Back spatter can also travel down the barrel!

There are basically two types of blood spatter; forward and back. Notice I didn’t say “splatter“. Blood spatter is caused when an object impacts a body and forces the blood to break up into smaller droplets. The majority of these droplets are then projected either forward (with direction of force) or backward (opposite the direction of force) essentially. Generally speaking, there is more forward spatter than back spatter in an incident and the blood will disperse in a “cone effect”. The amount of back spatter is dependent on both the energy of the impact and the amount of blood already present at the impact site. For example, a gunshot can create back spatter even when there is no preceding injury.  This is influenced by other factors too though.  Clothing can “trap” much of the back spatter depending on the type and layers of clothing and location of the wound. If the wound area is not covered with clothing (like the head) then you can see more back spatter. CSIs commonly see some degree of back spatter on the shooting hand in gunshot suicides with head wounds.

The degree of back spatter on the subject varies wildly though. A number of factors influence the deposition of the blood such as subject and victim body positions, wound position relative to subject, distance between subject and wound, the amount of energy causing the spatter, intervening objects (like shooting through a window), and the presence or absence of blood at the impact site just to name a few! The size of the resulting blood droplets varies too. Gunshots and explosions can produce very tiny droplets (with a  diameter of 1mm or less) while other impact events can produce larger droplets from 2mm up to 10mm and even larger. You may find back spatter on hands, faces, ears, hair, clothing, weapons, furniture, or practically anywhere near the impact event. It can even be found on items that have been moved to another room (as in a staging). With gunshots, you may find spatter up to four feet from the impact site. In theory, you could find them even further away if there is sufficient air current such as high wind or even the close proximity of a fan.

So how would you use this in a novel? Back spatter can be washed from hands and clothing or even the victim (think of a dog or cat licking the victim). Tiny spatter is very difficult to see however.  You could easily have a detective, spouse, or dry cleaner find these tiny spots on a garment, vehicle seat, or window blinds. If on clothing, consider putting the spatter on something like socks, undershirt, or underwear that would have been covered during the suspect’s version of events (or denial of events). That not only places them at the scene but could also place them in a state of undress at the time of blood loss. You get the picture. Be creative and use your imagination to produce a big plot twist.

Now there are a number of ways to build a bomb and just as many different types of explosives but they all have one thing in common. They all go boom (unless the good guys take care of it first that is). The spot at which the device detonates is called the seat of the explosion. Contrary to what you may have read an explosion doesn’t typically destroy all of the evidence. It may damage and disperse the components over long distances but good investigators can always find something. So to keep this embarrassingly simple let’s think of evidence recovery from three different sources.

The first is the actual seat of the explosion. With large ground based devices this is typically represented by a crater. The larger the device the larger the crater (usually).  Large vehicle bombs can leave a crater the size of a house while something like a briefcase may leave a much smaller crater. It’s not uncommon to find pieces of the device still in the crater. Of course, all of this is dependent on the type of explosive used. Regardless, traces of the explosive used will be found in the crater. Post blast investigators can take samples of the soil from the crater and seal it in air tight containers (to keep certain elements from escaping in gaseous form).

The second type of collection site is from surrounding surfaces like trees, buildings, vehicles, clothing, traffic signs, even victims at autopsy. You see, explosions can release a lot of energy. That energy creates a shock wave (much like that produced out of the muzzle of a gun when fired) which can carry explosive elements and depositing them onto surfaces as a residue. Think of it like soot from a fire. This video link will demonstrate the appearance of a shock wave following an explosion. Explosive Shock Wave Video. Investigators can sample this residue with everything from small cotton tipped swabs to larger cotton pads. The samples are also sealed in air tight containers to ensure the volatile compounds do not escape.

