WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.150 Imagine you're eating breakfast. You know, you're sitting at your 2 00:00:04.169 --> 00:00:06.809 kitchen table, just pouring a cup of coffee, maybe watching 3 00:00:06.849 --> 00:00:07.450 the morning news. 4 00:00:07.530 --> 00:00:10.009 Right. Just a totally normal mundane Tuesday. 5 00:00:10.050 --> 00:00:12.230 Exactly. You leave for work. You come home. You sleep. 6 00:00:12.630 --> 00:00:14.830 You're just living your entire normal daily life in this 7 00:00:14.869 --> 00:00:15.349 rental house. 8 00:00:15.390 --> 00:00:15.750 Yeah. 9 00:00:16.289 --> 00:00:20.710 But now imagine that for 16 years, every single tenant 10 00:00:20.789 --> 00:00:22.730 who moved in and out of that house, like every 11 00:00:22.769 --> 00:00:26.149 person who walked across that kitchen floor, was living directly 12 00:00:26.289 --> 00:00:28.089 above a human skeleton. 13 00:00:28.769 --> 00:00:29.640 Oh, man. 14 00:00:29.769 --> 00:00:32.210 Yeah, just hidden right there in the crawlspace beneath their feet. 15 00:00:32.850 --> 00:00:36.070 And today, we're taking a deep dive into a mystery 16 00:00:36.369 --> 00:00:39.789 that literally sat beneath people's floorboards for over a decade 17 00:00:39.829 --> 00:00:40.210 and a half. 18 00:00:40.490 --> 00:00:43.929 Unnoticed, just completely unnoticed while the world kept turning right 19 00:00:43.990 --> 00:00:44.270 above it. 20 00:00:44.329 --> 00:00:47.689 Exactly. That's wild. Welcome to the deep dive, everyone. Okay, 21 00:00:47.710 --> 00:00:50.130 let's unpack this because today we are taking a microscope 22 00:00:50.170 --> 00:00:54.210 to a single incredibly dense story from local news in Alabama. 23 00:00:54.729 --> 00:00:59.090 Specifically, this is from ABC 3340. published by Hannah Bazanov 24 00:00:59.170 --> 00:01:02.340 back in February of 2026. Right. 25 00:01:02.659 --> 00:01:05.540 And our mission today isn't just to read a news article. 26 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.640 We are going to deconstruct a massive 38-year timeline. 27 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:11.640 Yeah, we want to map the whole journey of a 28 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:15.920 single cold case to understand the, well, the almost unimaginable 29 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:18.120 evolution of forensic science over that time. 30 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:20.540 Because we're going to see how investigators moved from a 31 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:24.540 system that was, you know, essentially blind, relying on paper 32 00:01:24.579 --> 00:01:26.730 flyers and just absolute guesswork, To. 33 00:01:26.650 --> 00:01:30.810 This incredibly modern era of cellular mapping and forensic genetic 34 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.120 genealogy that can literally reach backward through time. 35 00:01:34.299 --> 00:01:35.640 It's basically time travel. 36 00:01:35.659 --> 00:01:35.739 Yeah. 37 00:01:36.299 --> 00:01:39.879 But to truly appreciate that technological triumph of 2026, we 38 00:01:40.980 --> 00:01:43.340 have to start by anchoring ourselves in the analog world 39 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:45.000 where this all began, right? 40 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.069 100%. Because every single DNA database, every genetic sequence we're 41 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:50.930 going to talk about today, it's all ultimately rooted in 42 00:01:51.129 --> 00:01:54.500 one very human, very tragic day in 1988. Yeah. We 43 00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:56.780 have to understand the void that's created when a person 44 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:57.459 just vanishes. 45 00:01:57.659 --> 00:02:02.120 So let's set that scene. It is Tuesday, November 15th, 1988. 46 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:04.299 And we are in a neighborhood called Northeast Lake. 47 00:02:04.459 --> 00:02:06.159 In Birmingham, Alabama. Right. 48 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.930 And we're looking at the life of a 21-year-old young 49 00:02:08.969 --> 00:02:11.050 man named Bryant Keith Bates. 50 00:02:11.409 --> 00:02:14.189 Bryant is at his family home. He gets dressed. He 51 00:02:14.250 --> 00:02:17.849 heads out the door. And, well, the information we have 52 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:19.550 tells us he was on his way to attend a 53 00:02:19.870 --> 00:02:20.629 friend's funeral. 