Turhon Murad Surveys the Physical Evidence in the Polly Klaas Case

Turhon Murad, Anthropology, in the forensics laboratory. (photo Greg White)

In recent years, the intense publicity surrounding several marquee criminal cases, major historical reconstructions, and the identification of long-missing war dead has embedded forensic anthropology in the public imagination. Watching careful scientists puzzle out the age, sex, race, stature, and facial appearance of an individual from just a few bones, we have all learned a great deal about the field and, not coincidentally, about the prudent evaluation of evidence and the nature of demonstration. There is no mistaking that this is a field, which, more than any other, links the scientific method to the legal process. Forensic anthropologists must possess a high degree of experience and training, which they use to make a variety of judicious determinations that must stand up in trial: (a) the proper identification of skeletal and decomposed remains as human, (b) the correct identification of the deceased, (c) the identification and interpretation of evidence that may assist in the detection of malfeasance in the means of death and postmortem disposition of the remains, and (d) the identification and interpretation of natural phenomena that may have further affected the condition and distribution of the remains.

Several of forensic anthro-pology's major figures are familiar characters to the interested public, and among them, CSU, Chico's professors stand tall. Chico is one of three institutions of higher learning in the nation to boast two diplomats of the American Board of Physical Anthropologists, Turhon Murad and P. Willey, of the Anthropology Department. On Thursday, February 19, eighty-eight members of the campus and community were offered a close-up view of the forensic anthropologist's world via the Anthropology Forum given by Turhon Murad, "A Survey of the Physical Evidence in the Polly Klaas Case."

Murad (Ph.D., Indiana University, 1972) joined the Anthropology Department in 1974. His busy schedule includes his role as an instructor in physical anthropology and the forensic sciences and training seminars held at CSU, Chico for the California Department of Justice and law enforcement agencies throughout the state. He also makes trips to Quantico, Virginia, to participate in the FBI's Emergency Response Team seminars, and visits the U.S. Army's Central Idenification Laboratory in Hawaii as a consultant.

Further, in partnership with P. Willey, Murhad maintains a regular load of criminal case work throughout Northern California and western Nevada. These cases involve the analysis of found human remains and remains associated with known or suspected crimes. These materials are brought to the Physical Anthropology Lab here on campus, where Murad and Wiley, assisted by graduate students, prepare and evaluate them.

In late 1993, the remains of Polly Klaas, the twelve-year-old victim of an abduction and murder in Sonoma County, were brought to the lab. Murhad presented to the forum attendees a variety of photographs, illustrations, and personal insights revealing Murad's and then-graduate student Nancy Valente's activities and emotions as they dealt with this highly publicized and heart-wrenching case.

Scholarly objectivity and detachment are easily overwhelmed by the shock of seeing the results of senseless, brutal, and arbitrary crimes. He detailed the Klaas crime, and reviewed the case as it stood from her disappearance to the discovery of the body and items at a spot in the countryside that linked Polly to Richard Allen Davis, the man ultimately accused and convicted of her abduction and murder. Her remains were identified in short order on the basis of dental records.

However, the forensic investigation did not end there. Davis's statements contained internal and evidential inconsistencies. In particular, Davis claimed that he did not sexually molest the girl, although spent condoms traced to him were found at the scenes and possible semen stains were found on items of Polly's clothing discovered at the site of disposal. Murad and the CSU, Chico Physical Anthropology Lab were charged with making determinations crucial for the prosecution: Do the remains reveal evidence of the means of death? Do the remains reveal any evidence of physical harm, including sexual trauma?

While the forensic studies ultimately revealed no evidence pertinent to either question, Murhad brought his audience into the lab via the photographic record of his investigation, to reveal the meticulous processes associated with the analysis of human remains, and just as important, the reality of coping with the deep well of emotion tapped by confronting the loss of such promise. The remains were returned to Sonoma County and put to final rest by Polly's family. Davis was convicted and assessed the death penalty. However, the memories are ever-present with Murad, reinforced by other child victims—not so well known but just as poignant—that arrive at the lab to the present day.

For further information about the forensic anthropology program at CSU, Chico, see the Web site at: ;http://ww.csuchico.edu/anth/PAHIL.

Greg White, Anthropology