Pictures

This photo was taken in Rwanda. It shows a mass grave we uncovered.

  

This image was also taken in Rwanda. It was one of the more horrifying sites we uncovered.

 

The above photo shows how a corpse is examined once we excavate it. 

Sources

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/24/international/asia/24FPRO.html

http://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/clea-koff

http://www.usasciencefestival.org/schoolprograms/2014-role-models-in-science-engineering/897-clea.html

http://www.cleakoff.com/about-the-author.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clea_Koff

http://www.thebonewoman.com/

What Exactly My Work In Africa Was

I have mentioned before that while I was in Africa, I excavated bodies and these were used as

 evidence in court. Allow me to explain how I did this. After spending long hours in the hot sun with

my team, digging using just trowels and in the most delicate situations, chop sticks,

we would uncover mass graves of hundreds of sometimes fresh corpses. Many of which had been

killed under gruesome circumstances. For example, while in Africa, I found hundreds of bodies

blind folded with their hands behind their backs. They had been shot several times. And while it is

legal to kill people during combat, it was determined in court that most of these people were innocent

civilians who were brutally murdered. While in Africa, not only was I able to determine the cause of

death for so many people, but I also came to a conclusion as to why the genocide happened. Many

Rwandans joined in the mass killings because they were exploited. There were definitely people who

killed wantonly.

United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

For those of you who are a little confused by all my talk of Rwanda, I would like to present a little

background information. I think it is important that people are aware of what went on. On the

evening of April 6, 1994 an airplane carrying Rwanda's president, Juvenal Habyarimina was gunned

down by rebels. For exactly 100 days to follow, a mass genocide broke out. Between 800,000 and

one million men, women, and children were brutally massacred by Hutu extremists. This rate of

killing was four times greater than the peak of the Nazi Holocaust. The United Nations International

Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda tried  the men responsible and my work in Africa

during and after graduate school provided evidence to convict them.

Career Highlights

After working with the U.N.  in grad school, they were so impressed with my work that they

 continued to employ me. I gained great experience quickly. I felt like my work with the United

Nations was really making a difference, which is the most amazing feeling. It was this work,

bringing the genocide perpetrators to trial, that inspired me to write my book The Bone Woman:

Among the dead in Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. By 2007 my book was published in 14

countries including The United States, The United Kingdom, Australia, The Netherlands, Spain,

Germany, Argentina, Canada, France, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Portugal and Poland! I'm glad to

have had the chance to tell my story, and inform other people how forensic anthropology is important

in today's judicial system. I loved it so much that I am currently working on a second book Passing.

One of the most important things I feel that I did was founding The Missing Persons Identification

Resource Center. I founded this organization in 2005 (based in Los Angeles) in order to link missing

 persons corpses with their families. Once connected with their families we are able to use their

knowledge as well as bone records to figure out what kind of life they were living during their

absence.

My Adventures in Grad School

I began my graduate school career at The University of Arizona. I studied Forensic 

Anthropology. I did my last year at The University of Nebraska- Lincoln in 1999 after

 combining my studies with working for the UN from 1996-2000. When I was 23, and still in

 grad school I was selected along a small team of forensic scientists by The U.N. 

International Crime Tribunal to go to Rwanda, Africa. Our assignment was to investigate 

and unearth the physical evidence of mass grave genocide and crimes against humanity that

 had been reported throughout that country. This was incredibly exciting and beyond 

interesting to me. My work in Rwanda lead to other assignments given by the U.N. 

investigating more crimes against humanity. 

Where I Came From

I was born in 1972 to my mother (Msindo Mwinyipembe) and father (David Koff). My parents were 

documentary film makers who focused on human rights issues. I think that is where I got my love for 

helping people from! My older brother Kimera and I spent much of our childhood traveling the world with

 our parents. Growing up, we had the opportunity to experience living in The United States, England,

 Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania. By the time I was a teenager, I was inspired to study human osteology I had

 the fortune to make this dream come true and earn a bachelors degree in Anthropology!