Text Excerpt 18, Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum Dismemberment [Note to readers: Many of the official autopsy reports of the Branch Davidians, autopsy photographs, and official diagrams showing the locations of body recoveries are available for viewing at the Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum website. Unfortunately, this documentation cannot be included in a text excerpt.] "To profane a dead body by cutting it to pieces has always seemed, at least to our Western eyes, an act of bestial brutality. It is one thing to do murder. It is quite another to destroy the murder victim's identity, and this is the effect of dismemberment." -- Dr. William R. Maples, forensic anthropologist, in Dead Men Do Tell Tales, pg. 61. We have already seen that bodies fall apart in advanced stages of decomposition, when the connective tissue in the joints withers away; such a process is called disarticulation. Unless moved by another force, the body parts in such a corpse retain their original relationship, although now disconnected. Dismemberment, of course, is an entirely different process. The body is taken apart by a murderer or accomplice in the process of disposal, or in an attempt to obscure the cause of death, the time of death, the manner of death, or the identity of the victim. Forensic anthropologist Dr. William Maples assures us that that "Taking apart a fresh human body is no mean task ... You will work up a sweat doing it." (Dead Men Do Tell Tales, pg. 62). We have already seen that Dr. Douglas Ubelaker, curator of anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution and top consultant to the FBI, and his Smithsonian colleague Dr. Douglas W. Owsley, came to Waco to assist the inept Dr. Peerwani recover the bodies of the Branch Davidians. Forensic anthropologists such as Drs. Ubelaker and Owsley typically take every measure to personally excavate the bodies and examine the surrounding environment. In his book "Bones--A Forensic Detective's Casebook," Dr. Ubelaker says that examining the bodies in the field is vital, and that once the relationship between the bodies and the environment is disturbed, it can never again be created with complete accuracy (pg. 107). We might expect then that the two Smithsonian anthropologists would be on hand in the concrete room to recover the bodies of the Davidian women and children. But this was not the case, according to the sworn testimony of Texas Ranger Sgt. Raymond Coffman, who was responsible for collection of evidence in the concrete room. The Branch Davidian bodies excavated by the Rangers, who then called the medical examiner's office to have them removed (Transcript pg. 903). Despite the standards for experts in the field, many of the body parts were "sorted out" by Dr. Owsley in the Tarrant County morgue, and not in situ as they were being excavated. It is evident, therefore, that Drs. Ubelaker and Owsley did not use the expertise for which they are renowned, nor did they apply the customary standards of practice in their field to the recovery work in the concrete room. The Autopsy Reports contain none of the information from the crime scene that those experts could have gathered had they been applying the standards of their profession. Instead, the Autopsy Reports typically read as if the bodies had been recovered from under a cabbage leaf. The Autopsy Reports typically describe dismembered and pulped bodies without expressing any curiosity about the conditions that could have produced the phenomena being described. Let us take a look: Dayland Gent, Mt. Carmel Does 33 and 47 B The Autopsy Report for Mt. Carmel Doe 33, identified as three year old Dayland Gent, tells us nothing about the conditions under which the remains were recovered. "The body is presented to the county morgue secured in a blue body bag ..." Dayland is said to have died of a stab wound to the left chest. Yet the remains of Dayland Gent were picked up and put into different body bags on different days, at locations approximately three feet apart. What would cause the body of a stabbing victim to become dismembered? [Visitors to the Museum can track the recovery using the official documents.] Dr. Ubelaker did the anthropological examination. The question about the dismemberment of the boy's body is never raised in the Autopsy Report [Visitors to the Museum can examine Autopsy Report.] Mt. Carmel Doe 47 was identified as Dayland's mother, Nicole Gent Little. Her Autopsy Report says that the "body is presented to the County Morgue secured in a black body bag ..." The diagram accompanying the written report shows that Nicole Gent Little's head was almost entirely missing. The text tells us that "the soft tissues of the head and face are burned away as are the majority of the bony structures of the head and face, including the calvarial vault, orbits and nasal area." Nicole Gent Little is said to have died of a gunshot wound to the missing head; conveniently, although the flesh and the bones of the head and face have been "burned away," "[a] portion of separately recovered occipital bone accompanies the body along with multiple isolated calvarial fault fragments recovered along with the brain adjacent to the head (note scene and morgue photographs)." Extraordinary! The brain, the one of the softest and most delicate of all the human organs, survives a fire that incinerates the head and face! We are also told and that "An infant's left hand and forearm are recovered entangled in the hair" of the nape of the neck, which is all that remains of the head (page 3-4 of Autopsy Report Mt. Carmel Doe 47). Apparently it was decided that the hand and arm belonged to her son, and were sent over to the rest of Dayland Gent's remains; again, there is no curiosity expressed on this extraordinary dismemberment-- death caused by gunshot to head, head and face burned out, but brain found right there in the same body bag, along with skull fragments and the arm of her young son who died of a stab wound of the left chest. The anthropology examination was conducted by "Douglas Housely [sic] [should be "Owsley"], Ph.D." Bobbie Lane Howell Koresh, Mt. Carmel Does 67-5 and 69 The remains of one of David and Rachel Koresh's children, one-year-old Bobbie Lane Howell Koresh, were divided between two locations, approximately two feet apart, and given the numbers Mt. Carmel Doe 67-5 and Mt. Carmel Doe 69. Both sets of remains were allegedly