January 16, 2004
Girl's body was purposefully taken apart, expert testifies
Full story: The Salt Lake Tribune
The manner and location of knife cuts, ax chops and hacksaw marks on Trisha Ann Autry's unearthed bones indicate the 15-year-old girl's body was purposefully stripped of flesh and dismembered by her killer, an expert testified Thursday at Cody Lynn Nielsen's capital murder trial. Forensic anthropologist Shannon Novak -- who has studied prehistoric cannibalized remains in the West, mass graves in Croatia and remains from Utah's Mountain Meadows Massacre -- said the marks on Autry's bones are consistent with the disarticulation of her head, arms, legs, hands and feet, followed by "breaking them into smaller, more manageable pieces."Posted by stupefied
10:17 PM