54 00:02:20.949 --> 00:02:21.689 A friend's funeral. 55 00:02:21.710 --> 00:02:22.009 Mm-hmm. 56 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:25.210 And that is it. That is literally the last verified 57 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:26.669 moment his family ever saw him. 58 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:28.370 He never came home from that funeral. 59 00:02:28.650 --> 00:02:32.110 Which, I mean, the psychological toll of an ambiguous loss 60 00:02:32.150 --> 00:02:35.430 like that is just, it's incredibly difficult to quantify. 61 00:02:35.650 --> 00:02:39.469 Oh, it's paralyzing because when someone dies, there's a body. 62 00:02:39.729 --> 00:02:39.930 Right. 63 00:02:39.990 --> 00:02:40.550 There's a ritual. 64 00:02:40.569 --> 00:02:43.189 We have a funeral, which he was literally going to. 65 00:02:43.409 --> 00:02:47.330 Exactly. There's a definitive end that allows the grieving process 66 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:50.990 to actually begin. But when someone simply evaporates into the ether... 67 00:02:51.180 --> 00:02:54.500 The family is plunged into this state of suspended animation. 68 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:57.139 Because the human brain is just desperate for closure, right? 69 00:02:57.159 --> 00:02:57.319 Yeah. 70 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:58.860 We need a narrative that makes sense. 71 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.780 Yes. And without it, you are trapped in a loop 72 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:04.530 of endless speculation. Did he run away? Was he hurt? 73 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:05.819 Is he coming back tomorrow? 74 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:08.069 I can't even fathom the torture of that. It's like 75 00:03:08.110 --> 00:03:10.669 someone pressing pause on a VHS tape, you know? Yeah. 76 00:03:11.050 --> 00:03:13.250 But the rest of the world just keeps playing. 77 00:03:13.610 --> 00:03:14.900 That's a really good way to put it. 78 00:03:15.610 --> 00:03:18.509 So the hours turn into a night. The night turns 79 00:03:18.550 --> 00:03:21.870 into the next day. And suddenly... The family is calling 80 00:03:21.909 --> 00:03:25.389 the Birmingham Police Department to file a missing person report. 81 00:03:25.509 --> 00:03:28.469 Right. But there is a detail here that makes this 82 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:31.250 particular disappearance even more chilling, I think. 83 00:03:31.569 --> 00:03:35.000 Yeah, the family and the police were entirely aligned very 84 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:37.759 early on. Like, right out of the gate, they both 85 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:38.620 suspected murder. 86 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:41.139 Which is unusual. What would make them jump straight to 87 00:03:41.180 --> 00:03:44.159 foul play instead of assuming, you know, a 21-year-old just 88 00:03:44.250 --> 00:03:45.909 ran off to start a new life? 89 00:03:46.330 --> 00:03:48.430 That's the big question. And it usually comes down to 90 00:03:48.469 --> 00:03:49.090 behavioral changes. 91 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:50.439 Right. 92 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:51.340 And context. 93 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:55.259 Exactly. Investigators in 1988, they're going to look at Bryant's life. Like, 94 00:03:55.490 --> 00:03:58.090 did he take his bank book? Did he pack a bag? 95 00:03:58.270 --> 00:03:59.169 Did you take a car? 96 00:03:59.530 --> 00:04:03.050 Right. If a person leaves everything they need to survive behind, 97 00:04:03.490 --> 00:04:05.610 that is your first massive red flag. 98 00:04:05.930 --> 00:04:07.409 Plus, you have to look at where he was going. 99 00:04:07.509 --> 00:04:07.710 Yeah. 100 00:04:07.810 --> 00:04:08.250 A funeral? 101 00:04:08.650 --> 00:04:12.610 Yes. An event heavily steeped in social obligation and, frankly, 102 00:04:13.069 --> 00:04:14.030 emotional gravity. 103 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:17.740 Yeah. A person who intends to voluntarily walk away from 104 00:04:17.779 --> 00:04:20.990 their life. doesn't usually choose to do it on the 105 00:04:21.029 --> 00:04:22.470 way to honor a deceased friend. 