DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sajb.2025.v13i01.004

Pages: 26-30

Person identification is the mainstay in any forensic investigation based on physical evidence found at crime scenes. Foot impressions/ footprints serve as vital evidence in crime scenes. Studies have indicated that foot impressions can be used to determine stature, gender and body weight and to narrow down the suspects and for identification. Anyhow it is important to consider ethnicity whenever dealing with the determination of stature and body weight, and if not, it may end with the wrong result. Hence the present research aimed to develop regression equations to determine living body weight from 2D foot impressions among the adult Tagalog population, an indigenous ethnic group in the Philippines. The study recruited 100 male and 100 female volunteers with ages ranging from 18 to 60 years, whose 2D foot impressions and body weight were collected. A total of 10 length measurements, five from the left and five from the right side of the participants were made and the length is the distance between the posterior end of the heel and the anterior end of all toes. The data were analysed statistically using SPSS software version 27 and developed linear regression equations separately for males and females. The result showed that a significant positive correlation exists between 2D footprint length and living body weight. The correlation coefficient (r) values are found to be higher in males (0.336-0.390) than in females (0.111-0.227) and the standard deviation values are also low. The developed regression equations can be well used in real crime scenes to determine body weight from 2D-foot impressions among Tagalog people in the Philippines.