[32] Following his professor's lead, Owsley assisted with the excavation, using tools to carefully remove the surrounding soil and organic materials to reveal the remains of two Native Americans wrapped in buffalo robes.

While at the conference, Owsley met Dr. Bill Bass, the chair of the University of Tennessee's anthropology department,[2] who was recognized as the most well-respected and in-demand forensic anthropologists in the US, having recovered more American Indian remains than any other scientist working in the same field.

[2][34] In choosing the topic for his Master's thesis, Bass convinced Owsley to study skeletal remains discovered in the Arikara Larson Village and cemetery in South Dakota, alongside the Missouri River and present a demographic analysis of the tribe that lived in the area.

His dissertation provided an evaluation of the biological developmental process called canalization, along with an indepth study of dermal ridges and their correlation to cranial growth, facial symmetry, and genetic variations.

[2] During this first year, he continued to develop and enhance his skills by working with Bass and visiting local crime scenes, where he became further drawn to the profession of forensic science and the study of human remains.

[47] The focus of Owsley's career involved directly working with law enforcement to identify skeletal and human remains that were discovered primarily at crime scenes and local construction sites.

[53] Much of his work is done in collaboration with Dr. Dennis Stanford, director of the Department of Archaeology,[21] and fellow forensic anthropologist, Kari Bruwelheide, who states, We treat all remains coming into the lab as individuals, each with a unique life story reflected in his or her skeleton.

"[55] While he was raised in the local St. George's Episcopal Church of Lusk, where he attended services on Sundays and served as an altar boy, Owsley eventually stopped believing in God and life after death.

When information about the murder of the two journalists was eventually uncovered, Randy and Sam Blake, brothers of Nicholas, along with the US Embassy, asked for Owsley's help to recover and identify the remains from the Guatemalan jungle.

[65] On June 11, 1992, the Blake brothers chartered a jet to Nebaj, Guatemala, along with Owsley; colleague John Verano, professor of anthropology with Tulane University; and Colonel Otto Noack-Sierra of the Guatemalan Army.

In 1990, three lead coffins were discovered buried in the Chesapeake Bay area of St. Mary's City, Maryland, during a remote sensing survey at the foundation of the 17th-century Brick Chapel Catholic Church, on land that had been used as a cornfield for centuries.

[72] On February 28, 1993, outside of Waco, Texas, violence erupted during an attempt by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to execute a search warrant on a Protestant group of religious adherents disfellowshipped from the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

On behalf of Danny Greathouse, chief of the FBI's Disaster Unit, who was overseeing the situation at Waco, DiZinno requested Owsley's and Douglas H. Ubelaker's assistance in identifying the victims from inside the Branch Davidian compound.

[76][77] Texas Rangers and FBI field agents began gathering remains in body bags and shipping them to the medical examiner's office over a hundred miles away in Fort Worth.

[76] It took several days for the forensic team to identify the remains of the Branch Davidian leader, David Koresh, leading to rumors that he had been seen escaping the compound prior to the inferno that took the lives of church members.

[80] When the original fort was discovered, Kelso invited Owsley to assist in the excavation and identification of skeletal remains recovered from the burial site, constructed after London's Virginia Company settled in Jamestown in 1607.

[15][87] Upon the initial discovery of the remains, the Benton County Coroner, Floyd Johnson, contacted local forensic anthropologist, James Chatters,[88] who had owned and operated a small consulting business, Applied Paleoscience, out of a laboratory established in the basement of his home.

[91] Soon after the discovery, several Northwest tribes, including the Umatilla, Colville, Yakama, and Nez Perce claimed him as an ancestor, demanding the return of the remains for immediate reburial, asserting rights afforded under NAGPRA.

[93][94] During their initial conversation, Owsley agreed to assist Chatters and encouraged him to contact attorney, Robson Bonnichsen, who was a well-known and highly respected legal expert on NAGPRA law and related issues.

[95] Following the archaeological discovery, the forensic study of Kennewick Man became the focus of a controversial nine-year court case between the US Army Corps of Engineers, scientists, and Native American tribes who claimed ownership of the remains.

[99] In July 2005, Owsley, along with a team of scientists from around the United States gathered in Seattle for ten days to study the remains, making detailed measurements and determining the cause of death.

[108] In April 1995, the wreck of the H. L. Hunley, along with the skeletal remains of eight crew members was discovered by diver Ralph Wilbanks, while overseeing a NUMA dive team led by marine archaeologist Clive Cussler.

[113] When he viewed the submarine tomb of the Confederate soldiers, instead of merely seeing scattered skeletal remains and sediment, he solemnly visualized the men at their stations as the vessel began to slowly fill with water.

[116] Several thousand people participated in a funeral procession, including approximately 6,000 American Civil War reenactors, 4,000 civilians wearing period clothing, and color guards from all five branches of the U.S. armed forces.

The news report revealed that the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, was engulfed in flames, explaining that terrorists had flown a jetliner into the building, killing untold numbers of government workers and military officials.

Owsley spent time sifting through and sorting remains, bone fragments, and mixed up and jumbled flesh particles for DNA studies to establish the identity and cause of death of each victim.

On May 30, 2002, the US Department of Defense and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology honored both Owsley and Ubelaker with the Commander's Award for Civilian Service in recognition of his work identifying 60 victims of the attack on the Pentagon.

[119][122] In April 2005, public utility workers working on a construction project discovered a buried Fisk metallic burial case, or coffin, at an apartment complex in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

The coffin was shaped a bit like an Egyptian mummy case, with a glass plate on the front above the face, which was designed to allow viewing of the body without the risk of exposure to odor or possible disease.

[123][124] White's relatives raised a headstone for the deceased at a cemetery in Modest Town, Virginia, and donated his remains, clothing, and coffin to the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History.