106 00:04:22.810 --> 00:04:25.970 The context heavily suggests he fully intended to be at 107 00:04:26.009 --> 00:04:28.620 that service and to return home afterward. 108 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:32.959 Which just adds this incredibly heavy, almost suffocating layer of 109 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:35.339 tragic irony to his final hours. 110 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:37.540 Yeah, he was already in a state of mourning. 111 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:41.120 Right. He was dressed for a solemn occasion, grappling with 112 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:43.850 the loss of a friend, and on that very same day, 113 00:04:43.970 --> 00:04:45.670 he basically shares their fate. 114 00:04:45.889 --> 00:04:47.990 But here's the thing. When the police agree with the 115 00:04:48.029 --> 00:04:50.879 family that he was likely murdered, what could they actually 116 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:52.459 do about it in 1988? 117 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:56.420 I mean, very little, unfortunately. And that is the paralyzing 118 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:58.120 reality of policing in that era. 119 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:00.600 Suspicion is basically just a hypothesis. 120 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:03.319 Right. Without a crime scene, without a drop of blood, 121 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:04.519 without a witness. 122 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:05.939 And without a body. Yeah. 123 00:05:06.019 --> 00:05:08.459 You have absolutely nothing to process. Like in 1988, there 124 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.899 were no cell phones pinging off local towers. 125 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:12.740 You couldn't just pull up a radius of his last 126 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:13.399 known location. 127 00:05:13.769 --> 00:05:17.009 There were no CCTV cameras on every street corner or 128 00:05:17.110 --> 00:05:19.310 ATM vestibule to track his movements. 129 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:21.339 Digital footprints just didn't exist. 130 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:24.240 So they were entirely reliant on the physical description of 131 00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:25.040 what he was wearing. 132 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:29.920 Precisely. That physical description becomes the entire foundation of the investigation. 133 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.199 It's literally the only net they can cast. 134 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:34.959 Right. And the missing persons report notes that he was 135 00:05:34.980 --> 00:05:37.569 wearing a white shirt trimmed with blue and a pair 136 00:05:37.610 --> 00:05:38.649 of plaid pants. 137 00:05:39.069 --> 00:05:40.709 Plaid pants. It's so specific. 138 00:05:40.850 --> 00:05:44.149 It is. And in the absence of the actual person, 139 00:05:44.589 --> 00:05:48.970 that hyper-specific outfit essentially becomes a proxy for Bryant Keith Bates. 140 00:05:49.709 --> 00:05:52.600 The police distribute that description via teletype. They print it 141 00:05:52.660 --> 00:05:53.500 on physical flyers. 142 00:05:53.579 --> 00:05:55.519 And they just ask troll officers to keep their eyes 143 00:05:55.579 --> 00:05:57.920 peeled for plaid pants and a blue trimmed shirt. 144 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.160 It's like the clothing becomes a uniform for the missing. 145 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:04.709 You just pray someone remembers seeing that specific pattern of plaid. 146 00:06:04.750 --> 00:06:05.850 But nobody did. No. 147 00:06:06.629 --> 00:06:10.490 For 16 long, agonizing years, the Bates family had nothing 148 00:06:10.529 --> 00:06:13.110 but that mental image of his final outfit. 149 00:06:13.509 --> 00:06:17.029 Their world was effectively paused on that one frozen frame 150 00:06:17.189 --> 00:06:18.449 of him walking out the door. 151 00:06:18.769 --> 00:06:21.209 Well, the rest of the world just moved on. The 152 00:06:21.569 --> 00:06:25.230 80s turned into the 90s, the millennium turned over, and 153 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:28.110 they were still trapped in November 1988. 154 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:29.649 Until a Tuesday morning in 2004. 