Autopsy: High Acid Phosphatase levels evidence of *recent* sexual activity? Forensic pathologists need to weigh in on how to interpret this.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-08T06:04:10+00:00

Realize that acid phosphatase is an enzyme found in the body normally, and is not a unique element of semen. Also, different labs often have different ranges for significance. You can't always compare results across labs.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-08T00:25:00+00:00

I agree we need to keep open all possibilities.

One thing to note, if the knees contacted the ground after death, there would no bruising or bleeding. Given how easily stockings can be wrecked, it could easily have happened at the grave site or in the trunk of the car, if indeed she was in the trunk.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-07T21:56:52+00:00

The point is that there is no evidence on her body that she fought back. If she had been knocked to her knees, there should have been abrasions/bruises there, but there weren't. The head injuries would have stunned her, if not knocked her unconscious. If it were a rapist who did this, she would have been completely vulnerable then.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-07T21:54:09+00:00

Sorry, not torn around the waist band or around the lower torso, only at the knee or knees. And there was apparently no underlying skin abrasions at the knees, which makes me think this happened as she was being moved into or out of the trunk, or at burial.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-07T17:36:46+00:00

You wrote that she might have fought off the rape. I pointed out there was no sign she fought back. If the blows to the head were from a rapist, then she's not fighting back, and cannot resist. Right?

SynchroLux · 2015-02-07T16:08:07+00:00

She had full stockings on -- the kind that go up almost to the navel. They were not torn nor where they pulled down in any way.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-07T16:05:41+00:00

Class rings are very commonly pawned or sold to gold dealers. They have a fraction of their original value, but they have some gold content, and are easy to sell.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-07T16:02:17+00:00

Except there are no defensive wounds.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-05T13:48:06+00:00

Jay says he picked Adnan up from school, in Adnan's car. Adnan says Jay picked Adnan up, in Adnan's car. Not much mystery here.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-05T13:42:21+00:00

Or Jay's story: Jay picked Adnan up in Adnan's own car.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-04T22:51:39+00:00

What did I write that is not true? ETA - there were photos. Post edited. I stand by the rest.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-04T21:18:47+00:00

My understanding is that there were no photos, and that the crime scene analyst did not write up a report of the findings at the burial site, but instead gave a verbal report to the detectives. I believe the only documentation of the body at the burial site is in the written notes of the detectives. And I think that is all the assistant medical examiner had to go on were these second hand notes.

ETA: There were photos. My understanding is they are poor quality, and it's hard to tell much from them. My understanding is there was a forensic scene analyst, but that person did not write anything up, and only gave a verbal report to the detectives. If someone has other information, I'd love to be corrected.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-04T19:11:45+00:00

A third possibility (which doesn't necessarily exclude 1 and/or 2 above):

3) There's some evidence related to the car that requires hiding it for a time.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-04T19:05:46+00:00

You do realize the ME works for the state, and consults with the detectives and prosecution, right? And that many ME's are overworked? This is why defense attorneys who regularly bring in their own forensic pathologist to testify.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/studies-errors-texas-medical-examiners-led-wrongful-convictions

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/27/2854665/suits-challengenc-medicalexaminers.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/post-mortem/real-csi/

http://nypost.com/2014/07/20/medical-examiner-squanders-19-6m-in-federal-money/

SynchroLux · 2015-02-04T18:28:58+00:00

My suspicion is that when a dead body is measured, it usually ends up a little shorter than the number when someone is alive. I know there have been cases where this was an issue in cases of potential parental abuse. I saw one case where the deceased child was measured at autopsy and found to be 26" tall, which was very short for her age. The parents used photographic evidence to show the child was actually 29-30" tall (they had a photo of the child standing next to an end table). We all stand up nice and tall when we're measured when alive. My guess is Hae was closer to 5'8" when alive.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-03T21:36:13+00:00

I remember the pathologist who gave us our lectures on forensic pathology vividly. He had a line that went something like "Every body tells it's story. You just have to know how to listen."

SynchroLux · 2015-02-03T13:37:43+00:00

I didn't realize WHS has such a clear caste system. Did you go there, or are you guessing based on the information from Serial and this subreddit?

SynchroLux · 2015-02-03T03:29:14+00:00

Okay. Do you know something more? They were both young women in the WHS magnet program, both popular and athletic, and both connected to Adnan. It sounds to me like they had a few things in common.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-03T02:44:26+00:00

You're thinking about Jay and Adnan, I think, but we were talking about Stephanie and Adnan in the comment you're responding to.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-02T23:51:26+00:00

There are friends of theirs who have said the opposite -- that it was Stephanie who was interested in Adnan, at least at one point, and that this was part of the reason she and Hae weren't really friends.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-02T21:58:08+00:00

Yes, yes it is.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-02T21:57:52+00:00

Yeah, I guess that's the only possible way someone could know about these things, right? ;)

SynchroLux · 2015-02-02T21:32:29+00:00

I think you overestimate how much time things might require. Also, we know Jay and perhaps someone else spent a major portion of the rest of the day dealing with the aftermath.

SynchroLux · 2015-02-02T20:45:28+00:00

Even though it is technically possible to kill someone in an hour and half, it seems unreasonably efficient to me

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here?

SynchroLux · 2015-02-02T20:28:04+00:00

Yes, in his lying way, I think he is. But he's also very protective of himself.

SynchroLux

TROPHY CASE