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Article: Human being eaten by his own dogs: Genetic confirmation through analysis of bones recovered in a dog's stomach content
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ABSTRACT: A part of a decomposed human body from an individual was found at his home, together with the decomposed bodies of his 3 dogs. The disappearance of half of the human body was hardly explained. Hypothetically the dogs, starving, could have eaten their owner after his death. All the bodies were recovered for autopsy. Small bone fragments were recovered in one dog's stomach and identified as human by anthropological analysis. DNA was extracted and cytochrome b gene analysis was made in order to determine their origin, confirmed as human. Genetic identification allowed achieving an eight mini-STR profile with MiniFiler (Applied Biosystems) identical to the bone material collected at the victim's autopsy, confirmed that the dogs had effectively eaten their owner. The results showed that it is possible to obtain nuclear DNA in samples subjected to gastric acids and the combination of different techniques allowed us to determine, in each step, the most convenient workflow for the remains identification.Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series. 01/2009; 2:210-212.
