‘Buried Remains’ to dig up
forensic science of
religious rituals, grave excavations
Los Angeles, CA -- Revealing gruesome scientific details behind true crime scenes, Cal State L.A. forensic experts Donald Johnson and Elizabeth Miller will unearth “Buried Remains” on Halloween (Wednesday, Oct. 31) at 1 p.m. in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, located on the Cal State L.A. campus.
Journalists are welcome to attend this free lecture hosted by the California Forensic Science Institute at Cal State L.A.
Miller, an associate professor of anthropology at Cal State L.A., will discuss the usage of human bones in religious rituals. Miller’s research interests include forensic anthropology, particularly determination of time since death, paleopathology, and repatriation of remains. She has served as the consulting anthropologist to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner/Coroner since 1998.
Based on several homicide cases, including the murder of model Linda Sobek, Johnson’s talk will address the interdisciplinary approach to grave excavation. An assistant professor of criminal justice, Johnson is an expert on criminalistics with emphasis on crime scene investigation and reconstruction, and forensic biology. He was formerly a senior criminalist at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, where he conducted scientific investigations of violent crimes.
The California Forensic Science Institute serves as the academic, research and development arm of the Los Angeles Regional Crime Laboratory at the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. The center is also home to Cal State L.A.’s School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics, and to scientific divisions of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department.
WHAT & WHO: The California Forensic Science Institute at Cal State L.A. presents a free public lecture titled “Buried Remains.”
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, on the Cal State L.A. campus. The University is located at the Eastern Avenue exit, San Bernardino (I-10) Fwy., at the interchange of the 10 and 710 Fwys.
INFO: For more details, call the California Forensic Science Institute at Cal State L.A., (323) 343-3974.
Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 200,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu
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