Basic Forensic Science 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bite marks

Although he denied being the killer, Bundy made the mistake of biting one of his victims on the buttocks. So although he lied through his teeth, his teeth marks didn't lie!

Answer: All the choices are correct

This case made legal history because it was the first time a body was identified without fingerprints or dental records. It belonged to a petty criminal called William Henry Moseley.

Answer: Gravitational pooling of blood

Livor is Latin for 'a black and blue spot' and refers to the discolouration of the skin in the lowest part of a cadaver resulting from the gravitational pooling of blood.

Answer: All the choices are correct

The evidence against McMahon included a tiny speck of green paint on his boot which matched the paint on the yacht, the sand on his boots matched that found near the beach near where the boat was launched and traces of nitroglycerine were found on his clothes which were matched to the bomb.

Answer: Hawaiians

The 'rocker jaw' is so called because it will rock back and forth like a rocking chair if gently pushed.

Answer: Bullet comparison

The butler did it! Like most gun owners in those days, the butler made his own bullets by melting lead and pouring it into a mould. His mould had a fault, a small 'pimple'. The bullet had a corresponding flaw. Faced with the evidence, the burglar confessed to faking the burglary to curry favour with his employer.

By the way, Henry Goddard was one of Scotland Yard's original Bow Street Runners.

Answer: William Bass

The official name of the body farm is the Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility (TARF) but some of Bass's colleagues call it the Bass Anthropological Research Facility or BARF. (For those who don't get the joke, barf is American slang for vomit).

Answer: All the choices are correct

One of the earliest recorded instances of the appointment of coroner was in 1194 by King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) of England. The name was derived from the Latin 'corona' meaning crown. Coroners were responsible for raising revenue from taxes on the dead and their property. Suicides were of special interest because it was against the law to commit suicide, as it was considered self-murder.

The law required that any property of the suicide victim had to be forfeited to the king. Families would attempt to hide suicides from the authorities so it was the job of the coroner to ferret them out and claim their property for the king.

Answer: Pollens and spores

One of the earliest cases involving the use of pollen analysis was in Austria in 1959. A man disappeared near Vienna but his body could not be found. Police had a suspect with a motive but no evidence to link him with the possible crime. The suspect's muddy boots were examined. Dr Wilhelm Klaus found a rare fossilised pollen which enabled him to pinpoint where the defendant must have walked to get the mud on his boots.

When confronted with the identity of the location, the defendant confessed the crime and showed the police where he killed the victim and buried the body, both of which occurred in the precise region Klaus had pinpointed.

Answer: The male skull has a more rounded chin

The statement that "the male skull has a more rounded chin" is false, therefore, this is the correct answer. It is the female chin which tends to be more rounded and less prominent. The male chin tends to be squarer with a heavy mandible (lower jaw bone).

The pelvis is the most useful set of bones when it comes to determining the sex of a skeleton. The skull is the second most useful. However, it is not until puberty that the differences between the sexes begin to show in the skull. When it comes to determining gender, neither method is foolproof.