Professor helps identity skeletal remains

For those who watch popular forensic science themed shows such as "CSI," "Bones," or "Law & Order," the recent involvements of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Anthropology Department may be of some interest.

Dr. Carlina de la Cova, a member of UNCG's Anthropology Department since 2008, specializes in biological anthropology. The majority of her work focuses on analyzing skeletal remains in order to gain an understanding of health disparities among certain populations - particularly among African-Americans. Most recently, her expertise has helped her to assist the Guilford County Sherriff's Department in possibly identifying the remains of Mr. Henry Wilson.

"There are usually certain bones we want to have present that are very crucial for giving us identification for age and ancestry - one of those bones being the skull. The skull is very important in that respect," said de la Cova. "To identify age we like to have the long bones, like the thigh bones or upper arm bones. Both the skull and the long bones help us to identify age in different ways. In the skull there are joints that are called 'sutures' that fuse as you age, so, as we get older, those joints, or 'sutures,' start to obliterate, and as they disappear we have certain standardized methods we use to determine their age."

In the case of Henry Wilson, these factors played a key role in his identification. The first few hours were spent matching the profile the team was able to give to the Sherriff's Department to the profile of the missing person. In life, Mr. Wilson had suffered from severe arthritis, which had been apparent in the skeleton. Even more added up when a Medicaid card had been found. "From what we know, he was 84 years old, and he suffered from Alzheimer's. And according to the police reports, he was last seen along the state road he was found near. At this point it just seems like one of those unfortunate things that happen," said de le Cova.

De le Cova collaborated with the Sherriff's Department soon after she came to UNCG, when she was called to help identify some bones found as either animal or human. Although, the bones proved to be animal, she was asked to help excavate and retrieve any human remains that might be found in the future. She received the call from the UNCG police department, and was informed of Mr. Wilson's case in mid-November. Along with a team from UNCG, consisting of Dr. Linda F. Stine, also of the Anthropology Department, and senior student Tamara Cagle, they spent several hours at the field working on the case. The collaborative efforts of both the Department of Anthropology at UNCG and the Greensboro Sherriff's Department may have helped to answer the questions of many.