155 00:06:29.649 --> 00:06:33.949 Yeah, when the story finally unpauses in, well, The most 156 00:06:33.990 --> 00:06:35.050 gruesome way imaginable. 157 00:06:35.230 --> 00:06:40.040 This brings us to the discovery phase. It's November 22nd, 2004. 158 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:44.120 We are still in Birmingham, Alabama, but we have shifted neighborhoods. 159 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:46.019 Right. We are now in Southeast Lake. 160 00:06:46.139 --> 00:06:48.500 Which is close to where he disappeared, right? Because he 161 00:06:48.540 --> 00:06:49.399 lived in Northeast Lake. 162 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:53.540 Very close. What's fascinating here is the geography. It's critical 163 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:56.060 because it tells a story of proximity. 164 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:58.290 He didn't vanish across state lines. 165 00:06:58.500 --> 00:07:01.230 No, he wasn't taken on a long cross-country journey. He 166 00:07:01.250 --> 00:07:05.040 was kept incredibly close to his own neighborhood this entire time. 167 00:07:05.060 --> 00:07:07.079 And he was hidden so well that it took an exterminator. 168 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:12.220 Right, just performing a completely mundane, routine morning service call 169 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:13.079 at a rental home. 170 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:16.019 Just doing his everyday job, and he breaks the case open. 171 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:19.990 The exterminator is navigating the crawlspace beneath this house, and 172 00:07:20.019 --> 00:07:22.189 he just stumbles upon a human skeleton. 173 00:07:22.410 --> 00:07:23.009 Just right there. 174 00:07:23.370 --> 00:07:26.750 The remains were concealed inside an old coal bin located 175 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:27.990 within that crawlspace. 176 00:07:28.209 --> 00:07:31.300 Okay, I have to stop here. Because I am stuck 177 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:32.519 on the logistics of this. 178 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:33.839 It's a lot to process. 179 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:37.269 My brain refuses to accept how this happens. Can you 180 00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:38.490 explain the architecture here? 181 00:07:38.769 --> 00:07:38.990 Sure. 182 00:07:39.470 --> 00:07:43.269 Because I'm picturing a modern basement. And I don't understand 183 00:07:43.350 --> 00:07:46.529 how a body sits under a residential home where people 184 00:07:46.569 --> 00:07:48.470 are actively living for 16 years. 185 00:07:48.750 --> 00:07:50.790 Right. Without anyone noticing. Yeah. 186 00:07:51.069 --> 00:07:53.759 Without a single person noticing a smell or without another 187 00:07:53.819 --> 00:07:55.339 maintenance worker finding it sooner. 188 00:07:55.579 --> 00:07:58.089 Well, to understand the logistics, you have to look at 189 00:07:58.110 --> 00:08:02.170 the historical architecture of older homes, particularly in the American South. 190 00:08:02.350 --> 00:08:02.629 Okay. 191 00:08:02.889 --> 00:08:05.470 A crawl space is not a basement. It's a shallow, 192 00:08:05.649 --> 00:08:08.949 unfinished area between the dirt ground and the first floor 193 00:08:08.970 --> 00:08:09.449 of the house. 194 00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:10.589 Like you can't stand up in it. 195 00:08:10.829 --> 00:08:14.000 Exactly. It's often just a few feet high, mainly there 196 00:08:14.009 --> 00:08:15.959 to allow access to plumbing and wiring. 197 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:16.600 Oh, I see. 198 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:20.310 But specifically... A coal bin within that crawlspace is a 199 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:24.040 relic of an entirely abandoned era of home heating. 200 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.300 Right, from when people actually used coal furnaces. 201 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:31.240 Yes. Before natural gas and electric heating became standard, coal 202 00:08:31.259 --> 00:08:35.470 would be delivered via a chute into these reinforced enclosed 203 00:08:35.669 --> 00:08:36.850 bins under the house. 204 00:08:36.889 --> 00:08:39.149 Okay, so they're built to hold dirty stuff. 