privilege but a constant delight. One of the world’s foremost scientists, he’s also one of its most humble, honest, and honorable human beings. Unfailingly cheerful, ever enthusiastic, always affirming, Dr. Bass possesses—pacemaker notwithstanding—one of the best hearts to be found anywhere on this beautiful planet brimming with Life.

—J.W.J.

Index

Accumulated degree days (ADDs), ref-1

Acker, John, ref-1

Adipocere, ref-1

formation of, ref-1, ref-2

Age, determination of, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7, ref-8, ref-9

clavicles and, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

cranial sutures and, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

epiphyses and, ref-1, ref-2

pelvis and, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4

teeth and, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4

Air Force, U.S., DNA laboratory, ref-1, ref-2

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Bureau of, ref-1, ref-2

Alex, Bob, ref-1

America Online, ref-1

American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

Forensic Anthropology Section, ref-1

American Board of Forensic Anthropologists, ref-1

Anderson, Jim, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

Anderson, Patricia, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4

Anderson, Sheilah, ref-1, ref-2

Animals, feeding on corpses by, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6

Ants, ref-1, ref-2

Applewhite, Allen, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

Arikara Indians, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6

excavation of graves of, ref-1, ref-2

and Lewis and Clark expedition, ref-1

Arizona, University of, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

Arm, bones of, ref-1

See also specific bones

Armed Forces medical examiner, ref-1

Army, U.S., ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6

Central Identification Laboratory, ref-1

Corps of Engineers, ref-1, ref-2

Medical Research Lab, ref-1

Arson fires, ref-1, ref-2

Asians, ref-1, ref-2

Associated Press (AP), ref-1, ref-2

Autopsies, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

photographs of, ref-1

Baden, Michael, ref-1

Ballistics, ref-1, ref-2

Bass, Ann (first wife), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

death of, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

marriage of, ref-1, ref-2

Bass, Annette (second wife), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7

Bass, Carol (third wife), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6

Bass, Charlie (son), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6

Bass, Jenny (mother), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6

Bass, Jim (son), ref-1, ref-2

Bass, Marvin (father), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

Bass, William M., IV (Billy; son), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

Bennett, Joanne, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4

Bennett, Mark, ref-1, ref-2

Bernardo, Paul, ref-1

Bethlehem Steel, ref-1

Bible, the, ref-1

Birkby, Walter, ref-1

Blackbourne, Annette. See Annette Bass

Blackbourne, Joe, ref-1

Blake, Cleland, ref-1

Bloating, ref-1

Bloody Ridge, Battle of, ref-1

Blowflies, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7, ref-8, ref-9, ref-10

Blumensaat’s line, ref-1

Bodkin, Tom, ref-1

Body Farm (Anthropological Research Facility), ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7, ref-8, ref-9, ref-10

adipocere formation study at, ref-1

cremains analysis at, ref-1

decomposition research at, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7

D-MORT and, ref-1

establishment of, ref-1

forensic cases at, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4

insect studies at, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7

protest against, ref-1, ref-2

uproar over television report on, ref-1

time since death studies at, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

Body Farm, The (Cornwell), ref-1

Bohanan, Arthur, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7, ref-8

Bone fragments, burned, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

in cremains, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

Bones (Ubelaker), ref-1

Bosnia, United Nations war crimes tribunal in, ref-1

Brown, Andy, ref-1

Brown, William, ref-1, ref-2

Brow ridges, ref-1

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary (Tennessee), ref-1

Bullets, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

ballistic evidence on, ref-1

at Native American sites, ref-1

Baumgardner, Richard, ref-1

Burial practices, Native American, ref-1

Burris Funeral Home (Crossville, Tennessee), ref-1

Cadaver dogs, ref-1, ref-2

Cahaba Lane murders. See Zoo Man case

Calcaneus, ref-1

Calcining, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5

Capote, Truman, ref-1, ref-2

Car fires, ref-1, ref-2

Carroll, Earl, ref-1, ref-2

Carson, Arzo, ref-1, ref-2

Caucasoid grouping, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4, ref-5, ref-6, ref-7, ref-8, ref-9

Cause of death, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3

See also Manner of death

Cemeteries

Arikara, ref-1, ref-2

Civil War–era, ref-1, ref-2

relocation of, ref-1

Cheekbones, ref-1

Chicago, University of, ref-1

Christianity, ref-1

Civil rights movement, ref-1

Civil War, ref-1, ref-2, ref-3, ref-4

Clark, William,