ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 9

The Identification of Maternity in an Unusual Pregnancy-Related Homicide
Clark, EGI
Assistant professor of pathology, University of Nevada School of Medicine and Sierra Pathology Associates, Inc., NV

Schanfield, MS
Laboratory director, Analytical Genetic Testing Center, Inc., CO

Zumwalt, RE
Assistant chief medical investigator, Office of the Medical Investigator for the State of New Mexico, and associate professor of pathology, University of New Mexico, School of Medicine, NM

(Received 18 January 1989; accepted 7 February 1989)

Abstract

A recent bizarre homicide which culminated in the delivery of a live-born infant necessitated careful determination of true maternal origin. A 23-year-old pregnant woman was abducted, subdued, strangled, and delivered of a term infant by a crude Cesarean section. The infant was stolen and subsequently presented to physicians by a woman posing as the mother. Methods used to help confirm the surviving infant's parentage involved red cell antigen and enzyme system evaluations as well as immunoglobulin allotyping, which ultimately proved to be the most effective serologic test performed. The forensic science investigation of this unusual case also used bite mark analysis and patterned injury interpretation. Immunoglobulin allotyping is specifically discussed as a forensic serology test which is currently available and particularly applicable in cases involving parentage determination.

Keywords:
pathology and biology, maternity, genetic typing, immunoglobulins

Paper ID: JFS12803J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS12803J
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