205 00:08:39.500 --> 00:08:43.440 By the 1980s and certainly by 2004, these bins were 206 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:44.710 totally obsolete. 207 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:46.309 Nobody was using them. Nobody. 208 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:50.409 They were dark, forgotten, enclosed structures designed to hold dirt 209 00:08:50.490 --> 00:08:53.730 and fuel. They were completely disconnected from the daily living 210 00:08:53.789 --> 00:08:54.470 areas of the house. 211 00:08:54.830 --> 00:08:58.200 So it's essentially a pre-made hidden tomb that nobody has 212 00:08:58.279 --> 00:08:59.600 reason to ever look inside. 213 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:02.240 Exactly. It's like something out of an Edgar Allan Poe 214 00:09:02.259 --> 00:09:04.240 story just buried under the floorboards. 215 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:04.580 Wow. 216 00:09:04.970 --> 00:09:07.549 And the environment of a coal bin is also somewhat 217 00:09:07.789 --> 00:09:11.210 isolated from the elements, which can impact how remains decompose, 218 00:09:11.570 --> 00:09:14.669 potentially minimizing the disruption to the tenants above. 219 00:09:14.950 --> 00:09:17.490 So there wouldn't necessarily be a massive odor in the 220 00:09:17.529 --> 00:09:17.950 living room. 221 00:09:18.110 --> 00:09:21.649 Right. Furthermore, a crawl space is a place of avoidance. 222 00:09:22.149 --> 00:09:23.580 Tenants do not go down there. 223 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:25.919 I definitely wouldn't go down into a dark crawl space. 224 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:28.299 Landlords only go down there if a pipe bursts. It 225 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:29.799 is a space designed to be ignored. 226 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:33.830 Okay, so if we reverse engineer the crime... based on 227 00:09:33.889 --> 00:09:37.850 that specific location. What does this tell us about the 228 00:09:37.889 --> 00:09:38.769 person who put him there? 229 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.820 It implies a terrifying degree of local knowledge and access. 230 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.139 Because you don't just randomly pick a crawl space. 231 00:09:45.259 --> 00:09:48.340 Exactly. You do not drag a body into the crawl 232 00:09:48.379 --> 00:09:50.480 space of a random residential house in the middle of 233 00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:50.840 the day. 234 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:51.399 No way. 235 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:56.450 It requires time, privacy, and opportunity. This suggests the killer 236 00:09:56.549 --> 00:10:01.409 likely had a direct connection to that specific property in 1980. Oh, wow. 237 00:10:01.750 --> 00:10:02.559 Like they lived there. 238 00:10:02.820 --> 00:10:05.500 Perhaps they lived there. Perhaps they were the landlord. Perhaps 239 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:07.740 they were a contractor working on it while it was 240 00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:08.919 vacant between tenants. 241 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:10.399 They knew the coal bin was there. 242 00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:13.340 Yes. They knew it was an obsolete space that no 243 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:15.519 one would check, and they knew it would buy them 244 00:10:15.580 --> 00:10:16.879 time to escape detection. 245 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:18.500 They simply couldn't have known it would buy them a 246 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:18.879 full 16 years. 247 00:10:20.070 --> 00:10:23.450 Right. But finding a skeleton is only the first hurdle. 248 00:10:23.789 --> 00:10:26.799 An exterminator can find the bones, but they can't tell 249 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:27.820 you whose bones they are. 250 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:31.840 Exactly. That shifts the entire burden onto the medical and 251 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:32.879 forensic professionals. 