Determining Height from Bone Length
• In some cases all that police recover is a bone
or bones form a victim. Is is possible to get an
estimate of the height of the person based on
the length of just one bone.
• We will work with one bone located in the
arm, the radius, and one bone located in the
leg, the tibia.
To measure the bones:
• To measure the radius,
find the length from the
base of the wrist to the
fold in the elbow.
Record your
measurement to the
nearest ¼ inch.
• To measure the tibia,
find the length from just
below the kneecap to
the ankle. Record your
measurement to the
nearest ¼ inch.
•Next, carefully measure your height to the
nearest ¼ inch.