![]() ![]() However, pigs fall short of a perfect analogue concerning body proportions, stomach anatomy and diet. ![]() Pigs are widely available, so researchers can control traits and the time and cause of death. Pigs and humans share many attributes, including body mass range, anatomy and hair coverage. Using human cadavers to study decomposition was a new concept in 1980, as the standard practice was to use pig cadavers as an analogue to humans in decomposition studies. In 1987, Bass opened the first anthropology research facility – later dubbed “the body farm” by a Patricia Cornwell novel in 1994. From this experience, Bass recognized that forensic anthropologists needed to know a lot more about the decomposition process. However, as more evidence became known, Bass realized the “murder victim” was actually the expertly embalmed body of William Shy, well preserved in a sealed iron casket. Bass estimated the post-mortem interval at six months to a year based on the condition of the victim’s body. Apparently grave robbers had placed a murder victim in the disturbed grave of Confederate Lieutenant William Shy. In 1977, University of Tennessee forensic anthropologist William Bass was called in by the local sheriff to consult on a puzzling case. There was room for improvement that the University of Tennessee’s Forensic Anthropology Center (FAC) had just recently begun to explore. Forensic anthropologists at the time were unable to determine PMI for a well-decayed corpse. Had Kuklinski tried to hide the victim’s identity by removing personal effects and fingertips, as he had done in previous cases, determining the PMI may have been impossible. Masgay’s frozen corpse left no pathologic clues for time of death. Deppner’s body was too decomposed for any accurate biological estimate. The personal effects found on Deppner and Masgay’s bodies were the only clues to identify them and provide evidence for the post-mortem interval (PMI) – how long they had been dead. Gambino family hitman Roy DeMeo and his crew dismembered their victims for easy disposal with the philosophy of “no body, no crime.” DeMeo hired Richard Kuklinski for occasional hits. ![]() Masgay was a customer for fencing hijacked VHS tapes. Deppner was an associate in Kuklinski’s breaking-and-entering crew. Kuklinski’s murders were not limited to Mob hits, however. Kuklinski worked with DeMeo’s crew as an enforcer. DeMeo and his crew perfected a system of murder called the “Gemini method.” They would lure a target into an apartment next to DeMeo’s Gemini Lounge bar where, after a shot to the head, the crew would drain the body of blood and dismember the corpse for easy disposal. Later, he became involved with a like-minded killer, Gambino family hitman Roy DeMeo of New York. He started doing occasional jobs for the DeCavalcante family in New Jersey. Kuklinski had already committed a number of murders by the time he began his career with the Mob. A missing persons report confirmed this was Louis Masgay.ĭeppner and Masgay were both associates - and now victims - of Mob hitman Richard Kuklinski. Investigators were fortunate that the culprit was in a hurry and did not properly thaw the body, or else they would have never realized the victim died more than two years before. The body appeared fresh because it had been frozen. During the autopsy, the coroner found evidence of ice crystals in the victim’s heart. Corpses typically begin to decompose from the bacteria inside the body, but in this case the body had more decay on the outside than inside. The corpse appeared to be fresh with little decomposition. Getty ImagesĪ few months later, police found another body in Orangetown, just north of the New Jersey-New York border, under curious circumstances. Mob hitman Richard Kuklinski was arrested on December 17, 1986, and ultimately sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder of associates Daniel Deppner and Gary Smith. ![]()
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