William R. Maples

William Ross Maples, Ph.D. (1937–1997) was a noted forensic anthropologist working at the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History. His specialty was the study of bones. He worked on many high-profile criminal investigations,many of them concerning historical figures such as Francisco Pizarro, the Romanov family, Joseph Merrick (known as "Elephant Man"), President Zachary Taylor and Medgar Evers. His insights often proved beneficial in closing cases that otherwise may have remained unsolved.

He is the author of Dead Men Do Tell Tales: TheUnusual and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist (co-authored by Michael Browning). The book chronicles tell of his career from the inception of his fascination with anthropology through to some of his high-profile forensic cases.

Maples married Margaret Kelly in 1958. They had two children, Lisa and Cynthia. Maples completed his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin in 1967. On February 27, 1997 he died at his home in Gainesville, Florida from a cancerous brain tumor.