252 00:10:33.340 --> 00:10:36.440 And this brings us to the fascinating and often misunderstood 253 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:39.629 process of reconstructing a human identity from what is left 254 00:10:39.690 --> 00:10:40.669 behind in the dirt. 255 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:44.600 So the remains are carefully extracted and transported to the 256 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:47.399 Jefferson County Coroner and Medical Examiner's office. 257 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:49.899 And this is where we see a crucial division of 258 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:53.929 scientific labor. The remains are inspected by two distinct types 259 00:10:53.970 --> 00:10:54.730 of specialists. 260 00:10:55.049 --> 00:10:58.870 Right. A forensic pathologist and a forensic anthropologist. Let's break 261 00:10:58.889 --> 00:11:00.210 those two roles down because I think a lot of 262 00:11:00.230 --> 00:11:03.429 people just assume the medical examiner does everything. 263 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:04.700 That's a common misconception. 264 00:11:04.980 --> 00:11:07.299 What is the difference between what the pathologist is looking 265 00:11:07.340 --> 00:11:08.879 for versus the anthropologist? 266 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:13.259 It is the difference between asking how someone died versus 267 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:14.519 who they were in life. 268 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:14.879 Okay. 269 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:19.659 The forensic pathologist is a medical doctor. Their primary objective 270 00:11:19.779 --> 00:11:21.870 is to determine the cause and manner of death. 271 00:11:22.429 --> 00:11:23.429 Even with just a skeleton? 272 00:11:23.710 --> 00:11:26.590 Even with a skeletonized body, they are looking for trauma. 273 00:11:27.129 --> 00:11:30.289 They are examining the bones for signs of sharp force trauma, 274 00:11:30.350 --> 00:11:32.889 like knife nicks on the ribs. 275 00:11:33.190 --> 00:11:34.120 Or blunt force trauma. 276 00:11:34.580 --> 00:11:39.149 Exactly, like depressed fractures on the skull. In this specific case, 277 00:11:39.389 --> 00:11:42.490 the pathologist's findings were grim but unequivocal. 278 00:11:42.929 --> 00:11:44.769 They found a gunshot wound to the head. 279 00:11:44.809 --> 00:11:45.110 Yes. 280 00:11:45.629 --> 00:11:48.070 But how exactly do you determine a gunshot wound on 281 00:11:48.090 --> 00:11:50.750 a dry skull after 16 years? Like, how do you 282 00:11:50.789 --> 00:11:52.409 know it wasn't just crushed by a rock? 283 00:11:52.750 --> 00:11:56.700 Bone is a dynamic material, and it reacts to high-velocity 284 00:11:56.769 --> 00:11:59.600 impact in very specific, predictable ways. 285 00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:00.259 How so? 286 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:02.980 When a bullet strikes a skull, it doesn't just punch 287 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:06.929 a clean hole. It creates radiating fracture lines, much like 288 00:12:06.970 --> 00:12:08.629 a stone hitting a pane of glass. 289 00:12:08.710 --> 00:12:09.110 Oh, I see. 290 00:12:09.549 --> 00:12:12.570 Furthermore, the pathologist looks for something called beveling. 291 00:12:12.710 --> 00:12:13.070 Beveling. 292 00:12:13.350 --> 00:12:16.139 Yeah. When a bullet enters the skull, the hole on 293 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.659 the outer table of the bone is smaller and cleaner, 294 00:12:19.019 --> 00:12:21.820 but as it pushes through the bone, it blasts out 295 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:24.379 a cone-shaped crater on the inside of the skull. 296 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:25.360 Like it blows out the back. 297 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:29.350 Exactly. That is called internal beveling, and it proves the 298 00:12:29.389 --> 00:12:30.409 trajectory was inward. 299 00:12:30.570 --> 00:12:31.590 And if there's an exit wound? 300 00:12:31.710 --> 00:12:35.899 The opposite happens. External beveling. By reading these fractures and craters, 301 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:39.009 the pathologist can definitively state that this person was shot. 302 00:12:39.409 --> 00:12:41.750 Declaring the manner of death a homicide. 303 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:44.490 Yes. But they still have a John Doe on the table. 304 00:12:44.690 --> 00:12:47.169 And this is where the anthropologist steps in to answer 305 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:47.929 the who. Yes. 306 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:51.940 A forensic anthropologist does not typically determine the cause of death. 