TERM DEFINITION

Agonal period A period of time where a person is actively dying

Moribund Close to death
Death Rattle Rasping noise, gurgling
Agonal Hypostasis Before death, the settling of blood due to gravity
Agonal coagulation Before death, blood slows, formed elements begin to clot
Interstitial fluid blood plasma that has leaked out into surrounding tissue
Somatic death Death of the whole organism
Clinical death
the cessation of circulation and respiration. Only death that can be brought back
from
Biological death flat brain wave. Death of the brain. Can not be brought back from
Postmortem cellular death Cells die after death from anoxia
Arteries Vessels that bring blood away from heart
Veins Vessels that bring blood to the heart
Algor Mortis Physical Change- Cooling of body to temperature of environment
Dehydration Physical Change- Loss of moisture from body to environment
Postmortem hypostasis
Physical Change- After death, gravitation of blood and fluids to dependent areas
of body
Postmortem caloricity
Chemical change- Temporary rise in body temperature after death due to
continued metabolism
Agonal fever An increase in body temp just prior to death
Livor Mortis
Physical change- Postmortem intravascular blood discoloration brought about
by the presence of blood to dependent areas of the body ( develops from
hypostasis)
Increase in blood viscosity
Physical change- Thickening of blood after death caused primarily by the loss of
the liquid portion of the blood to the tissue spaces
Change in body pH
Chemical change- Change in body tissues from alkaline in life, to acidic in rigor,
then a return to alkaline in decomposition
Rigor Mortis
Chemical change- Temporary postmortem stiffening of body muscles by natural
body processes
Postmortem Stain
Chemical change-Extravascular blood discoloration brought about by hemolysis.
Cannot be removed, permanent
Decomposition
Chemical change- Seperation of compounds into simpler substances by the
action of bacterial/autolytic enzymes
Hemolysis The breakdown of red blood cells after death
3 forms of dehydration 1) Surface Evaporation 2) Imbibition 3) Gravity Filtration
Hydrolysis The breakdown of protein by water
Intermediate products of
protein decomposition
Polypeptides, Proteoses, and Peptones
Final Products of protein
decomposition
Skatole, Indole, Cadaverine, Ptomaine, Putrescine, and Mercaptans
Decay Proteins that break down under aerobic conditions
Putrefaction Protein that breaks down under anaerobic conditions
Fermentation The breakdown or decomposition of carbohydrates
Product of fermentation monosaccharide and polysaccharide, final- water
Lypolysis The breakdown or decomposition of fats
Final products of Lipolysis Glycerol and fatty acids
Adipocere Grave Wax. White crumbly from saponification of fats
Translocation The movement of microorganisms from intestines to other parts of body
Saprophytes Dead-tissue loving bacteria
Formaldehyde Gray Mixture of embalming chemicals and a postmortem stain
5 signs of decomposition color, odor, skin slip, purge, and gas
Expert tests for death Stethoscope, ophthalmoscope, EEG, EKG
Inexpert Tests Ligature test, ammonia injection test, pulse, listening for respiration or heart
Primary flaccidity The period before rigor mortis sets in, death to 5th hour, alkaline
Secondary flaccidity After rigor mortis has passed from the body, body alkaline again
Formaldehyde Gas, compound, made from methanol
Paraformaldehyde A solid, powder version of formaldehyde, use in coveralls
FTC Purpose is to protect the consumer
OSHA Purpose is to protect the employee
8 hour exposure limit 0.5 p.p.m.
Short-term exposure limit 15
minutes
2.0 p.p.m.
Index The percent of formaldehyde gas in a bottle
15 days How long OSHA has to get back to you with results from packet
Clostridium perferingens The causative agent of tissue gas
High Level Disinfectants
Level of disinfectant that brings about sterilization, Absence of bacteria and their
products, kills spores
Low Level Disinfectants
Level of disinfectants only used to clean inanimate objects, never use on body,
Zepharin Chloride
Autoclave Steam under pressure, instantly kills bacteria and spores, sterilization, 185C
Time weighted average .75 p.p.m.
Permissible exposure limit 2.0 p.p.m.
Ammonia Chemically neutralizes formaldehyde
Asepsis Without infection
Sepsis Bacteria multiplication in the blood
Bacteremia Presence of bacteria in blood
Bacteriocidal Kills bacteria
Urosepsis Multiplication of bacteria in the urinary tract
Bacteriostatic Inhibition of growth of bacteria, but does not kill bacteria
Disinfectant
An agent, usually chemical, applied to inanimate objects to destroy disease
causing microbial agents, but not bacterial spores
Germicide
Like disinfectants, can be used to clean inanimate objects, but can also be used
to clean hands
Sanitization Chemical, as well as physical means, to clean an inanimate object or surface
Sterilization Kills bacteria and their products, which are spores
Copper The catalyst in production of formaldehyde


Dead Bodies
Determining time since death
These are a variety of methods. Some are for the investigators at the crime scene while some are
for the pathologist at the autopsy.
