Hair analysis in postmortem investigations: Case of a skeletonized body

The interpretation of hair concentrations in skeletonized bodies presents some pitfalls due to contamination by the environment and by body fluids. The use of complementary matrices (nails, bone marrow, clothing) gives additional information. AbstractAnalysis of hair collected from putrefied or skeletal bodies is always complex and must take into account several pitfalls, such as external contamination and contamination by biological fluids. This work presents a case of particular complexity. A skeletonized body was discovered on a country road. A tuft of brown hair, detached from the scalp, irregular in length, non-oriented, in contact with soil and vegetation, was removed. An anthropological examination was carried out and genetic samples were taken from the right femoral shaft. After about 10 washes with warm water and dichloromethane, the tuft of hair was analyzed without segmentation. General unknown screening was performed by liquid chromatography system coupled to a high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) after incubation in pH  9.5 borate buffer and liquid–liquid extraction. Specific Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) methods for date rape drugs were carried out by liquid chromatography system coupled to a tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The anthropological examination allowed to determine that the victim was a fe male individual, over 60 years old, the death dating from 3 months to 1 year. Comparison of the DNA results with the Missing Persons Index l...
Source: Drug Testing and Analysis - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: LETTER TO THE EDITOR Source Type: research