A few things were certain. Experts determined that the leg had been traumatically amputated about six inches above the knee-presumably by the explosion itself. They also found evidence that the limb had been very close to the epicenter of the initial explosion. Blue plastic shards, which looked as if they might have come from the blue plastic drums that held the explosives, had been driven deep into the bone by the force of the blast. The foot was dressed in two pairs of dark socks and a black combat-style boot, with a military-style blousing strap at the top of the boot-the kind of device used to secure the cuff of a soldier's trousers.
The clothing certainly seemed more likely to be worn by a man than by a woman-but some women do wear combat uniforms. The bone data seemed ambiguous as well: the leg might have come from either a robust woman or an average-sized man. Anthropologists commonly depend on the statistical probability that men's bones are larger than women's, but because of the variations inherent in humankind, these probabilities are little more than good statistical guesses. There are no hard-and-fast rules that can positively divide the sexes based on bone size alone.
Sometimes you can use other indicators, but they're not terribly reliable. Death investigators will duly note whether leg hairs have been shaved-but not all women shave their legs, while some men do. Polished toenails are a more reliable indicator of sex, although many women don't paint their nails-and again, some men do. In this case, the initial evidence did not add up to a single, definitive picture of this individual's sex.
Nor could investigators be certain about race. The leg had been damaged from the blast and was partially decayed. Since it had lain in the rubble for several weeks, its skin had already decomposed somewhat and begun to discolor. The skin was generally light-colored-but did that indicate that the body was Caucasian or only that the epidermis had sloughed off? Some areas of the skin were slightly darker than others-but was that from natural pigmentation or darkening due to decay?
Although investigators could see the leg's skin color for themselves, they understood that such visual cues are a highly unreliable indicator of racial identity. Color often changes during the decay process, and in our multicolored United States, people of all different hues identify as “White” or “Black,” with some White people's skin visibly darker than that of people who call themselves African American.
Since the evidence was ambiguous, the Oklahoma City experts released inconclusive results, finding that the leg had probably belonged to a Caucasian, with a 75 percent chance of its being male, and a 25 percent chance of its being female. But they also sent tissue and hair samples to FBI specialists in Washington, D.C.
The FBI experts began to revise the initial results, though they, too, were reluctant to issue a definitive report, given the ambiguity of the evidence. The FBI's tests concluded that this individual was probably not male but female, not White but Black.
Their findings were based on a number of factors, including the dark hairs found on the leg. But they knew very well that it's hard to determine a racial identification from leg hairs alone-scalp hairs tend to be a more reliable indicator. Of course, if the leg hair had been naturally blond, they could probably have concluded that the person was Caucasian. But people of all races have black or dark-brown leg hair.
Had the leg not been amputated, they might have been able to look at the anterior curvature in the shaft of the femur, which, as I had learned in grad school, is a fairly reliable indicator that can be used to separate Whites and Blacks. In this case, though, the femur stopped just above the knee. Then Dr. Ubelaker and Dr. Snow remembered the paper I had written on racial elements in the bone structure of the knee-and that's where I came in.
Meanwhile, the defense was making as much as possible of the leg's discovery. Thinking they might be able to blame the entire incident on this enigmatic leg, they began very early in the investigation to refer to it as the leg of the “real bomber.” They went back to the initial reports about John Doe #2-who had been reported as a husky dark-haired man wearing a baseball cap. This mystery man, the lawyers argued, was the culprit who deserved the death penalty, not their client.
Jones and his defense team built up an elaborate defense based on this mystery leg. First, they pointed out, the leg had been found at the epicenter of the blast-the most likely place for the “real bomber” to be. Second, the initial forensic exam had indicated that the leg had probably belonged to a White male-the most likely profile for such a bomber. Since the bombing seemed to be the work of white supremacists and militia supporters, it seemed highly unlikely that either a Black person or a woman would have been the “real bomber” in such a crime-if only because it was so unlikely that McVeigh would ever have taken orders from anyone other than a “superior officer,” who in the ranks of the right-wing militia would most likely be a White man.
Thus, when the FBI issued their second opinion, suggesting that the remains were more likely those of a Black female, the defense called this a transparent attempt by the federal government to win its case against McVeigh. The FBI's laboratory analyses were under particular scrutiny because, ever since the O. J. Simpson case, whistle-blower Dr. Frederick Whitehurst had been accusing the Bureau of falsifying laboratory results in favor of prosecutors.
Besides, the defense pointed out, the leg couldn't be linked to any of the victims who had been recovered and identified. If there was in fact an “unknown” victim, he or she must have been someone who didn't belong in the Federal Building -further suggesting that the leg belonged to the “real bomber.”
So a great deal of the case came down to the mysterious John Doe #2, the husky dark-haired White male in a baseball cap whom several witnesses had claimed to see with McVeigh in the days before the bombing. The defense was doing everything it could to prove that this leg belonged to John Doe #2, while the prosecution was working hard to prove that it didn't. The defense seemed to be ready to accuse the prosecution of falsifying results so that it could cover up the identity of the “real bomber” and convict McVeigh in his place.
That's why determining the race and sex of this leg became such an issue. A high-level group of people, including Clyde Snow and experts from the medical examiner's office, the FBI, and the Smithsonian, held a daylong meeting to determine their next course of action. At the end of that day, they called me at my office in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Dr. Doug Ubelaker, the FBI's top forensic anthropology consultant at the Smithsonian, explained the problem. He'd just read my article in the Journal of Forensic Sciences announcing my discovery of the racial variation in the intercondylar notch of the femur. After he'd discussed my research with the others, they all agreed to invite me out to Oklahoma City to apply that theory to their mystery leg. The FBI would pay all my expenses-but they needed me as soon as possible.
Of course, I was flattered and said I'd do what I could to help. After checking with my employer, I called back the next day and agreed to fly out. After just a few hours in the air, I got to the medical examiner's office and was first introduced to Dr. Larry Balding, the Oklahoma City forensic pathologist who had done most of the analysis of the parts found in the building, and the one with whom I would be working. I had enormous respect for him, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jordan, and of course Dr. Snow-all of these people were heroes in my eyes, and I thought it might be a bit unnerving walking into a strange morgue and working with them on such a high-profile case.