The last type of location is from components of the device. If you’ve ever read about notorious bombing scenes you know that parts of the device can be found many blocks from the seat of the explosion. It may be anything from pieces of a vehicle to small electrical circuit boards from the timer. These components were obviously in close proximity to the device and should have explosive residue on them (assuming they are collected before environmental degradation). If the items are small they can be placed in air tight containers. If they are larger (like a vehicle axle) they can be swabbed.

Obviously, I’ve left a lot out.  I haven’t even touched on sensitivity of detection for obvious reasons. Bombing scenes can be very challenging and dangerous. It’s even worse in a war zone. But even in a war zone forensic evidence can be collected and analyzed. As with all crime scenes you just have to know where to look for evidence. In bombing scenes it can be almost anywhere. Rooftops, the sides of buildings, tree tops, even rain gutters ad sewers (following fire suppression efforts).  There’s a ton more that goes into these investigations but that information is best kept secret.

The purpose of the internal examination is to fully explore all potential causes of death. Forensic pathologists are concerned with more than just criminal acts resulting in death. They also have an interest in public health and personal medical conditions that may affect the victim’s family members (like a hereditary disease).  Likewise, a patient suffering from a terminal disease may die prematurely from improper care or negligence and sometimes the internal examination is the only way to uncover that evidence.

The internal examination begins with what we refer to as the “Y” incision. This is a dissection technique to gain access to the internal organs of the torso. Incisions are made from each shoulder to the sternum and then straight down to the groin. The skin is then reflected (cut) back and the ribs are cut along the sides and the “plate” is then removed to expose the organ area. Each organ is removed, weighed, photographed, and dissected by the pathologist. Small portions of each organ will be preserved for future study and tissue samples will also be collected for histological examination. They are looking for injuries, evidence of disease, as well as the general health of the organ. Pathologists will examine and collect the stomach contents which may reveal last meal evidence or prescription drugs (in cases of drug overdose). All along the way they will be documenting their findings in notes, charts, photographs, and occasionally video.

Then they open the cranium. The pathologist begins by cutting the scalp around the back of the head and then reflecting (peeling) the scalp up over the head to the top of the eyes and on the back side down to the bottom of the skull. This exposes a majority of the cranium. A bone saw is then used to cut through the bone and pull the skull cap off exposing the brain.  The bone saw can generate some bone dust and an interesting musty smell so I generally make sure I’m on the other side of the room. The brain is covered in a thin white sheet or film called the dura that resembles an opaque saran wrap (bad analogy but appropriate for non-scientists) that has to be removed before you can access the brain.  Once the dura is removed, the brain is removed and examined like the other organs. It may even be sectioned (cut into thin slices) to look for certain pathologies. The pathologist will also be looking for fractures or bruising to the cranium and scalp (as might be found in blunt force trauma). Following the examination of the brain the pathologist will examine the throat.  Depending on the circumstances surrounding the death they may be looking for anything from an obstruction (choking) to soot (fire). Of course the mouth will be examined for injury as well. This could include missing teeth, bleeding, bruising, etc.

Black soot in victim’s airway

As I’ve mentioned, each autopsy may require examination and procedures not mentioned here. The order of the examinations (Trunk, head, throat, etc.) may also vary from pathologist to pathologist and the circumstances of the death. Most autopsies are completed in under two hours. Some can take a bit longer if there is extensive trauma to document (like 37 stab wounds).  Although the physical procedure is relatively short it may take days or weeks to get all of the toxicology and histology results back (even if done in house) because of backlog. If the victim has evidence of prior injury (like healing fractures, bruising, or evidence of prior surgery) the pathologist will document it and assess if it played a role (contributed) to death. Every medical examiner has different rules as to who may attend the autopsy in person. Some are extremely restrictive (only the pathology staff and one member from the crime lab) others seem to allow anyone to attend. I’ve been in some with a dozen or more people crowding around and that can cause it’s own challenges. As far as evidence retention, the pathologist will take custody of all biological evidence. If there were something inside the body like a bullet, knife tip, or other trace evidence, the crime lab would typically take custody of it.

