The Province from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 24

ESS The Province p.ptf Sunday, November 1, 1998 Identifying dead bodies Long after a person's death, the skeleton carries a tell-tale story of his or her life. Using new techniques, examiners can determine a person's sex, age, height and ethnicity-even creating a precise Image of the facial characteristics. Eye sockets and nose: Special characteristics can help in determining the subject's ancestry-the skull is tho nlntfnrm fnr a person's physical Teeth: Comparison with dental records can provide a positive 'Could you imagine if somebody from your family just dropped out of sight? There are next of kin out there who never knew what happened to their brother or son' Stories by Jack Keating Staff Reporter Chico Newell, who deals with identifying bodies and human remains for a living, is upbeat about life. identification Skull: From its shape an artist can create a "facial approximation" a sketch of what the person looked like in lite), Ribs: Bones and joints can be ner's Service forensic identification unit. "And that's very Important to me.

There's also next of kin out there for a missing person, which never got their answer. They never knew what happened to their brother or son." If someone is missing for a month, a year or more, there's always someone out there who wants to know what happened. "Could you imagine if somebody from your family just dropped out of sight? And you never got to talk to them again, or anything else. Never had an answer to anything," said Newell, who works out of the chief coroner's office in Burnaby. He said the exhumation is the final step of bringing closure to the young man buried in the Qualicum Beach grave.

The body of a fairly tall, well-developed, well-nourished man aged 20 to 30 was found fully clothed in a sleeping bag in Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park in Parksville on Oct. 9, 1978. There was no externally apparent traumatic injury on the body, which had been decomposing for about 10 days. Newell credits Sylvia Port of the RCMP's violent crime linkage analysis centre in Vancouver for coming up with a possible missing person last November after downloading all the missing-persons files off the Canadian police information computer (CPIC) for B.C. "It's that new police approach to investigation, using computers, that has put this together," said Newell.

"They're the key to this. "And more recently we were able to get dental records from a source back east, including dental X-rays, which, once you get a chance to look at those, lead us towards it being this guy, 20 years later," said Newell. "We have a very solid idea" or who it is. But we can't do a complete comparison towards positive ID until we exhume that body and do the dental X-rays and another exam." With that information, it's now Neweil's job to confirm the man's identity. -3 So, exactly how will they come up with the ID after 20 years? "I've got to dig up the body and re-examine it.

We are going to exhume it. We are going to do a complete dental examination with X-rays," said Newell. "And then the result of our dental examination will compare to the dental records that we now have for that missing person. "And I anticipate being able to make a positive identification that way. "I expect the exam will be the day following, back here in the lab at the Vancouver city morgue." "We should be able to make an ID for that night." So what will they find? "We're going to find an old collapsed coffin within a concrete liner.

"So we're going to open that concrete liner, find the collapsed remains of the coffin and the remains of the individual inside, along with the clothing and effects that were with the body when he was discovered. 1 "We're going to remove all of that, put it in a special container; and then take it for examination. "We examine it and we foresee making a positive said Newell. 1 V) "And then the family is notified and they make a decision of what they want to do with the remains. "They may want to have the body cremated.

They may want to have the body buried where the rest of the family Is or they may want to put it back where it was." A coroner who works in human identification, Newell knows the importance of identifying bodies so that family tested for "individualizing features" such as old fractures that can be matched with hospital A SV LJy V7h members and friends know what happened to loved ones who went missing. records. Newell is confident he is about to discover the identity of a young man who has Iain in an unmarked grave since 1978. mi "There is a body buried as unidentified Pelvic bone: Key indicator "gender it's a a male or female. in a cemetery over In Qualicum Beach," said Newell.

Buried for 20 years with no name, the man's body will be exhumed on Nov. 12. Newell believes it Is important to know a dead person's Identity. "We owe it to that person. We live with a name.

We shouldn't die without one and be unknown," said Newell, a forensic identification specialist for the B.C. Coro- Thigh bone (femur): One of the specific sites good for "DNA A small quantity of bone is taken out and crushed to get at DNA cells. No one has reported these two 1.1?. people missing. Know them? i 1 a Leg bone: Measurement can determine height of the person fered from hypercarotosis (scaly white patches) on both of her feet.

"We need the public's help," said Yeager, the deputy regional coroner for the Vancouver area. "We don't have any missing-person reports that match these persons." Anyone who might know the identity of either person should call Vancouver police Const Dan Dickout at 717-2533. Vancouver coroner Cheryl Yea-ger is seeking public assistance in trying to identify two people who died this year. A Caucasian man found May 7 floating near the south shore of False Creek near the Granville Bridge and a woman who committed suicide by jumping in front of the SkyTrain at Broadway Station April 11.. i.The 5-foot, 11-inch, 152-pound man in his late 20s to.eaxly 30s was In the water at least a week, as much as a month.

He was missing two left upper front teeth and was wearing a light-coloured tank top, jeans and work boots. He may have been bowlegged. The 5-foot, 6-inch, 105-pound woman was in her 30s or early 40s with brown hair to below her shoulders, and blue eyes. She was wearing a white scarf, red wgolcoat and blue jeans, Shesuf-, It fliiO irA Av.t: jidfi 9l'yW JSf nulls Staff graphic 0'J ''in Source: Chleo Newell, btonef nr. oit.