Teasing Secrets from the Dead

My Investigations at America’s Most Infamous Crime Scenes

De: Emily Craig PhD

Narrado por: Carrington MacDuffie

Teasing Secrets from the Dead is a front-lines story of crime scene investigation at some of the most infamous sites in recent history.

In this absorbing, surprising, and undeniably compelling book, forensics expert Emily Craig tells her own story of a life spent teasing secrets from the dead.

Emily Craig has been a witness to history, helping to seek justice for thousands of murder victims, both famous and unknown. It’s a personal story that you won’t soon forget. Emily first became intrigued by forensics work when, as a respected medical illustrator, she was called in by the local police to create a model of a murder victim’s face. Her fascination with that case led to a dramatic midlife career change: She would go back to school to become a forensic anthropologist - and one of the most respected and best-known “bone hunters” in the nation.

As a student working with the FBI in Waco, Emily helped uncover definitive proof that many of the Branch Davidians had been shot to death before the fire, including their leader, David Koresh, whose bullet-pierced skull she reconstructed with her own hands. Upon graduation, Emily landed a prestigious full-time job as forensic anthropologist for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a state with an alarmingly high murder rate and thousands of square miles of rural backcountry, where bodies are dumped and discovered on a regular basis.

But even with her work there, Emily has been regularly called to investigations across the country, including the site of the terrorist attack on the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, where a mysterious body part - a dismembered leg - was found at the scene and did not match any of the known victims. Through careful scientific analysis, Emily was able to help identify the leg’s owner, a pivotal piece of evidence that helped convict Timothy McVeigh.

From the biggest news stories of our time to stranger-than-true local mysteries, these unforgettable stories come from Emily Craig’s remarkable career.

©2004 Emily Craig, PhD (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

She has seen and experienced things we will never understand

Emily tries very hard to explain what her job encompasses but it’s not something words can describe. Near the end of the book, Emily says she wishes she was a hero. I’d say she qualifies in my book. It takes a very special person to do what is ask of her, especially her emergency response assignments, and not become jaded. We need more people like Emily to do the “hard jobs” in times of crisis.

The Attention to Detail!!!

As someone with a morbid curiosity, this book grabbed me immediately!!! Emily's attention to detail, her ability to describe in layman's terms so we can get a feel for what they go though...so amazing!! Thank you for all you do and for writing this amazing book!

Putting the pieces together

From doing medical drawings to becoming a forensic anthropologist, Emily Craig PhD seem to live a life that was a direct line to her expertise. This unsung hero has worked on some of the countries worst disasters and Kentucky’s crime scenes. From the Branch Davidians to 911, Dark has shown that her skills were invaluable in the assistance of identifying those who had lost their lives in these tragic events. Not only is she an anthropologist. She was a medical illustrator and understood and knows how the body Works it’s construction and what goes where. If you are interested in the forensics and The behind the scenes of what goes on in the ME‘s office, this is a book that is for you. It is almost magical the things that she can do.

Brutally honest

Dr. Emily Graig managed to capture the essence of a darker side of being disposable in a brilliant narrative of fact, empathy and compassion that is rare. She made it easy to understand the science and and the (he)art of forensic anthropology. I wish for more! And of coarse Carrington MacDuffie is an outstanding narrator who did this masterpiece justice.

Seriously True Crime, from the inside.

I was unsure if I'd care for this book. Many authors make things difficult to understand and are very clinical. Others are too unbelievable. This shows a wonderful human being with so many accomplishments, willing to share the scary bits, but also the reward at the end. The narrator does a wonderful job bringing it to life. One can picture the looks she gets, and gives, before entering some "mostly safe" places to recover bodies, or parts thereof. seriously worth the listen.