Rigor Mortis
This is not the most reliable of methods.
After death, all muscles relax
About three hours after that, they start going rigid, as glycogen is converted into lactic acid. This
starts at the eyelids, works through the face and down the body and is usually complete within
about 12 hours. It then starts to wear off after about 36 hours.
However, temperature, climate etc affect this, Heat acceperates the process and cold slows it
down. Illnesses also make a difference. Also, faced with a limp body, it could be a body that has
not yet started to stiffen, or a body that has stiffened then relaxed again.
Just to complicate matters, people killed in intense heat tend to stiffen anyway, straight away,
and stay that way. Also, sometimes a person stiffens at the exact time of death, such as clutching
convulsively onto the gun they used to kill themselves.
Livor Mortis (Discoloration)
Livor mortis is the settling of blood. It is also called Hypostasis.
When the heart stops, the blood stops circulating and gravity makes it settle. This makes the
areas where the blood has settled turn dark blue or purple.
This starts happening immediately and is visible with a couple of hours. At this point skin is
bluish and blotchy. After five or six hours the blotches have joined up but the skin still goes
white when pressed. After ten to twelve hours the blue colour remains even when pressed.
The lividity doesn't show where the body is in contact with something. This a body lying on its
back will show lividity in the small of its back, its neck etc but not is parts of the body directly
touching the ground. This a very useful when determining if a body has been moved after death.
The discolouration looks like a bruise, but experts can easily tell them apart.
With some poisons the discoloration is different. Carbon Monoxide, for example, turns the skin
cherry pink.
Algor Mortis (Body Temperature)
After death, body temperature declines progressively until it reaches the temperature of its
surroundings. This process generally takes about 8 to 12 hours on the skin, but the centre of the
body takes aboue three times as long to cool.
At the crime scene, it is vital to take the rectal temperature of the body as well as the air
temperature. If possible, the same temperatures should be taken again just before the body is
removed to the mortuary to determine the rate of cooling.
A rough estimate of the time of death can be obtained by assuming a temperature loss of one and
a half degrees Fehernheit per hour, and assuming the normal body temperature of 98.4. However,
many factors may influence the rate of heat loss and this is only an estimate.
Eyes
Within minutes the cornea films over, and the white of the eye goes grey.
After around two hours the cornea goes cloudy, and within a day or two it goes opaque.
On the third day the gas makes the eyes bulge.
With advanced decomposition, the eyes retract.
Food in the stomach
(Found at autopsy)
A light meal is out of the stomach within 1 - 2 hours
A medium meal is out of the stomach within 3 - 4 hours
A heavy meal is out if the stomach within 4 - 6 hours
There are variations: Liquid is digested faster than semi-solid food, which is digested fasted than
solid food. Emotional state may also influence the rate of stomach emptying.
Vitreous Potassium
There is potassium in the body's intercellular fluid - much more than there is in the plasma, on
the other side of the cell membrane. After death it starts to leak out so there is the same amount
on either side of the membrane. This happens at a nice steady rate, allowing time of death to be
established. Samples are normally taken from the vitreous fluid of the eye.
Insects
Body Lice: they outlive their host by 3 - 6 days.
Various insects: They like to lay their eggs on very fresh corpses. The eggs hatch out
within 8-14 hours. After another 8-14 hours it sheds its skin and emerges as a bigger
larva. This process is repeated several times, taking 10-12 days in total. People who know
about insects (Bambi?) can therefore look at the larva, see which stage it is at, and work
out time of death.
Samples should be taken and preserved and given to an emtomologist.
Plants
Grass/plants beneath an object wilt, turn yellow or brown and dies. The rate depends on
type of plant, season, climate, etc.
Seasonal plants or remnants may help indicate a range of time.
Samples should be collected and shown to a botanist (or to Pendrell, who did a nice job with that
rare African plant thing in Teliko.)
Putrefraction
Begins after about 2 days. The process is faster in damp places or when the body is exposed to
air. Decay is about eight times faster in the air than underground. Too cold or too hot and the
process won't happen. In very hot temperatures the body will dry out and mummify instead.
People with a lot of fat will decay faster. People who died of bacterial disease will also decay
faster. However, some poisons preserve the body.
2-3 days: green staining begins on the right side of the abdomen. Body begins to swell.
3-4 days: staining spreads. Veins go "marbled" - a browny black discoloration
5-6 days: abdomen swells with gas. Skin blisters
2 weeks: abdomen very tight and swollen.
3 weeks: tissue softens. Organs and cavities bursting. Nails fall off.
