Usually, bodies are identified by comparing their usually unique
DNA, fingerprints and dental characteristics. DNA is considered the most accurate, but was not widely used until the 1990s. It is often obtained through hair follicles, blood, tissue and other biological material. Bodies can also be identified with other physical information, such as illnesses, evidence of surgery, breaks and fractures, and height and weight information. A medical examiner will often be involved with identifying a body. Since 2018, genetic genealogy has also been used to identify many bodies by matching the deceased’s DNA with that of relatives who have uploaded their DNA to genealogy sites.
Mortuary photographs Many police departments and medical examiners have made efforts to identify the deceased by placing mortuary photographs of the UID's face online. In some instances, the mortuary photographs would be retouched of wounds if they are to be released to the public. Dismembered corpses may also be digitally altered to appear attached to the body. This is not considered to be the most effective method, as the nature of death often distorts the UID's face. An example of this is that of "
Grateful Doe," who was killed in a vehicular crash in 1995. He sustained extreme trauma that disfigured his face. A Jane Doe found in a river in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had died months earlier, but was preserved by the cold temperatures. Her morgue photographs were displayed publicly on a medical examiner's website, but her face had been distorted by swelling after absorbing water, with additional decomposition.
Death masks have also been used to assist with identification, which have been stated to be more accurate, as they are required to display "relaxed expressions," which often do not illustrate the faces of the UIDs as they were found, such as that of
L'Inconnue de la Seine, a French suicide victim found in the late 1800s. However, a death mask will still depict sunken eyes or other characteristics of a long-term illness, which do not often show how they would have looked in life.
Reconstructions When a body is found in an advanced state of decomposition or has died violently, reconstructions are sometimes required to receive assistance from the public, when releasing images of a corpse is considered taboo. Often, those in a recognizable state will often be reconstructed due to the same reason. Faces can be reconstructed with a three-dimensional model or by 2D, which includes sketches or digital reconstructions, similar to
facial composites. Sketches have been used in a variety of cases. Forensic artist
Karen T. Taylor created her own method during the 1980s, which involved much more precise techniques, such as estimating locations and sizes of the features of a skull. This method has been shown to be fairly successful. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has developed methods to estimate the likenesses of the faces of UIDs whose remains were too deteriorated to create a two-dimensional sketch or reconstruction due to the lack of tissue on the bones. A skull would be placed through a CT scanner and the image would then be manipulated with a software that was intended for architecture design, to add digital layers of tissue based on the UID's age, sex and race.
Examples The following gallery depicts various ways UIDs have been reconstructed: File:L'inconnue de la Seine (masque mortuaire).jpg|Death mask (
L'inconnue de la Seine) File:Broward John Doe 79 (2).JPG|Forensic sketch (Broward County John Doe, 1979) File:1980 FL John Doe.jpg|Facial composite (Pinellas County John Doe, 1980) File:Caroline County John Doe (older).jpg|Three-dimensional clay reconstruction (Caroline County John Doe, older decedent) File:Mary Anderson Natalie Murry2.jpg|Jane Doe alias “
Mary Anderson” File:Lumberton Jane Doe Recon 001c.jpg|Reconstruction created through a CT scan (Lumberton Jane Doe)
Problems In some cases, such as that of Colleen Orsborn, law enforcement had erroneously excluded the true identity of the unidentified person as a possible identity. In Orsborn's case, she had fractured one of the bones in her leg, but a medical examiner who performed the autopsy on her remains was not able to discover evidence of the injury and subsequently excluded her from the case. It was not until 2011 when DNA confirmed Orsborn was indeed the victim found in 1984. In cases such as the
Racine County Jane Doe, later identified as Peggy Johnson-Schroeder, the decision to rule out one possible identity has also been subjected to criticism.
Aundria Bowman, a teen who disappeared in 1989 who bore a strong resemblance to a body found in 1999, was excluded, according to the
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. On an online forum, known as
Websleuths, users disagreed with this ruling before the victim was identified. In the case of
Lavender Doe, who was identified as Dana Dodd. A mother of a missing girl also disagreed with the exclusion of her missing daughter through DNA, as she claimed the reconstruction of the victim looked very similar to her daughter. == Notable cases ==