An Aquatic Decomposition Scoring Method to Potentially Predict the Postmortem Submersion Interval of Bodies Recovered from the North Sea.

This study aimed to develop an aquatic decomposition scoring (ADS) method and investigated the predictive value of this method in estimating the postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) of bodies recovered from the North Sea. This method, consisting of an ADS item list and a pictorial reference atlas, showed a high interobserver agreement (Krippendorff's alpha ≥ 0.93) and hence proved to be valid. This scoring method was applied to data, collected from closed cases-cases in which the postmortal submersion interval (PMSI) was known-concerning bodies recovered from the North Sea from 1990 to 2013. Thirty-eight cases met the inclusion criteria and were scored by quantifying the observed total aquatic decomposition score (TADS). Statistical analysis demonstrated that TADS accurately predicts the PMSI (p < 0.001), confirming that the decomposition process in the North Sea is strongly correlated to time.

Comparing six commercial autosomal STR kits in a large Dutch population sample.

Regularly, STR results obtained with different PCR amplification kits are compared, for instance with old cases, when revisiting cold cases or when addressing cross-border crimes. It is known that differences in primer design for the same loci in different kits may give rise to null alleles or shifted alleles. In this study, the genotyping results of 2085 Dutch male samples were compared for six autosomal STR kits (Promega's PowerPlex(®) 16, ESX-16 and ESI-17 Systems, Qiagen's Investigator(®) ESSplex Kit and Applied Biosystems' AmpFlSTR(®) Identifiler and NGM PCR Amplification Kits). A total of 19 discordant autosomal genotyping results were obtained that were examined by sequence analysis using Roche-454 next generation sequencing and/or Sanger sequencing. A further 25 discordances were found and sequenced for the Amelogenin locus. The 24 samples showing the same primer binding site mutation at the Amelogenin locus were subjected to X-STR analysis in order to assess whether they could share a common origin, which appeared not to be the case. Based on the sequencing results, we set the final genotypes and determined the allele frequencies of 23 autosomal STRs for the Dutch reference database.