FOBOS XR in Action: Elevating Forensic Investigations at Montgomery County

Case Study: Montgomery County Forensic Services Department. FOBOS XR: The standard procedure. Forensics services at Montgomery County serve the community with excellence in applying impartial forensics, with compassion and understanding for decent families.

Case Study: Montgomery County Forensic Services Department. FOBOS XR: The standard procedure.

Forensics services at Montgomery County serve the community with excellence in applying impartial forensics, with compassion and understanding for decent families.

Under the authority of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 49, Montgomery County Forensic Services Dept. performs examinations of deceased individual under orders of Justices of the Peace of Montgomery County and several other counties that we serve under Interlocal Agreements.

This case study describes a Male body, 62 years old, found with a wound on the head, decomposed. The investigation aims to discover the cause of death and to determine the manner. The death was not believed to be a homicide, based on initial analysis.

APPROACH:

With the use of FOBOS XR, Montgomery County Forensic Services Dept. performs the investigation with X-ray Technology. 60 seconds scanning time to obtain AP and Lateral images of the full-body.

RESULTS:

The Skull Fractures are consistent with the self-inflicted GSW, and the bullet was recovered at the scene. The radiographs were accurate with the path findings, revealing skull fractures, no projectile, changes of decomposition, and property in the pockets, including a gun and a loaded magazine.

Nowadays, Suicides are approximately 15% of our caseload; 58% of the suicides involve a firearm. In this case, the beneficial feature of the full-body scanner is that we would have only done x-rays of the head and would not have known about the gun and bullets before the examination. Movement of the body, such as is done for photographs and evidence collection, could have resulted in an unexpected discharge of the weapon. The full-body radiograph was extremely helpful in maintaining the safety of our staff since the weapon was not noticed/removed at the scene.

FOBOS XR | Forensic Body Scanner

X-RAY DETECTOR AND IMAGE QUALITY

The use of direct photon-counting detectors with TDS mode allows:

Remove background noise to help improve image quality.
Take linear dependency of the signal level on the intensity of X-Ray radiation. The detailed technical specification is provided in section 7.5 Image quality.
Penetration possibility by Al – min.300 mm, and by H2O 800 mm.
Contrast sensitivity – min. 1,2 %.
Limit resolution – up to 5,0 line per mm.
Possibility of usage different binning modes (from 1×1 up to 8×8).
Detector type Photon counting line detector Pixel size 100 µm MTF 80 % @ 2 lp/mm, 45 % @ 5lp/mm

INTEGRATED X-RAY SOURCE

FOBOS XR uses an integrated high voltage generator, X-ray tube, control electronics, and heat radiator. X-ray tubes do not have any rotating parts, a difference of conventional high voltage generators and X-ray Tube Setup; this helps significantly increase the reliability and extend the lifespan of the whole system. In addition, the X-Ray tube works on the high anode voltage (200 kV) that provides high penetrating power in the study of large bodies.

ADJUSTABLE X-RAY CART

The adjustable x-ray cart is designed to operate with up to 750 lbs body weight and possesses a high level of reliability.

The significant width of the x-ray cart helps the operator to deal with the big-size bodies. The x-ray tabletop is made of translucent carbon-fiber material with no artifacts visible on the images. The cart is equipped with the 120 mm-stroke lifting mechanism and wheels to assist the loading and transporting from storage locations.