Stephan C N, Henneberg M
Department of Anatomical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia 5005.
Forensic Sci Int. 2006 Jan 27;156(2-3):182-91. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.11.020. Epub 2005 Jun 13.
The skeletal remains of one individual found near Adelaide in 1994, although not known at the time, were the first evidence of what was to be a serial killing reported to have resulted in the highest casualty list to date in Australia (12 victims). Since the usual methods of identification could not be used or were unsuccessful on these remains, facial approximations were produced and advertised over the 4-year period following their discovery, in an attempt to help to identify them. However, no identification was made. In 1999, the remains were reported to be identified by radiographic comparison. Approximately 3 months before this identification was made, another facial approximation was produced by the first author (CNS), but this face was never advertised in the media. Although rarely reported in the literature, this paper provides an example where facial approximation methods were not successful in a forensic scenario. The paper also reports on empirical tests of the facial approximation created by the first author to determine if this facial approximation might have been useful had it been advertised. The results provide further evidence that high resemblance of a facial approximation to the target individual does not indicate recognizability, as the facial approximation was poorly recognized even though it bore good resemblance to the target individual. The usefulness of facial approximation techniques is discussed within the context of this case and more broadly. Methods used to assess the accuracy of facial approximations are also discussed and further evaluated.
1994年在阿德莱德附近发现的一具个体骨骼遗骸，尽管当时并不为人所知，但却是后来被报道为澳大利亚迄今为止伤亡人数最多（12名受害者）的连环杀人案的首个证据。由于这些遗骸无法使用常规的身份识别方法，或者使用这些方法未能成功识别，因此在遗骸发现后的4年时间里制作并公布了面部复原像，试图帮助识别身份。然而，身份并未得到确认。1999年，据报道通过放射学对比确认了遗骸身份。在进行此次身份确认的大约3个月前，第一作者（CNS）制作了另一幅面部复原像，但这张脸从未在媒体上公布。尽管文献中很少有相关报道，但本文提供了一个在法医场景中面部复原方法未成功的例子。本文还报告了对第一作者制作的面部复原像进行的实证测试，以确定如果公布这张面部复原像是否可能有用。结果提供了进一步的证据，表明面部复原像与目标个体的高度相似并不意味着可识别性，因为尽管面部复原像与目标个体非常相似，但识别度却很低。本文结合该案例并更广泛地讨论了面部复原技术的实用性。还讨论并进一步评估了用于评估面部复原准确性的方法。