4 weeks: soft tissues begin to liquefy. Face becoming unrecognisable
4-6 months: formation of adipocere, if in damp place. This is when the fat goes all hard and
waxy.
Anamnestic Evidence:
Nothing medical about this. This simply means evidence taken from the victim's daily habits. For
example, three days' uncollected newspapers would suggest he has been dead three days. If he
missed an appointment on a particular day then he was probably dead then. If all his food in the
refrigerator is rotten and horrid it suggests he's been dead a while. And so on....

Determining cause of death
Death is usually caused by one of three ways:
Coma (failure of brain)
Syncope (failure of heart)
Asphyxia (failure of lungs)
Then there are the Specific causes.
Coma
Usually caused on one of four ways:
Depressed fracture of the skull, compressing the brain. In homicide, this is usually caused
by a direct head injury by bludgeoning by a blunt implement, or in car accidents.
Some poisons
Some narcotic and hypnotic drugs
Medical conditions such as cerebral haemorrhage and brain tumour. Also some diseases
poison the brain as a by-product
Syncope
Natural heart failure caused by several degenerative diseases. Can be exacerbated by
shock.
Some poisons
Direct injury to heart
Asphyxia
Anoxia means "lack of oxygen". Is it the main cause of death in homicide. There are four main
types.
Anoxic Anoxia (Asphyxia) This also also called "manual anoxia". It is caused by:
o Breathing air that doesn't have enough oxygen
o Obstruction of oxygen supply by air passages being blocked or swollen
o Pressure on chest or abdomen preventing breathing
o Paralysis of repiratory system by electric shock or some poisons.
Anaemic Anoxia
o Insuffient supply of oxygen to the body due to blood loss or obstruction of the
arteries. This is what happens when you bleed to death.
o Obstruction of the supply of oxygen in the blood, as in carbon monoxide
poisoning.
Histotoxic Anoxia Some poisons, eg cyanide, paralyze the body tissues preventing them
from using oxygen.
Stagnant Anoxia Where the blood circulation is stopped, such as with a shock, heart
failure or an embolism.
Specific causes
Sometimes it is clear - eg a great rope tight around the victim's neck. Even so, the pathologisy
will normally wait until performing the autopsy before pronouncing.
Common specific causes of death include:
Blugeoning with a blunt instrument. Only likely to be fatal if is on the head. Even then,
sometimes needs a hail of blows to kill, and the assailant will get very bloody. Death is
usually from skull fracture pushing fragments of bone into the brain, or internal bleeding
between the skull and the dura - the membrane covering the brain. The exact appearance
of the injury can usually show what the weapon was.
Burning - usually kills by asphyxia from smoke inhalation. Bodies exposed to intense
heat are stiffened, posed like a boxer ready to fight. As burning is sometimes used to
cover up other crimes the presence of burns on the body needn't imply that this was the
cause of death.
To determine if the burns were caused after death or before death, there are a few tests:
o Presence of carbon monoxide in blood shows victim was breathing after fire
started
o Soot in the lungs shows was breathing after fire started
o Inflammation near any wound shows the body was alive at the time
o Blisters on the skin made after death don't contain fluid. Blisters obtained when
alive contain protein (will solidify when heated in a test tube) but blisters obtained
after death don't.
o Heat can cause ruptures that look a little wounds caused by violent attack, but
they are different as there is no bruising around the site, and little bleeding.
Drowning - kills by asphyxia, as the lungs fill with liquid. Post-mortem signs:
o Fine white foam at nostrils and mouth
o Wrinkling of skin if has been in water for a while.
o Water weed and the like clutched in the hands
o Lungs are wet and heavy and distended. Tend to balloon out when the body is
opened.
o Water in the stomach
o Haemorrhaging in the middle ear caused by pressure
o Diatoms throughout the body, if person was still alive when entered the water,
and it it was fresh water. Diatoms are often pretty localised so studying them can
reveal the place the person drowned.
o Fresh water dilutes the blood. Salt water extracts water from the blood and
increases chloride concentration.
Must catalogue every wound and injury to find cause of drowning, but these may just be
wound when struck a rock etc. In addition, the affects of water make wounds odd, and
hard to see if they are caused before or after death.
Also look for signs of alcohol and drugs which could cause accidental drowning.
Embolism - clogging of the blood vessels with air, or sometimes fat. This blocks blood
supply to the heart or brain. A fat embolism is rare but can happen when burning or other
injury releases fat particles into the blood.
Explosives - kills in a variety of ways: flash burns, disintergration of body, effects of air
pressure. Also by the results of the explosion - flying glass, collapsing buildings etc
Gunshot wounds See the firearms page and the medical page
Knife wounds Of two types - incised, which bleed alot but aren't as dangerous, unless
they cut an artery, and stab wounds, which don't bleed much but can cause serious
internal damage. It can be hard to identify the type of weapon by the size of wound as the
skin stretches and then retracts back to shape when the knife is removed.
