Manhein got into the field of forensic anthropology as an afterthought. She entered LSU nearly 20 years after most undergraduates, waiting until she had married and had two children. She majored in English, but her world turned upside down during her senior year when she took an anthropology elective to fill in her schedule. That one course put her on the road to a career in anthropology, and she began a master's degree program in the field after graduation, at age 37, in 1981. Manhein soon took over the university's fledgling forensic anthropology lab, transforming it into a world-class center.
Facial reconstruction is just one of the lab's many programs to help identify the lost.
Bones can be analyzed to determine height, weight, age and race, and estimate the time of death. Plants growing through the bones can help determine how long a body has been in one place. The lab also examines bones to see whether they were previously broken and healed. If that is the case and the authorities have an idea who the victim is, they can use X-rays to make a positive identification. An examination of bones can show whether any wounds were inflicted at or around the time of death and whether anything happened after the death, such as animal damage, as well.