wound pattern analysis

Crime re-creation using small axe and melons #graphicnovel #Vancouver @Kickstarter

| Kat Thorsen


PROJECT FUNDING HAS LAUNCHED on KICKSTARTER:

He brushed the leaves aside and uncovered the most baffling double murder Vancouver has ever had.

– The Vancouver Province April 15, 1953

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From project backer, Joanna Harks: “I always felt this crime was a part of me… Every morning I look forward to these updates….. I get tears in my eyes and my whole being seems to open up.  I knew this crime had affected me personally, however not like this.  I feel so grateful for sharing in the making of this book as (my little girl in me) seems to be able to express feelings that have been hidden for over 55 years… I am now 59 and this book is personal therapy for me!”

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 The Vancouver Province April 15, 1953

[Det. McKay] is convinced the murderer was a woman.  There is the shoe and the coat and the blows, which destroyed the two young lives, were not heavy ones.  Just severe enough to fracture the skulls of both.  Had a man swung the hammer, which fits the declivities in the skulls of both, the bones would have been badly shattered.

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At least one of the victims was wearing a leather aviator helmet, which would affect the impact of the hatchet. Gilbert (Investigative Significance of Coup and Contrecoup Head Injuries, 1990) cautions investigators to also consider that a child’s skull can be dramatically different from the fully developed adult skull.  The child’s skull is more elastic, and will accept a blow without fracturing, leaving an indented point of impact instead.

For the purposes of gathering illustration resources, I took two art therapy students out today to re-create the impact a hatchet would have on a child’s skull using leather on melons.  The experiment today was humorous, though this was in no way meant to make light of the actual case itself.  It is only by experimenting, questioning and considering, however strange and gruesome, that we can get closer to the truth in this case.

Experiment 1:

Strong impact (watermelon with faux leather aviator helmet)

 

Experiment 2:

Light impact (cantaloupe with real leather patch)- this most accurately reproduced the wounds seen in the actual skulls.

   

It was interesting to note that, though the melons were damaged significantly on impact, the leather and the faux leather remained intact.

Despite the melons being covered, there was “blood splatter.”

We re-created “the scene” using watermelon remains… My dog, Tobey was a tad confused (and concerned):

From The Province, October 17, 1986

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Thank you Miko and Alicia for en eventful fun day!

To read more on this particular research section go to my rough notes in: To Put Flesh on Bone (PDF)


To help fund this graphic novel go to KICKSTARTER!

Note: All backers will receive a mention in the book (if they so wish).  Take a look at the fun rewards available for various donation levels!  In addition, backers who donate $100 and above will receive a signed copy of the book when it is published!


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[1] Turvey, B. (2002). Criminal Profiling- An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis.  (2nd Edition) San Diego, California: Academic Press.

Forensic taphonomy, wound patterns, bluntforce trauma #graphicnovel #Vancouver @Kickstarter

| Kat Thorsen

PROJECT FUNDING HAS LAUNCHED on KICKSTARTER:

He brushed the leaves aside and uncovered the most baffling double murder Vancouver has ever had.

– The Vancouver Province April 15, 1953

—

In 1953, the police focused on the investigation as a deliberate homicide.  As the victims were children, it is highly likely they were killed with pre-meditation and precaution but not defensively. From the information gained from the news accounts, the two brothers appeared to have suffered from blunt force trauma by a shingler’s hatchet to the skulls causing death.

Any victim and the injuries that they suffer (or do not suffer), is an extension of that crime scene. (Turvey, 2002)[1]

My sketch of an evidence photo of the skull and a screen capture from the video recording of sifting through the evidence.

Even though my graphic novel will be a fictional interpretation of real life events, the details are based on meticulous research of primary resources.

The crime has been reconstructed from the evidence at hand.  All that can be said with certainty is that two young brothers died or were killed elsewhere and brought to the park scene, or died or were killed in the park at some point before January 1953.  Whether or not they were killed at the scene cannot be verified.  It is very likely they were killed deliberately, as there are two victims- both unidentified and unclaimed.

Who killed them cannot be verified either but it appears from the evidence at the scene to have at least involved a woman- a woman who may or may not have been a parent or guardian.  The children were found laid out head-to-toe; it appears they were left at the scene with the intention abandonment or disposal.

Primary crime scene, Stanley Park BC

To reconstruct the crime and to get an understanding as to who the victims and the offender(s) may be, the time of death needs to be examined in order to establish a historical context. To put “flesh back on the bones” one starts with the skeletons and then moves backward in time by examining the amount of decomposition.  The field of forensic taphonomy examines the postmortem events of human remains and provides valid data to allow a narrowing or increasing of the time-of-death window…

To read more on this particular research section go to: To Put Flesh on Bone (PDF)


To help fund this graphic novel go to KICKSTARTER!

Note: All backers will receive a mention in the book (if they so wish).  Take a look at the fun rewards available for various donation levels!  In addition, backers who donate $100 and above will receive a signed copy of the book when it is published!


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[1] Turvey, B. (2002). Criminal Profiling- An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis.  (2nd Edition) San Diego, California: Academic Press.