The utilization of stable isotope analysis for the estimation of the geographic origins of unidentified cadavers

• δ2H and δ18O stable isotope analysis facilitated sample origin distinction.
• Significant differences in the δ2H stable isotope ratios were found among all eight locations.
• Significant difference in the δ18O stable isotope ratios was found among all eight locations.
• δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analysis did not facilitate sample origin distinction.

The number of unidentified cadavers is increasing worldwide and the effective methods which reveal their geographic origin are not well known. This study reports on the utilization of δ18O, δ13C, δ2H and δ15N ratios gained through stable isotope analysis of urine samples collected from eight locations: Chiba, Japan; Fuzhou, China; and Denpasar, Indonesia in our pilot study with data from healthy volunteers from five further locations from healthy volunteers: Melbourne and Perth, Australia; Qingdao, China; Turku, Finland and Oklahoma, USA. This study posits that the utilization of δ18O and δ2H is more feasible than δ13C and δ15N stable isotope ratios in differentiating or estimating the origin of human samples. Secondly, this study demonstrated that the δ18O and δ2H stable isotope ratios of urine samples from eight locations differed significantly.