Postmortem Fingerprinting and Unidentified Human Remains

Marzena (Mary-Ann) Mulawka, is an intermittent Medicolegal Investigator for the Victim Information Center Team, part of the federal Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team of the Department of Health and Human Services. She has her undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Urbana, IL and graduate degree in Forensic Sciences from San Diego, CA. She is also an advisory member for the Friction Ridge Analysis Committee of the Scientific Working Group on Disaster Victim Identification. Her Master’s Thesis, subsequent international publications, presentations, and recently published book on Postmortem Fingerprinting depict research that revealed a large gap in knowledge of fingerprint acquisition and submission of unidentified deceased fingerprint records. Her graduate research and prior experience with unidentified persons at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office and New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner have lead to the identification of over 250 unidentified deceased, some cold cases dating back to the 1970s. From 2011-2014, Marzena worked as a Criminalist/Identification Coordinator for the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner. She began as a Criminalist in the Forensic Biology Division’s Missing Persons DNA Unit before being transferred to the Identification Division to establish the agency’s Fingerprint Unit, coordinate its operations, and serve as the fingerprint lead for the disaster morgue during mass fatality incidents. Prior to the OCME she worked at the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office in medicolegal investigations and reorganized the unidentified persons section.