Adam: A 21st-Century Murder Mystery

Courtesy of New Scotland Yard Press Bureau MOUNTING EVIDENCE: Candles (top) found in the Thames River shortly after 'Adam's' body was discovered lend credence to the theory that the boy's death was part of a ritual killing. The candles were wrapped in a sheet (middle). A graphic depiction of the boy's torso, (bottom) along with a pair of shorts found with the body, demonstrates where he was dismembered. In a remarkable show of scientific sleuthing, London detectives combined mitochondrial DNA analysis, traditional forensic tests, and legwork that took them halfway around the globe, to narrow down the identity of a murdered 6-year-old boy. The child, whose headless, limbless torso was found floating in the Thames River nearly two years ago, reportedly died of neck injuries. The case began on September 21, 2001, when the child, whom police call Adam, was discovered in east London. Suspecting that he had been killed in a ritual ceremony, police took nuclear DNA samples to compare against those of parents who reported a missing child fitting Adam's description. No matches were found, and after three months with virtually no progress, an idea emerged: Comparing Adam's mtDNA with existing databases of geographic distribution might elicit the boy's origin. "We thought that if the boy came from Africa, it might have been a small village with quite a lot of inbreeding," says Ray Fysh, the London Metropolitan Police's forensic coordinator. The boy's mtDNA would be unique to that location, and mtDNA did indeed narrow the search--but only to a broad region of West and Northwest Africa, at least eliminating the Caribbean. "But alongside this work, we employed soil geologist professor, Ken Pye, from Royal Holloway [University of London]," Fysh adds. STONES, GASES, AND COPS The idea: Exploit the fact that the level of stable isotopes, such as strontium in the bones, is determined by diet and, in turn, the geology of the region where someone lives. Stable isotope levels change slowly in the bones over a 10-year period and can provide a useful indicator of where people lived, assuming they spent most of their time in one place, which Adam appeared to have done. Pye examined Adam's strontium signature, which matched a zone of Precambrian rock in a smaller area of Africa, mostly in Nigeria. Compared to strontium, isotopes of hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen in the skin and hair have a much shorter turnaround time. Analyses of Adam's skin and hair showed that he had been in the United Kingdom for at most four weeks before he died, reinforcing the belief that he had been brought to London for a ritual killing. Analyzing the pollen content in the child's stomach provided evidence that Adam had been in Africa only days before his death. But at this stage the investigation again became stuck. "So I and [detective inspector] Will O'Reilly went on a two-and-a-half-week 'holiday' in Nigeria, picking up soil samples, animal bones from local markets, and also some human bones from two universities with pathology departments," says Fysh. They analyzed the samples for various isotopes, notably strontium and rudinium, and compared signatures with traces from Adam's bones. "We came down to a 50- to 100-mile stretch from Benin City to Ibaden, along which runs just one major road," Fysh adds. According to O'Reilly, this information helped develop a publicity drive to identify parents of lost children in this neighborhood. "We saw tribal leaders, rulers, kings, village elders, and put up posters, as well as appeals on TV and newspapers." The investigation is continuing, but O'Reilly predicts that the boy will be identified and his murderers found, conclusions that seem impossible considering the insurmountable odds at the outset. A Nigerian woman had earlier been arrested in connection with the case, but she was subsequently released and deported to Nigeria. Says O'Reilly: "We continue to be interested in her." Philip Hunter (phunter@philiphunter.com) is a freelance writer in London. function sendData() { document.frm.pathName.value = location.pathname; result = false if (document.frm.score[0].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[1].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[2].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[3].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[4].checked) result = true; if (!result) alert("Please select") return result; } .myradio{background-color : #94bee5} Please indicate on a 1 - 5 scale how strongly you would recommend this article to your colleagues? Not recommended 1 2 3 4 5 Highly recommended Please register your vote

Adam: A 21st-Century Murder Mystery

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	Courtesy of New Scotland Yard Press Bureau
	MOUNTING EVIDENCE: Candles (top) found in the Thames River shortly after 'Adam's' body was discovered lend credence to the theory that the boy's death was part of a ritual killing. The candles were wrapped in a sheet (middle). A graphic depiction of the boy's torso, (bottom) along with a pair of shorts found with the body, demonstrates where he was dismembered.