The inefficiency of international identification systems faced with everyday identification cases: two case reports

Identifying human bodies and remains is a crucial task for forensic scientists. The lack of an international organization for exchanging information on missing persons and unidentified bodies poses significant challenges. This study presents two cases where the identification of foreign individuals was achieved up to 25 years after their deaths. Autopsy data and subsequent anthropological studies enabled the reconstruction of the biological profiles of a man found hanged in his flat in 1996 and a girl murdered and discarded in a river in 1997. Identikits published on LABANOF’s page facilitated tracing family members and finding ante-mortem material for comparison with available post-mortem data. Dental analyses through 2D-3D superimposition of an ante-mortem photograph and a plaster cast, along with genetic analyses on cartilage samples, allowed the two cases to be solved, respectively. For the girl, the acquisition of visible fluorescence induced by UV radiation (UVF) and near-infrared reflected (NIR) images was used to search for dental fillings in exhumed and taphonomically compromised skeletal remains. A missing person report was filed for both individuals, but neither was followed up. This paper highlights flaws within international systems while demonstrating the feasibility of identification even in complex scenarios.