Identification if the corpse cannot be identified.
Presentation for identification of a corpse is made with the aim of establishing the identity of the deceased (deceased). Due to the specifics of the object of identification, the rule of presenting for identification among similar objects (part 4 of article 193 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation) does not apply to it, and the rule of mandatory interrogation of the identifier that precedes the identification is not always valid.
Sometimes during the inspection of the scene of an accident or a corpse, it is not possible to identify the corpse due to the fact that its face and body are very dirty or disfigured, and therefore it becomes necessary to give the corpse a look that is close to intravital, i.e. make a "toilet" of the corpse, and in more complex cases - restoration. In this case, identification can be made only after a forensic examination or forensic examination of a corpse, during which a forensic expert examines the damage on the face or body of the corpse in order to establish the causes of death, and on the face, body and hair dirt, foreign substances, on the one hand, can serve as a means of establishing the mechanism and tools for causing bodily harm, and on the other, objects of biological, chemical or other expert research. Thus, a “toilet” or restoration of a corpse can only be done after a forensic investigation.
If during the inspection of the scene of the incident or the corpse it was not possible to identify the corpse and the corpse was delivered to the morgue, the investigator personally and with the help of the officers of the inquiry bodies identifies citizens who could identify the deceased. In this regard, it is necessary to study the claims of citizens about the disappearance of their near and dear ones. If any of them contains information that gives reason to believe that it is a question of the disappearance of a citizen whose corpse was found at the scene of the incident or elsewhere, the applicant should be summoned and questioned about the signs and characteristics of the disappeared citizen. If at least some of the signs coincide with the primordial body of an unknown corpse, this corpse must be presented for identification.
If the body and face of the corpse were exposed to fire, an acid-base environment or other changes, as a result of which signs and features were destroyed, then one should carefully examine his dental apparatus, which in such cases is rarely subjected to changes and can be used to identify the person who died. Preparation for the identification of a corpse has certain specifics. First of all, it is necessary to psychologically prepare the identifier for what he will see in the morgue (pathoanatomical department). In some cases, certain efforts are required to help the identifiers overcome the feeling of fear or despair that grips him from the mere thought that he will see the corpse of a person close to him.
Difficulties may arise in the selection of witnesses, who can be involved in the presentation for identification of a corpse only with their consent. In this regard, it is most likely to obtain consent from the technical staff of the morgues (pathological departments) and cemetery workers.
In order to avoid mistakes due to the similarity of clothes on the corpse and clothes that are known to the identifier, it is advisable to present the corpse without clothes. For this, the corpse should be covered with a sheet and those parts of the body that are identified by identifiers should be opened for identification. Clothing and items found next to the corpse are presented separately according to the rules of presentation for identification of objects.
Persons who accidentally saw a person during their life and in their clothes should be presented with the corpse in the clothes in which they were found. The combination of identification features of the face and clothes of the corpse contributes to the activation of the identity of the identifier and facilitates identification. For identification, dismembered parts of the corpse that have retained distinctive features may be presented. If the identification is made on the basis of signs on the head or face of the corpse, the identity is established, and in other cases - the similarity of the corpse and the person whom the identifier previously observed.
If a corpse that has well-preserved facial features is authentically identified, the recognition should be considered valid. A mutilated corpse identified by certain signs must be noted and continued presentation to identify other corpses. The same corpse must be presented to other identifiers in order to avoid accidental identification of the corpse on the basis of similarity.
If an exhumation (extraction from a burial site) is required to identify a corpse, then the alleged identifier must be questioned in detail about the signs and features that can be found on the corpse. The aforementioned signs must be compared with the signs of a corpse recorded in the inspection protocol, and depending on their coincidence, a decision on exhumation should be made. The exhumed corpse is presented for identification at the place of exhumation if there are conditions to that either in the morgue or in another room.
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