The exhumation and on-site analysis of the human remains will proceed over a three-day period (or four-day maximum, in the event of unexpected discoveries) as follows.DAY 1. Exhumation
The grave will be opened by arrangement with the cemetery management. The cemetery manager, Mr. Young, has agreed to provide equipment and personnel for use in removing the top layer of sod; for these services the research team has agreed to compensate the cemetery at the usual rate for a disinterment. If the coffin is intact, then the remains, in the coffin, will be transported to a local facility for analysis. If the coffin is not intact, then the skeleton will be excavated from the grave using standard archaeological techniques and then transported to the analysis facility. Professor Van Gerven has arranged for the use of office and laboratory facilities at the University of Kansas for this purpose. All individual bones will be inventoried, and photographed at the gravesite. Skeletal elements will then be bagged and labeled for transport. Inventory and photography of the skeleton at the gravesite is essential to ensure that no portion of the skeleton is inadvertently lost. Appropriate transportation of the remains will be arranged through a local funeral home, using a hearse. The cemetery manager has advised that he is a licensed funeral director, and has offered to lend his services to insure that the transportation complies with state law.
Appropriate measures will be taken by all parties to minimize the size of the assembly at the gravesite. The research team will notify the City of those whom they expect to attend the exhumation for the purposes of assisting the team. The City may take such measures as it believes necessary and appropriate to exclude others or discourage their presence.
DAY 2 and possibly 3: Analysis
The skeleton will be rearticulated for analysis. Again, all bones will be carefully inventoried and photographed in their correct anatomic position.
Cranial Analysis: If facilities permit, the skull will be x-rayed from three positions - posterior-anterior, sagittal, and superior. The skull will also be photographed to a scale and orientation comparable to the life photographs of the two candidates. The dentition will also be analyzed for attrition (wear), pathologies (such as dental caries) and occlusion (including dental crowding). The x-rays and photos will be subsequently used to match anatomical features of the skull to the life photos. Patterns of suture closure will also be recorded and used later in the estimation of age at death.
Post-cranial Analysis: All long bones will be measured using standard osteological techniques. These measures will be subsequently used to estimate stature of the deceased. Pathologies (such as healed fractures or infections) will also be noted and photographed.
Features of the pelvis (the innominate bone or os cove) will be subject to close analysis. The public symphyses, and auricular surfaces will be analyzed for age changes and matched to forensic standards for the estimation of age at death. Bony changes in the sternal rib ends will also be noted for subsequent estimation of age at death.
The research team agrees to ensure that the remains are reburied within 48 hours of removal.
DAY 3 or possibly 4: Reburial
All remains will be reburied in their grave. Reburial will include all material artifacts including any preserved clothing, personal effects, and remains of the coffin. Reburial will be conducted using cemetery equipment and personnel, compensated at the usual rate by the research team. The research team has also agreed to pay for the cost of a marker for the grave, which is at present unmarked. The City of Lawrence has suggested that it may have stone available for this purpose. In any event, the research team will pay for the cost of inscribing the stone, and acquiring one if necessary. The contents of the inscription will be decided by agreement between the research team and the City, and may depend upon the findings of the team concerning the identity of the remains.
Off-Site Laboratory Analysis and Identification
Following reburial, the further analysis and identification of the remains will proceed at the University of Colorado, Boulder by Professor Dennis Van Gerven.
Cranial Analysis of the Physical Similarity to the Life Photographs: Digital photographs of the skull will be matched to the life photographs of the two historical candidates. Cranio-facial features of particular importance include morphology of the nasal root, inter-orbital distance, facial height from glabella to mention, and bizygomatic breadth. It is anticipated that these features, in combination, will lead to a positive match to one of the candidates with greater than 90% certainty.
Age at Death: There was an approximate decade difference in age at death of the two candidates. Age-related morphological changes in the os pubes and suricular surfaces of the innominate, and suture closure of the cranial vault can produce a reliable estimation of age at death for the skeletal remains. Age changes in the sternal rib ends and dental wear will be considered but are of lesser reliability. The combined criteria should provide an estimated age at death plus-or-minus 5 years. This estimate will produce a highly reliable match to one or the other of the historical candidates
Stature: It is unclear from historical accounts whether the candidates differed in stature. Nevertheless, an estimate of stature from long-bone lengths can be made using established regression formulae, and will be provided for the remains.
Genetic evidence: A genealogical search conducted in preparation for our request for exhumation has led to the discovery of a living descendant of Adolph Walters. Adolph Walters had a brother who produced a daughter who in turn produced a son by the name of Dan Davis. Mr. Davis has volunteered to provide a sample of DNA for comparisons to the human remains. There is a good likelihood that some fragments will be preserved in even small fragments of bone. This antique DNA can be extracted, amplified using standard techniques, and compared to Dan Davis. This comparison can be informative but is unlikely to be conclusive. While statistically Dan Davis should carry one quarter of the genes of his grandfather and also one quarter of the genes of his grandfather's brother (Adolph Walters) but that is only the average probability. If such closeness is observed the weight of evidence would fall against the John Hillmon hypothesis. In reality however, Dan Davis could show no particularly close genetic ties to the remains in the grave (due to what geneticists call independent assortment) and yet the remains are indeed those of his grandfather's brother. That negative outcome cannot be excluded as a possibility. A likely connection to Adolph Walters could be made if both the remains and Dan Davis share some rare trait unlikely to appear in genetic strangers. If such an outcome were to occur the Hillmon argument would be substantially weakened. In short while a close genetic like between Dan Davis and remains could exclude Hillmon as the corpse, the absence of a close link cannot exclude Adolph Walters and establish Hillmon as the corpse.
What will be learned: There are three possible out comes, each of which will add to our knowledge regarding the facts of this case. As has already been noted, there is a good likelihood that the sketetal remains will match either John Hillmon or Adolph Walters. If the remains match Mr. Hillmon then we have a final vindication of Hillmon's wife Sallie and the case she brought so many years ago. Alternatively, if the remains are determined to be those of Mr. Adolph Walters, then the defendants in this case will have at last prevailed. There is, however, a third possibility. The remains may be neither those of John Hillmon or Adolph Walters. In this case history will be served. Perhaps John Hillmon and his partner John Brown did indeed perpetrate a fraud on the insurance companies and a victim we may never know lies in the Lawrence cemetery.
"The exhumation protocol was attached as an exhibit to our petition for exhumation. We did follow the protocol for the disinterment." -- Mimi Wesson, email to Jerry Ferrin, 30 May 2006.
Exhumation of the 'Hillmon' remains in Grave 555, Oak Grove Cemetery, Lawrence, Kansas, 19 May 2006
From left: Ernesto Acevedo-Munoz, Mimi Wesson (in cowboy hat), Andrea Viedt, Paul Sandberg (in grave),
Katie Jackson, Sarah Garner (in grave) Lee Sarter, Mike Lawrence, Dennis Van Gerven (kneeling by side of grave).
Photo by Mike Brier, used with his permission.
Thanks to Shirley Brier for transcribing this document, a copy of which she was given while she and her husband Mike were spectators at the excavation of the grave on 19 May 2006.