Forensics: It Must Take A "Special" Person

A Novel Idea

Musings on forensic anthropology, animal scavenging, and working with the dead.

In Murder by Degrees, Dr. Lydia Weston works alongside police to investigate the suspicious death of Anna Ward, a young chambermaid found in the Schuylkill River. This event explores the collaboration between medicolegal investigators and forensic scientists in solving mysteries.

Forensic anthropology, the study of human skeletal material in criminal investigations, was Kori’s first love in science; initially enchanted with the poetic names of various skeletal features, this first gateway opened up the larger scientific world of histology, morphology and pattern recognition, and taphonomy, and eventually led to a lifelong career in forensic science. Kori will review her most favorite aspects of forensic anthropology including the analysis of human bone microscopy in age-at-death estimation, human vs. non-human skeletal features of the skull and pelvis, and some fun facts about animal scavenging of human remains. She’ll also share some thoughts on working with the dead: the challenges and rewards of this unusual line of work and provide a glimpse into how one attempts to be a somewhat functional human when their day job is working violent person crime cases.

Sari will also be reviewing the role of the medical examiner and Medicolegal death investigator within Deschutes County. **The presentation will include photographic and descriptive examples of challenging scenes and bodily changes that professionals encounter in real life.** 

Kori Barnum is a Senior Forensic Scientist with the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory in Bend. She has twenty years of forensic experience as a Firearms Laboratory Technician, Forensic Biologist, Crime Scene Analyst, and Advanced Bloodstain Pattern Analyst, and is a statewide trainer for new Crime Scene Analysts. She routinely provides forensic evidence identification, collection, and preservation training to law enforcement agencies and the medical forensic community, and has presented at multiple national conferences on improving collaboration and technical processes between forensic labs and the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) community. Her academic background includes a B.A. in English Literature, a B.S. in General Science, and a M.A. in Anthropology focusing on human bone microscopy related to age-at-death determination, forensic anthropology, and genetics. She served as an adjunct professor of Anthropology at Portland State University from 2012-2015, and is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the Northwest Association of Forensic Scientists.

Sari Ourada, MS, BSN, RN, SANE-A was educated at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northern Illinois University. She has practiced nursing for more than 20 years in a variety of fields including pediatrics, public health, and emergency medicine. She became interested in forensics when reading Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs novels in high school, but waited until 2017 to begin practicing as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner for Central Oregon. She is currently one of two SANE educators in our region responsible for training prospective SANE nurses, first responders, victim advocates, and district attorney staff about the medical aspects of sexual assault and/or strangulation cases. In 2023, she took on a second gig as a medicolegal death investigator for Deschutes and Crook counties.  She is a current member of both the International Association of Forensic Nurses and International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners organizations.   

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Murder by Degrees is a thrillingly atmospheric tale of intrigue, featuring a brilliant female doctor who’s ahead of her time. Set in Philadelphia, 1875, the debut novel by Ritu Mukerji, Dr. Lydia Weston is preparing for the start of a new term at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, when the body of a young woman is fished out of the Schuylkill River. The death is ruled a suicide, but Lydia is suspicious. As the investigation unfolds, Lydia puts to use all her diagnostic skills and autopsy table acumen to pursue the killer. 

Ritu Mukerji was born in Kolkata, India, and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. From a young age, she has been an avid reader of mysteries, from Golden Age crime fiction to police procedurals and the novels of PD James and Ruth Rendell. She received a BA in history from Columbia University and a medical degree from Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. She completed residency training at the University of California, Davis and has been a practicing internist for fifteen years. She lives in Marin County, California, with her husband and three children.

Learn more about A Novel Idea here.

Questions? Contact beccar@dpls.lib.or.us