Today pathologists must physically dissect the body but there may come a day when much of this work is done in what some call a virtual autopsy. You’ll probably never get away from physical sampling but fifty years from now the autopsy procedure may look very different.  Watch the below video for a hint at how these procedures may develop. I think if nothing else, the virtual autopsy may be a preferable method for presenting images in court.

The Virtual Autopsy

As writers you may not want to get too deep into the weeds on autopsy procedure but, it is helpful to understand it. Autopsies are hard for some folks to deal with and some investigators and DAs would prefer not to be there. It’s easy to understand why. It is one thing to see a dead body. It is something else entirely to see one subjected to this procedure. Pathologists exhibit an enormous amount of care when performing these procedures. There is a decorum of professionalism and they don’t tolerate clowning around. It is a very serious event. Having said that it is also a place where emotions can rage inside each individual. Your characters may ride a wave from sorrow to anger and back again before the procedure is completed. Think about how each character might react to the details as they emerge during this procedure and use that to give the reader a little insight to their thought process.

Skeleton Kid – Big Cartel

The songs are well executed and musically it all hangs together well, the band behind the vocals unquestionably capable of their performance as guitars scream and trill to a drummer so completely a master of his own instrument you wonder if he isn’t underplaying his part.

Together they create a hard edge and mean-streets atmosphere, adding a gritty, L.A. scene feel to the proceedings; more Motley Crue than Metallica, rock rather than metal, as you explore the seedier side of a night in wonderland courtesy of Skeleton Kid and temptation fuelled hedonism.

Turning a corner brings you face to face melting face with riffs ripped straight out of the soul of the guitar, gamely enticing you into the depravity as they flirt about the fret board and distract your feelings of cautions, the music submerging you into the underbelly of Desires’ more intriguing corners of interests.

Frustratingly, however, the vocals are just unable to match this ambience of wanton anarchy, and simply don’t add anything to the songs. They’re uninterested and uninteresting, and a new style or delivery or even front man could turn Skeleton Kid into a serious contender on the music scene, re-igniting the genre with a fresh set of musicians showing the world how it’s done and creating a thousand wanna-be bands in their wake.

As it stands, their future is now.

Official Site: skeletonkid.co.uk/wp/about

Twitter: www.twitter.com/timmycsk
www.twitter.com/frankieg_sk
www.twitter.com/eddi_j_sk
www.twitter.com/rusty_olli_sk

Label: The Animal Farm

Press Contact: ville@theanimalfarm.co.uk

Steve Clayton Custom

The Autopsy Report

I’ve talked previously about the problems associated with covering dead bodies at crime scenes.  Sometimes a cop or firefighter will cover a body because they don’t want the body visible to the family or public.  This is especially true with bodies discovered in public places.  We don’t encourage it but if your body is in the driveway of a house in front of a school bus stop (this happened to me) then you generally cut the cops a little slack. But these concerns don’t exist at autopsy. In fact, one of the first things we do at autopsy is remove the victim’s clothing.

A lot of authors have asked me about the circumstances in which we will collect sexual assault evidence. The truth is we collect samples in many cases which may not seem necessary. Most of the time we do it just to cover our bases. You only get one chance to get the evidence and the time and effort is inexpensive compared to an exhumation. Think of a traffic accident involving a teenage girl. Why might you search for sex assault evidence in such a case? What if the reason for her erratic driving was because she had been raped at a party before the crash? What looks like a tragic accident may have much deeper implications.  CSIs always have to consider the improbable if we ever hope to discover it.

So if you are writing an autopsy scene make sure you don’t cover the body. Detectives, pathologists, CSIs, and attorneys are all professionals and we see naked people all the time. It comes with the territory.