307 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:56.779 Their expertise is in osteology, the study of bones. Their 308 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:00.129 job is to extract a biological profile from the skeleton. 309 00:13:00.549 --> 00:13:02.720 They want to determine the deceased's age at the time 310 00:13:02.750 --> 00:13:06.539 of death, their biological sex, their living stature or height, 311 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:08.059 and their ancestral background. 312 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:10.960 I have always wondered about the actual mechanics of this. 313 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.259 How do you measure a pile of bones on a 314 00:13:13.299 --> 00:13:16.730 table and confidently say, this person was 5 foot 10 315 00:13:16.730 --> 00:13:17.289 inches tall? 316 00:13:17.710 --> 00:13:22.190 It relies on decades of anatomical data and mathematical regression formulas. 317 00:13:22.210 --> 00:13:22.830 Okay, math. 318 00:13:22.950 --> 00:13:26.009 The most reliable way to determine stature is by measuring 319 00:13:26.070 --> 00:13:29.549 the long bones of the legs, specifically the femur or 320 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:31.929 thigh bone, And the tibia, the shin bone. 321 00:13:32.070 --> 00:13:33.350 Because they make up most of your height. 322 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:37.830 Exactly. These bones correlate very closely with a person's overall height. 323 00:13:38.370 --> 00:13:42.110 The anthropologist uses a specialized tool called an osteometric board 324 00:13:42.509 --> 00:13:45.190 to get a precise measurement of the femur down to 325 00:13:45.210 --> 00:13:45.769 the millimeter. 326 00:13:46.129 --> 00:13:47.389 Wow, down to the millimeter. 327 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:51.320 Yes. They then plug that measurement into a formula that 328 00:13:51.340 --> 00:13:54.759 accounts for sex and ancestry, and it yields an estimated 329 00:13:54.779 --> 00:13:57.289 height range. Wow. And in this case, they pinpointed the 330 00:13:57.330 --> 00:13:59.129 height at approximately 5'10. 331 00:13:59.210 --> 00:14:02.580 That is incredible. And what about age and ancestry? How 332 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:05.000 do you read that from a 16-year-old skeleton? 333 00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:09.440 Age is determined by looking at growth and degeneration. For 334 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:13.179 a young adult, the anthropologist looks at epiphyseal fusion. 335 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:14.519 Which is what exactly? 336 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:17.419 Essentially, whether the ends of the bones have fully fused 337 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:20.279 to the shafts. This happens at very predictable ages as 338 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:20.769 we grow up. 339 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:22.179 Oh, like growth plates closing. 340 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:26.110 Precisely. They also look at the cubic symphysis, the joint 341 00:14:26.129 --> 00:14:27.750 where the two halves of the pelvis meet. 342 00:14:28.110 --> 00:14:28.970 And what does that tell them? 343 00:14:29.370 --> 00:14:32.750 The surface of that joint changes from billowy and ridged 344 00:14:32.789 --> 00:14:35.820 in youth to flat and pitted in older adulthood. 345 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:37.629 Oh, wow. So it literally wears down. 346 00:14:37.769 --> 00:14:40.740 Exactly. Based on these markers, they estimated the victim was 347 00:14:40.779 --> 00:14:42.480 between 17 and 30 years old. 348 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:43.700 And ancestry? 349 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:47.919 As for ancestry, that is determined by examining the microscopic 350 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:50.820 structure of the bone and, more commonly, the morphology of 351 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:51.340 the skull. 352 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:52.399 Like the shape of the face. 353 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:57.460 Yes, particularly the mid-facial region, the nasal aperture, and the 354 00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:01.700 eye orbits, which vary statistically among different ancestral populations. 