Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Anthropology

First Committee Member

Jennifer Byrnes

Second Committee Member

Derek Boyd

Third Committee Member

Gabriela Oré Menéndez

Fourth Committee Member

Erika Marquez

Number of Pages

155

Abstract

This dissertation conceptualizes the extended loss of identity in death as a sociocultural and politically determined outcome of structural violence, taking inspiration from the social autopsy. This project is structured as three distinct manuscripts discussing resolved and active long-term unidentified cases within the Clark County medicolegal identification system by integrating Bayesian statistical modeling with community-engaged research. The first study employs Bayesian binary logistic regression on 368 cases (1969-2022) to identify credible predictors of case resolution; finding that juvenile age (OR=0.25) and skeletonized body condition (OR=0.46) are credible barriers to identification, while BIPOC and young adult males are overrepresented when compared to crude mortality rates. The second study utilizes a Bayesian log-normal accelerated failure time (AFT) survival model to evaluate temporal dynamics. This analysis found that skeletonized remains take 89% longer to identify than the referenced decomposing remains. The third study evaluates Missing in Nevada Day (MIND) through a modified Ladder of Citizen Participation. It highlights a co-production model between the state and the public that successfully yielded 18 new missing persons reports and 12 familial DNA samples in the first two years. Together this research demonstrate that the persistence of anonymity in death is a socially patterned process in part driven by biological degradation and institutional absence, underscoring the necessity for early policy interventions and proactive community engagement to reduce these outcomes.

Controlled Subject

Autopsy; Autopsy--Technique; Multiracial people

Disciplines

Anthropology | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Forensic Science and Technology

File Format

PDF

File Size

1703 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Available for download on Saturday, May 15, 2027


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