I can’t believe I haven’t written about this yet. Most of you have probably never been to an autopsy and while words alone can not provide the true flavor of the experience I think it may help to briefly explain the process. Coroners and Medical examiners usually perform an autopsy for any suspicious or unattended death. In the United States they do not need the permission from any person or entity to perform the autopsy. Most pathologists will be sensitive to certain religious or cultural protocols but they are not legally bound to adhere to them.  One reason the medical examiner can perform and autopsy over the protest of the family is that family members may be suspects. Imagine how easy it would be to commit a murder if, as the spouse, you could prohibit the medical investigation into your wife’s death. That could be a real recipe for disaster.

In the United States we have a mixed system of Coroner and Medical Examiner offices. Most of these jurisdictions are defined by counties and major cities. Some may even be defined by judicial districts. Some rural states don’t have  forensic pathologist and may have to drive a body to another state for an autopsy to be performed.  Once the body arrives at the coroner’s office, the procedures may vary from case to case and office to office. Some pathologists want the body left sealed in the body bag until they begin the autopsy. This procedure may also happen with bodies sealed with an evidence seal in homicides. Other times an attendant or investigator may fingerprint the body prior to autopsy.  They may also take x-rays and log in personal effects from the victim’s clothing. X-rays may show anything from foreign objects (choking), surgical devices, bullets, or even knife tips.  Before any incisions are performed however, an external examination has to occur.

The external examination typically begins with photographs. We take pictures of the clothing, any visible injuries, and especially the face. It’s important to photograph the body from different perspectives. This is our one chance to get the body photographed properly. If we forget to photograph something we may never get a chance to go back. Just concerning the head we will take pictures of the face, right side, left side, neck, top, and back of the head. We may then take close-up photographs of injuries, jewelry, needle marks, and any distinguishing marks like tattoos, moles, or birthmarks. Then we remove the clothing and take a new round of photographs. It’s important to photograph the body from all sides and perspectives. Some areas that may get over looked include the soles of the feet, inside of the mouth, and a close-up of the neck.

The next step is the collection of evidence. The clothing is pretty easy. Most of it may get cut off but you have to make sure you don’t cut through any damaged areas. We also look for trace evidence. If the hands are bagged we’ll open those and scrape fingernails for trace DNA. We’ll also look for hairs and fibers, some of which may fluoresce with an alternate light source. If the victim died from a gunshot wound we’ll also look for gunshot residue. If there is any suspicion of a sexual assault then we will collect a “rape kit“. Once all the evidence has been collected then the body is washed. Dried blood and dirt is cleaned off and if any injuries are more visible they are photographed again! Check back in a bit and we’ll discuss the internal examination.

Sometimes they can be hard to spot. They are most easily seen against the white of the eye, but a trained forensic pathologist can easily spot them in other areas of the body as well. They can even be found on internal organs. These pin pricks occur when there is increased venous blood pressure.  This is what commonly happens during asphyxiation. When a person’s airflow is cut off or restricted (smothering, suffocation, strangulation) the body struggles to breathe and move oxygenated blood to the vital organs. This increased pressure can be too much for the blood vessels and they simply burst open. Now this condition can also be seen in non-criminal deaths like drownings and certain heart failures so the presence of petechiae isn’t 100% conclusive for strangulation or smothering.

But if you are writing a scene in which a person dies (or is suspected of dying) from asphyxiation then you should consider mentioning petechiae. Of course, if the scene has been staged to look like a suffocation (such as placing a plastic bag over their head) but there is no petechiae then your detective characters should make note of the lack of petechiae. Petechiae is also very difficult to see in advanced stages of decomposition. In such cases the medical examiner may have to look for other evidence that might indicate strangulation such as ligatures. You could write a scene in which the petechiae are overlooked by a small town Coroner or inexperienced police investigator only to be discovered later by the state Medical Examiner. Of course, by that time the suspect may have had time to flee the area or get rid of incriminating evidence leaving your detective back at the drawing board. You could even have the victim’s body cremated and then your detective spots the petechiae in a photograph or from a notation in a report that describes a “rash”. Without the body it would only be speculation but it might cause your detective to suspect foul play where none existed before. The options are almost endless so have fun experimenting with different scenarios.