collected on April 27-29. Doe 69 was "presented to the County Morgue secured in a blue body bag" and consisted of a nearly complete skull and jaw (the jaw had to be reconstructed), wavy medium brown hair, and a partial torso. Those remains were autopsied on 30 April by Stephen L. Puttoff and Gary L. Sisler, both deputy medical examiners. They decided that the child died of smoke and carbon monoxide inhalation, and they mention that the skull was damaged by an explosion. What explosion? The location of the remains of Doe 69 is in the back corner of the concrete room, on the side furthest from the doorway-- far away from the two-foot hole in the roof. But the Autopsy Report reveals no curiosity about the explosion. The anthropology examination was conducted by Douglas Owsley, Ph.D. Perhaps the "explosion" was caused by the soldier who fired projectiles into the concrete room after the fire burned out? The video segments which captured this scene are included in "Waco, the Big Lie Continues," approximately one hour 24 minutes from the beginning. The remains designated Mt. Carmel Doe 67-5 (which were part of the agglutinated mass, to be described below) were also assigned to Bobbie Lane Howell. Those remains were "presented to the County Morgue co-mingled with other bodies in the 'Bunker' with sorting performed by Dr. Owsley." Doe 67-5 consisted of a right foot, upper and lower legs, pelvis bones, and a right hand with attached lower arm. These remains were autopsied on 2 May, 1993 by Dr. Peerwani, who found the child died of carbon monoxide inhalation, and that, at about the time of death, the child had been injured by shrapnel. No curiosity is expressed about how the body of a child who died of carbon monoxide inhalation was shattered. The anthropology examination was conducted by Douglas W. Owsley, Ph.D. John McBean, Mt. Carmel Doe 32 Where is John McBean? The Identification Matrix, obtained from the office of the Justice of the Peace of McLennan County and on exhibit at the Museum website, tells us that on April 14, 1994 DNA tests confirmed Mt. Carmel Doe 32 to be John McBean. Read the Autopsy Report for Mt. Carmel Doe 32 and look at the autopsy photo. "Body is presented to the County Morgue secured in a blue body bag ..." This corpse was six-times cursed: head and four limbs amputated, and burnt to a cinder as well. If the murderer was trying to hide the identity of this corpse, he/she/it could not have done a better job. Dr. Peerwani, the person who performed this autopsy, tells us that amputations are "heat related." Certainly the remaining stumps were incinerated along with the trunk. But the stumps are abrupt, and inconsistent with the graduated amputations caused by the ambient heat of fire. This was a body found inside a windowless concrete room, on top of spent cartridges. There is no indication in the Autopsy Report that Dr. Peerwani looked for saw marks on the stumps. Cause of death? Smoke inhalation--but "Head injury cannot be ruled out." Anthropology examination was conducted by Douglas Ubelaker, Ph.D. No head, no jaws, no teeth, no fingerprints--so how was John McBean's body identified? By DNA tests done in the FBI lab. Are you believing this? Injuries and Dismemberment The non-existent "structural collapse" was not even a superficially valid explanation for the dismemberments we see. When a body is crushed by the simple incident of a weight falling from the height of a ceiling, regardless of the weight, the body parts tend to remain together, even if physically severed by the force. They retain something of the original spacial relationship to each other, as can be seen in many fossils. The bodies in this concrete room, however, did not follow that pattern. We find heads, calves and feet, arms--a virtual kaleidoscope of body parts mixed together. An explosion can dismember a body if the body is directly over the center of the explosion. Explosions cause ripping, shredding, and tearing injuries to a body. "Evulsion" occurs when a portion of a body is ripped off cleanly with a force drive in one direction. A sharp object, propelled by the force of an explosion, could cause evulsion injuries when the object shears through the body's bone and tissue. Dismemberments can occur in airplane crashes, when a thrown body collides with other objects, or shatters upon impact. But dismemberments can also be caused by other means. Describing the tools used to dismember bodies, Dr. William Maples says: "I have seen every tool imaginable used for this grisly purpose ... It is a bloody, messy, dangerous business." (Maples, p. 62.) "... In recent years, however, hacksaws have been supplanted by chain saws. Chain saws have certain advantages: the killer saves time and effort with a chain saw. But of course the disadvantage is that chain saws are incredibly loud and messy ..." (Maples, p. 64.) Dr. Maples goes on to describe the anatomical Stryker saw used in forensic labs. "It leaves few tooth marks and those it does leave tend to be straight, fine and seldom overlapping." (Maples, p. 64.) "... you would be amazed how few dismemberers actually remove the legs at the hip. Most of them saw through at crotch level, leaving a stump of thighbone still attached to the pelvis, usually several inches long. This stump is a godsend to the investigator. It is here that we look for our saw marks." (Maples, p. 65.) County morgues and medical examiners who work in them handle the bodies of murder victims as a routine part of their jobs. Sometimes murder victims are dismembered. Tools are used to do that job. Medical examiners routinely look for the marks of those tools. Except in Waco--when they showed no interest at all. Next: Excerpt 19, Agglutination --------------------------------------------------------------- Entire set of text excerpts from the Museum available with anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.public-action.com/wm2-0txt.zip Excerpted by Carol Valentine. Images omitted. Visit the Museum at http://www.Public-Action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum. SkyWriter@Public-Action.com Copyright 1996-2000 by Carol A. Valentine, on loan to Public Action, Inc. All commercial rights are reserved. Full statement of terms and conditions for copying and redistribution is available in the Museum Library. "Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum," "SkyWriter," and the skywriting logo are trademarks of Public Action Inc.