Anomalies in the Forensic Process Directory of Exhibits Catalogue of Evidence Library Search Museum Text Print this page

Some inconsistencies and anomalies in the Autopsy Reports, ID Matrix, and other forensic material are here noted to make researching this material a little easier.  Though the Autopsy Reports are not directly linked into this page, the individual references may be found through the numerically sorted Identification Matrix (or List of Autopsy Reports for HTML 2 browsers that cannot display tables) and the alphabetically sorted Collated List of Mt. Carmel Deaths.

• Some dismembered corpses were assigned two Mt. Carmel Doe numbers, as the body parts were found:
• Mt. Carmel Does 33 and 47B found two to three feet apart;
• Mt. Carmel Does 67-5 and 69, approximately two feet apart.  These remains were eventually assigned the identity of Bobbie Lane Howell, 2 years old,
• Mt. Carmel Doe 58, excavated from burial in the spent cartridges (allegedly) between April 27-29, was identified as the fetus of Aisha Summers, Mt. Carmel Doe 31, whose body was recovered close to the surface on April 22.
• Mt. Carmel Does 50 and 61 ("Martin Child"), found approximately five feet apart.  Note: Autopsy Report for Mt. Carmel Doe 61 reveals that remains were originally identified by fingerprint comparison as Rosemary Morrison.
• Eleven commingled bodies were assigned Mt. Carmel Doe numbers, thus: 64, 65, 66, 67-1, 67-2, 67-3, 67-4, 76-5, 67-6, 67-7, 67-8.  These remains are said to represent Paiges Gent, unknown toddler, Lorraine Sylvia, Star Howell, Cyrus Howell, Rachel Howell Koresh, Hollywood Sylvia, Bobby Howell, Rachel Sylvia, unknown child, unknown infant.
• Mt. Carmel Doe 68 vacant--this number was not assigned to any remains after sorting.
• One body is identified with two names, by autopsy and by DNA analysis (Mt. Carmel Doe 64, Paiges Gent/Kara Brittani Little).
• Three sets of remains for which Autopsy Reports were written were not listed at all in the Identification Matrix (31 DE, 31 F, 51 A),
• Mt. Carmel Doe 48 was found to be a dog, and no autopsy report is on file for that number.
• Inconsistent use of names:
• Gent/Little
• Barrios/Martinez
• Koresh's legal name was Koresh, not Howell, as used in the autopsy report
• Inconsistent spelling of names (Bobbie Lane Howell vs. Bobby Layne Howell)
• As of the date of the ID Matrix (circa August 1994), eight Mt. Carmel Does had not been assigned identities (31 DE, 31 F, 51 A, 59, 60, 65, 67-7, 67-8).  A telephone call in May, 1996, confirmed that no new information had been added.
• A child, identified as a female in autopsy, is assigned a male identity by DNA analysis (Mt. Carmel Doe 53, "Isaiah" Martinez)
• A year after the fire, four persons are missing for whom no remains have been identified:
• Paulina Henry, age 24
• Lisa Marie Martin, age 13
• Sheila Renee Martin, age 15
• Startle Summers, age one year.
• Three extra skulls, catalogued in Autopsy Reports Mt. Carmel Doe 51 A, Mt. Carmel Doe 31 DE, and Mt. Carmel Doe 67-8, remain unmatched to bodies.
• A single dreadlock pony tail with scalp fragment is given an autopsy (31 F), including dental exam and fingerprint analysis, and identified with MC Doe 31 C, for which an Autopsy Report is not on file with the keeper of records, McLennan County Justice of Peace, and not listed in the ID Matrix.
• MC Doe 31 C is described in Dr. Peerwani's testimony as a "human leg" (Transcript, pg. 5975 and 5976), but no autopsy for Mt. Carmel Doe 31 C is on file with the keeper of records, McLennan County Justice of Peace, and Mt. Carmel 31 C is not listed in the ID Matrix.
• Unborn fetus is given dental and fingerprint comparisons.  An unborn fetus would not have fingerprint or dental records on file.  (Mt. Carmel Doe 58, listed on ID Matrix, identified with Mt. Carmel Doe 31 B.)
• Judy Schnieder's remains received a dental examination, despite the fact that the head was missing from the body (Mt. Carmel Doe 51).
• Inconsistent use of the term "globally charred."  It is sometimes used to mean the entire body is incinerated (as in Mt. Carmel Doe 32), and sometimes used to mean an entire section of the body was destroyed by fire, (as in Mt. Carmel Doe 51).
• Mt. Carmel Doe 72, allegedly Serenity Sea Jones, does not appear on the medical examiner's diagrams of Mt. Carmel body recoveries.  However, the McLennan County Justice of the Peace has stated that Mt. Carmel Doe 72 was found in the concrete room.
• As the bodies were recovered from Mt. Carmel, their locations were allegedly recorded on diagrams.  However, the diagrams contradict each other concerning the recoveries inside the concrete room.  See Map 1 and Map 2, and note the difference in distribution patterns.   Note also  the anomalies in the shape of the concrete room (opening into dining room on lower left).
• Map 1 shows Does 12 and 13 were found in the concrete room.  According to Map 2, those bodies were not recovered in the concrete room.

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