William Ross Maples, Ph.D. (August 7, 1937 – February 27, 1997) was an American forensic anthropologist working at the C.A.
Pound Human Identification Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
He worked on several high-profile criminal investigations, including those concerning historical figures such as Francisco Pizarro, the Romanov family, Joseph Merrick (known as the "Elephant Man"), President Zachary Taylor, and Medgar Evers.
He is the author of Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Unusual and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist (co-authored by Michael Browning).
On February 27, 1997, he died at his home in Gainesville, Florida, from a cancerous brain tumor.