355 00:15:01.779 --> 00:15:05.259 So let's look at the profile the anthropologists build. They 356 00:15:05.299 --> 00:15:08.700 conclude they have an adult male of African descent, standing 357 00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:13.090 around 5'10, aged somewhere between 17 and 30. 358 00:15:13.090 --> 00:15:16.090 Which is an incredibly specific demographic box. 359 00:15:16.250 --> 00:15:18.990 It is. But the biology was only part of the story. 360 00:15:19.429 --> 00:15:22.649 The earth in that coal bin preserved more than just bone. 361 00:15:23.190 --> 00:15:27.080 They also recovered physical artifacts that survived the 16 years 362 00:15:27.139 --> 00:15:27.799 of decay. 363 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:30.240 Here's where it gets really interesting, because this is the 364 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:31.659 part of the story that makes you want to pull 365 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:32.139 your hair out. 366 00:15:32.700 --> 00:15:34.159 Yeah, the clothing. Right. 367 00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:36.480 They find remnants of the clothing. They recover pieces of 368 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:40.450 plaid pants. They find argyle socks. They recover a white 369 00:15:40.490 --> 00:15:41.389 shirt with blue trim. 370 00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:42.450 All highly specific. 371 00:15:42.750 --> 00:15:45.409 And they also find a yellow metal chain necklace and 372 00:15:45.450 --> 00:15:46.750 a Coca-Cola brand watch. 373 00:15:47.649 --> 00:15:50.990 Those artifacts are essentially a time capsule. They're deeply poignant 374 00:15:51.029 --> 00:15:52.299 cultural markers of the late 1980s. 375 00:15:53.389 --> 00:15:57.330 Exactly. A Coca-Cola watch is a massive pop culture identifier. 376 00:15:57.649 --> 00:16:01.639 Like Coca-Cola clothing and accessories were a huge trend, specifically 377 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:02.940 in the mid to late 80s. 378 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:05.500 It places the time of death almost perfectly. 379 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:09.159 But look at the staggering, tragic irony of this moment 380 00:16:09.220 --> 00:16:13.539 in 2004. The medical examiner's office has a demographic profile 381 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.779 that perfectly aligns with a 21-year-old missing person. 382 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:17.500 Right. 383 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.159 And sitting on the evidence table right next to those 384 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:23.370 bones are plaid pants... It really is. This has to 385 00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:26.889 be the moment they solve it. Right. Like, did this 386 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:29.600 immediately set off alarm bells for the missing persons unit? 387 00:16:29.899 --> 00:16:32.799 You would desperately hope so. It seems so obvious to 388 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:35.039 us looking at the complete timeline. Yeah. 389 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:44.610 But it didn't set off alarm bells. They did not 390 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:45.230 make the connection. 391 00:16:45.269 --> 00:16:45.870 Wait, really? 392 00:16:46.110 --> 00:16:49.370 Really. Bryant Keith Bates remained an unidentified John Doe. 393 00:16:49.389 --> 00:16:51.809 Who would have said even possible? Is this a failure 394 00:16:51.830 --> 00:16:54.169 of police communication? Does one hand just not know what 395 00:16:54.190 --> 00:16:55.090 the other hand is doing? 396 00:16:55.429 --> 00:16:58.330 It is easy to blame incompetence, but it is much 397 00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:02.019 more accurate to blame the structural limitations of the analog era. 398 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:02.740 The paper files. 399 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:05.700 It is a tragedy of paper files. You have to 400 00:17:05.740 --> 00:17:09.319 put yourself in the reality of municipal record keeping before 401 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.200