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Steven Avery & Brendan Dassey— Case Archive
personpersonLeslie EisenbergLeslie EisenbergForensic anthropologist who examined burned remains and testified in both 2007 trials.← All People
Expert witnessWisconsin Historical Society

Leslie Eisenberg

Forensic anthropologist who examined burned remains and testified in both 2007 trials.

AppearedSteven AveryBrendan Dassey
845 lines·36 proceedings·30 mentions·2 trials

About

Forensic anthropologist Leslie Eisenberg examined heavily burned and fragmented remains and testified in the trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. She identified diagnostic remains as those of a female younger than about 30 to 35 and described skull defects she attributed to gunshot injury before burning. She could not establish the order of the defects or whether the person was alive when the wounds occurred. She identified human bone in a burn barrel, but did not confirm that certain suspected quarry fragments were human. In Avery’s trial, she favored the garage-area burn pit as the primary burn site, citing the concentration of identifiable human bone there, while acknowledging that she could not exclude another site. Questioning also addressed her absence from the recovery, the limits of fragment-location information, and the roughly similar condition of burned fragments from different locations.

Trial Record (36)

AverySteven AveryFeb 12, 2007 – Mar 18, 2007Called by prosecution

Leslie Eisenberg testified as a forensic anthropologist in Steven Avery's 2007 trial, identifying burned human remains and describing skull defects she considered characteristic of gunshot injury. She favored the garage-area burn pit as the primary burn site but acknowledged that she could not exclude another site or confirm that certain quarry fragments were human.

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DasseyBrendan DasseyApr 16, 2007 – Apr 25, 2007Called by prosecution

Leslie Eisenberg testified as a forensic anthropologist in Brendan Dassey's trial, identifying gunshot defects in burned skull fragments and human bone from a burn barrel. On cross-examination, she said she could not determine whether the person was alive when the gunshot wounds occurred.

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DirectLeslie Eisenberg — DirectLeslie EisenbergThomas J. Fallon7highlights130lines spoken

Summary

Eisenberg identified burned remains as those of a female younger than about 30 to 35, described two skull defects she attributed to gunshots, and identified human bone in Burn Barrel No. 2.

Highlights (7)

testimony highlightEisenberg classified the burned human fragments she examined at the most destructive level of the scale she described and testified that diagnostic fragments indicated a female no older than about 30 to 35 years.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightEisenberg gave her opinion of homicidal violence and explained why she identified internal beveling on a left parietal fragment as a gunshot entrance wound.Open in transcript →
Quote“It is my opinion that the remains of the individual I examined died as a result of -- of a homicide, and, in particular, homicidal -- what I am calling homicidal violence.”— Leslie EisenbergStates Eisenberg's opinion on manner of death.Open in transcript →
admissionEisenberg said she could not determine which of the two defects came first, but concluded from the color of the fragment edges that the bone was already fragmented when exposed to fire.Open in transcript →
Show all 7 highlights
Quote“As I examined these fragments, it was clear to me that, uh, their edges were similar in color to the burning of the rest of the bone.”— Leslie EisenbergExplains the observation underlying her opinion about fragmentation before burning.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightEisenberg testified that Burn Barrel No. 2, near the Dassey/Janda property, contained burned human bone fragments from several parts of the body.Open in transcript →
Quote“There were fragments that, um -- whose origin -- I -- I knew what bone they came from, uh, that were sent to the FBI, uh, DNA Lab, but because of the extent of burning to those bones, they were not, in my knowledge, able to obtain, uh, a DNA signature.”— Leslie EisenbergCorrects the premise about unidentified fragments and qualifies what she knew of the FBI's DNA results.Open in transcript →
CrossLeslie Eisenberg — CrossLeslie EisenbergMark R. Fremgen1highlightMentioned15lines spoken

Summary

Eisenberg qualified what she could determine about the gunshot wounds; the judge then read a stipulation on Dr. Jentzen's cause-of-death opinion.

Mentioned in this proceeding.

Highlights (1)

testimony highlightAsked whether the person was alive when the gunshot wounds occurred, Eisenberg said she could not determine that within her field of expertise. She maintained that the wounds would have contributed to death if the person had been alive.Open in transcript →

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