Labs have gear that can solve leg case
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Having solved a similar case recently, the city medical examiner said she was confident officials would be able to determine the identity of a human leg found offshore of Hanauma Bay.
Divers searched East O'ahu waters last week for clues, and police checked missing-persons files. Meanwhile, forensics experts tried to develop a profile from the evidence: nearly a full set of leg bones from hip socket to toes. The foot still had human tissue.
A diver found the leg March 2 near Toilet Bowl, about 30 feet underwater.
"Anything that comes to us is always a jumbled puzzle," said Dr. Kanthi von Guenthner, the city's chief medical examiner. "But we know how to pick the right pieces from the jumbled puzzle and put it together. That's why it's so interesting."
Recently Von Guenthner's office successfully identified a leg bone found in waters off O'ahu's North Shore as belonging to Travis Musselman, a surfer who disappeared at Pipeline on March 20, 2000.
Investigators compared DNA from the bone with that of Musselman's mother. Blood relatives have similar DNA, so a positive identification could be made. The matching process took about six months, von Guenthner said.
"I feel optimistic on this case because we did Musselman from just one bone," von Guenthner said.
A DNA match is also a possibility in the Hanauma Bay case, as missing-persons detectives said the investigation might focus on four men who disappeared between 1994 and 2001 in O'ahu waters or along the Ka Iwi coastline.
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Or it could be a new case, police said.
Dr. Kanthi von Guenthner said the puzzle can be pieced together.
Forensic experts from the Army's Central Identification LaboratoryiHawai'i have volunteered to help. The lab identifies decades-old remains of U.S. servicemen from the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Von Guenthner said the lab would try to determine gender, height and age and match it with missing-persons reports. Eventually DNA might be matched with family members for positive identification.
In cases where only bones are found, experts can extract the mitochondrial DNA and compare it with that from the mother or mother's sister, von Guenthner said. Previous trauma or surgery also can help with identification.
Dr. William R. Belcher, a forensic anthropologist with the Army laboratory, said he could not discuss the Hanauma Bay case, but did say the lab can determine approximate age, gender and height from bones.
Arm, leg and collar bones grow and fuse together at specific ages until about age 25, after which they degrade over time, Belcher said. Charts allow forensic anthropologists to determine age ranges based on changes in the bone.
Last Tuesday and Friday, divers from the fire department searched the coastline from Lana'i Lookout, where people have been lost, and followed the current to the mouth of Hanauma Bay.
The underwater search was suspended after Friday.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at 535-8110 or bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.