Suicide and homicide can normally be distinguished by the direction of the thrust. Also,
suicides normally take the clothing off the part of the body there are going to stab.
Poison
Strangulation - by hand, a ligature, or hanging. Death is by asphyxia. Ligature marks
show up as a furrow on the neck. If it is hanging, this will be high up on the neck as
gravity pulls the body down. Homicidal strangulation will almost always fracture the
hyiod bone. Manual strangulation tends to leave finger-shaped bruises and sometimes
nail marks in the skin.
Suffocation
o Suffocation: If there isn't enough oxygen in the air, such as when trapped in a
small space
o Smothering: Caused by an object over the mouth and nose, such as a pillow or the
murderer's hand.
o Choking: Caused by an obstruction in the airway - food, inhaled vomit etc Seldom
used in homide, except when people choke on their gags.
o Crush asphyxia: Caused by pressure on the chest, such as a collapsed building, or
in a crowd. Post-mortem appearances include a lot of haemorrhaging between the
chest and head, cyanosis, bulging eyes etc

Identifying the body
Basic facts - sex, age, height etc
Topographical features - physical description of exterior of body
Pathological information - evidence of diseases, past surgery etc
Special Procedures - X-rays, teeth etc
Forensic anthropology
Basic facts
Sex - Look at genitalia. Of decayed, the uterus is the last organ of the body to putrefy. If
there are only bones, the skull and pelvis can indicate sex. Serology (studying blood) can
do a test for female body cells.
Age - Easy to do when the body is under 25, mainly by looking at teeth. After the age of
about 40, the sutures in the skull start to close at a fairly steady rate. An expert can
examine for arthritis, arterial degeneration etc.
Height - Easy when body is all in one piece. When dismembered, have to do a
calculation based on some standard formulae. For example, to work out the height of a
female when you only have their tibia, you multiply that length by 2.533, then add 28.533
inches. A special board is used to measure the bones, not a tape measure
Race If can't tell by skin color, as skin has decomposed, can make deductions based on
skull measurements etc.
Fingerprints Special methods must be used to get prints from decomposed bodies.
Mummified hands must be softened over several weeks in a solution of glycol, lactic acid
and water. Skin wrinkled by damp can be smoothed out by glycerine or paraffin wax
injections, by gentle pressure with the fingers, or by slicing off the layers of skin and
mounting them. Skin on bodies emersed in water can be peeled off like a surgical glove,
put over the pathologist's hand and printed from there.
Blood group Useful mainly as elimation of people if can't be.
Topographical features
Head and face: eye shape and colour, nose shape, hair colour, mouth, teeth, ears, shape
of skull, scars and birth marks.
Trunk: Shape, clothing - size, make etc, tattoos, scars, circumcision.
Limbs: Size, shape, scars, callouses that could indicate occupation, tattoos etc, social
status based on care of hands and feet (Well-Manicured Man?)
Pathological information
All revealed by autopsy. Reveals evidence of past medical treatment that would show up on
medical records.
Current medical conditions. Gall stones, fibroids etc
Past surgical treatment - scars, absence of organs etc
Evidence of past accidents - scars, mended fractures etc
Changes that may indicate age - arthritis, cardiovascular disease etc
Pathological conditions - malaria, sickle cell anaemia etc
Special procedures
X-rays of bones
Special study of tissues
Photography - such as superimposing a photo of the person the remains are suspected to
belong to over the remains and seeing if they look like a match (as we see in "Tooms")
Forensic odontology (dentistry) - This is vital. In badly decayed bodies, teeth are the
only method of identification. This is because:
o They are the part of the body that lasts longest after death
o False teeth and other repairs are very resistent to degredation
o Each set of teeth is essentially unique
o X-rays can reveal even more information on the structure of the teeth and jaws.
The forensic dentist studies number of teeth, false teeth (that have name stamped on the
bottom), cavities and fillings, spacing, and evidence that suggests a certain job - eg
musicians who play wind instruments.
Age can be worked out below the age of around 25. Gender can't be, unless there is also
some of the dental pulp (only for about 5 months after death). Race can be estimated as
each main racial group has certain characteristics.
However, the only way full identification is possible is if the records can be compared
with records made before death.
Forensic anthropology:
These experts study bones and can tell us some or all of:
if they belong to a human
gender
age at death
appearance - stature, bone structure, something of their facial features. This can done
through Facial Reconstruction, where modelling (clay or computer) is used to add tissue
and literally flesh out the skull. However this is not all that accurate and isn't really
scientifically accepted. (As in "Tooms", when the forensic anthropologist consulted by
Scully would only pronounce on the appearance of the dead man when it was off the
record)
how long the bones have been there
cause of death