07.14.17/Blood

Filter paper as a blood collection device is most commonly associated with the biomedical sciences: the infant’s toe pricked for a tiny drop of blood during neonatal screening. In contrast to that practice, these pieces of filter paper were submerged in the thoracic or cranial cavity of bodies during necropsy as soon as they were opened. This technique is a quick, fail-proof method of obtaining blood samples (and later, DNA) from well-conserved unidentified human remains. None of these samples belongs to a San Fernando victim or to similarly deposed or decomposed bodies. Since 2006, close to 2000 clandestine mass graves have been found in Mexico. This sampling method is useless for the bodies recovered from these sites.