AAFS 2025

HHRRC Documentary

Tuesday, February, 18 | 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Open to ALL Meeting Registrants 

The FSF and HHRRC are pleased to offer AAFS attendees a special viewing of Missing in Brooks County, a documentary focusing on the forensic investigations of missing and deceased migrants at the Southern border in Texas, as well as the forensic crisis that has resulted. Immediately following the documentary, there will be a open discussion with Kate Spradley, PhD, Professor of Anthropology at Texas State University, whose work is featured in the documentary.

Film Description: Migrants go missing in rural South Texas more than anywhere else in the U.S. For many families whose loved ones have disappeared after crossing the Mexico border, activist detective Eddie Canales is their last hope. Unlock the mysteries and confront the agonizing facts of life and death in Brooks County, 80 miles north of the border. For more information on the documentary: https://www.missinginbrookscounty.com/

HHRRC Poster Session

Tuesday, February, 18 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pn
Open to ALL Meeting Registrants

The Humanitarian and Human Rights Resource Center (HHRRC) of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), with support from the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCOE), provides needed resources and support to apply modern forensic science to global humanitarian and human rights projects. This HHRRC Poster Session is an open meeting where attendees can learn about the application of forensic science to investigate humanitarian and human rights injustices. More information on this event is available at https://forensiccoe.org/event-2025-hhrrc-virtual-library/.

Posters Presentations:

1. Death in Flight: Exploring Migration-Related Fatalities in Greece
   Despoina E. Flouri; Sophia R. Mavroudas; Christina Karydi; Antonios Papadomanolakis; Konstantinos Moraitis; Elena F. Kranioti
2. International Capacity-Building Workshop for Human Rights Defenders and Clinicians (Forensic Doctors and Psychologists/Psychiatrists) on Techniques for Collecting Physical and Psychological Evidence of Torture
   Jean C. Fogno; Hilaire Kamga; Bruno Wembe
3. Toward a More Accurate Enumeration of Migrant Mortality Along the United States–Mexico Border: A Definition and First Count 
   Alberto Giordano; Nicholas Herrmann; Molly Miranker; Rachel Daniell; Molly A. Kaplan; Veronica Flores-Guillen; Jasmine Hernandez; Heather Edgar; Kate Spradley; Cate E. Bird
4. "They Are Our Parents" — The Identification and Mapping of Mass Graves Resulting from Operation Condor in Paraguay
   Jacob A. Harris; Adriana Sartorio; Rogelio Goiburú; Katelyn Bolhofner
5. Capacity-Building Workshop on the Potential of Stable Isotopes in Deceased Migrant Identification in Tanzania
   Isaac Onoka; Tiffany B. Fracchia
6. Advocating for the Dead: An Interdisciplinary Path Toward Restructuring the Medicolegal Death Investigation System in the Texas Borderlands
   Courtney C. Siegert; Carina Marques; Molly A. Kaplan; Victoria M. Swenson; Kate Spradley; Nora Salinas; Vanessa Alaniz; Dina Nunez; Eddie Canales; Cate E. Bird; Jason Wiersema
7. Restoring Personhood and Dignity to the Ancestors in the East Marshall Street Well: Community-Engaged Research in Forensic Science
   Tal Simmons; Baneshwar Singh; Filipa Simão
8. Restoring the Voices of the Forgotten: The Hunan LongYue Peace and Public Welfare Center's Efforts to Reunite World War II National Revolutionary Army Soldiers With Their Homeland and Families in China
   Chunlong Sun; Hao Yu; Derek Congram; Lei Hou
9. Humanitarian Forensic Action Using a Holistic Anthropological Approach
   Victoria M. Swenson; Courtney C. Siegert; Chloe P. McDaneld; Ivanna Robledo; Abi Jose; Molly A. Kaplan; Kelsey Fox; Zoe Becker; Kate Spradley; Carina Marques; Aracely Balderas; Gabriella Rios Bradley; Victoria Rosas; Isabella Zapata; Amerika Garcia Grewal; Mike Garcia; Nora Salinas; Vanessa Alaniz; Dina Nunez; Eddie Canales; Mercedes Doretti; Cate E. Bird; Jason Wiersema