Clea is a forensic anthropologist and author. She was a member of the first international forensic team brought together by the United Nations to investigate evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, commencing in Rwanda in 1996. She subsequently participated in missions in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo, where she was Deputy Chief Anthropologist of the UN International Criminal Tribunal Morgue in 2000.

The Bone Woman, Clea’s memoir of her experiences working for the war crimes tribunals, was published by Random House in 2004 and has been translated into eleven languages and published in thirteen countries. Among other honors, The Bone Woman was awarded the Nancy (France) Human Rights Book Prize, was a National Public Radio Best, a Discover Magazine Top 20 Science Book, and an Editor’s Pick of the Foreign Policy Association.

In 2006, Clea was Co-coordinator of the Anthropology Laboratory of the UN Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus. Until 2012, she worked in Los Angeles with the non-profit organization she founded, the Missing Persons Identification Resource Center, to develop forensic profiles of missing persons in order to assist identifications of the estimated 40,000 unidentified bodies held by coroners’ offices across the United States.

Her first mystery novel, Freezing, was published in 2011 with worldwide English rights going to Severn House Publishers. Freezing was published in French by Éditions Héloïse d’Ormesson in 2012 and was nominated for French ELLE’s Prix des Lectrices.

Clea holds a BA from Stanford University, an MA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and trained with Dr. Walt Birkby while a Master’s student in the graduate forensic anthropology program at the University of Arizona. She now writes fiction.

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Clea Koff

Clea is a forensic anthropologist and author. She was a member of the first international forensic team brought together by the United Nations to investigate evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, commencing in Rwanda in 1996. She subsequently participated in missions in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo, where she was Deputy Chief Anthropologist of the UN International Criminal Tribunal Morgue in 2000. The Bone Woman, Clea’s memoir of her experiences working for the war crimes tribunals, was published by Random House in 2004 and has been translated into eleven languages and published in thirteen countries. Among other honors, The Bone Woman was awarded the Nancy (France) Human Rights Book Prize, was a National Public Radio Best, a Discover Magazine Top 20 Science Book, and an Editor's Pick of the Foreign Policy Association. In 2006, Clea was Co-coordinator of the Anthropology Laboratory of the UN Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus. Until 2012, she worked in Los Angeles with the non-profit organization she founded, the Missing Persons Identification Resource Center, to develop forensic profiles of missing persons in order to assist identifications of the estimated 40,000 unidentified bodies held by coroners' offices across the United States. Her first mystery novel, Freezing, was published in 2011 with worldwide English rights going to Severn House Publishers. Freezing was published in French by Éditions Héloïse d’Ormesson in 2012 and was nominated for French ELLE's Prix des Lectrices. Clea holds a BA from Stanford University, an MA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and trained with Dr. Walt Birkby while a Master's student in the graduate forensic anthropology program at the University of Arizona. She now writes fiction.

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