Hands:

• Suspect DNA may be found under the victim’s fingernails. Scraping or cutting the nails are the preferred methods for evidence collection.
• Suspect hairs or fibers may also be caught up in jewelry like watches and rings, especially if there was a struggle.  Hairs may also be found in the clenched hands of a deceased victim.
• “Touch” DNA may also be found on the victim’s hands, especially if the victim had significant contact with the suspect’s skin during a struggle.
• These locations may also contain soil, fibers, pet hair, or vegetation from one or more crime scenes.

Hair:

• Victim hair (head and pubic) can easily retain everything from suspect hairs, vegetation, carpet fibers and the like helping to link the suspect, vehicle, or crime scene.

Mouth:

• Victims may sometimes bite the suspect and in the process skin or DNA can be transferred or retained in the teeth or on the lips.  In some cases foreign objects like fabric gags, tape residue, even gravel may be found.

Genitalia & Breasts:

• Genitalia may be an excellent reservoir for trace evidence including semen, even after a victim has showered or bathed. Body cavities are generally swabbed to recover DNA but examiners should also consider that foreign objects like knife tips, vegetation, or other items may also be found.
• In some sexual assaults a female breasts may contains suspect DNA which can be swabbed.

Clothing:

• Victim’s clothing can hold trace evidence just like suspect clothing.  Shoe tread can retain dirt, vegetation, hairs/fibers, even blood. Velcro straps on shoes (or anywhere else) can also be a great trap for trace evidence.
• Pant cuffs and pockets are also great locations to search.

Other Locations:

• Stomach contents. I’ll be writing a specific post soon on stomach contents but suffice it say, sometimes victims ingest things during a struggle which can include suspect body parts or foreign objects.
• Ears and nostrils may sometimes contain hairs, fibers, even soil or vegetation from a crime scene.
• Maggot masses. This is an often overlooked location. When medical examiners or entomologists scoop up large samples (or individuals) of insects they may also inadvertently be collecting hairs or fibers clinging to the insects as they crawl across the body.

Maggots are a milky white color prior to this stage so it makes sense that the initial pupal stage is a whitish-yellow color. As the maggot ages the cuticle will darken in color. After yellow, the casing will turn a reddish-rust color then brown. At first it might be a lighter brown and then darken to a deeper brown. At this point the adult fly will usually emerge by pushing through one end of the casing.

The pupal casing is extremely durable and can persist in the soil for thousands of years. Archaeologists have actually used ancient pupal casings to help identify the season of death at sites of bison kills and other dead animals in a similar way to a forensic examination.  Fortunately, most murder investigations are much younger in age. The best way to use these color changes in your novel is through photography or personal observation by the detective.

Over the years I have had several cases where the pupal cases cold be seen in photographs but were not collected. Most of the time this is because detectives just didn’t recognize them as evidence. But if the cases are yellowish then I know they are at the beginning of their development. If they are dark brown to black they are much further along.  It’s not exactly a precise measurement but it’s usually better than having just the maggots from the body. You may not even have photographs and instead have to rely on the visual observations of officers or detectives. Again, not ideal, but it’s usually better than nothing.

You can get pretty crazy with your descriptions or dialog. Detectives sometimes refer to these casings as rodent droppings. I’ve heard of cases where the detectives will actually take them to a wildlife biologist or scat expert in an attempt to determine what animal dropped them.  I’ve often wondered how such an expert wold react if they were told the scene was littered with yellow droppings. It might take them a while to figure out that the evidence was from insects and not rodents! However you choose to use this information just remember that color changes can vary and aren’t as precise as other aging methods.

Tweezing head hair

Swabs:

A swab is a sterile cotton tipped applicator (like a Q-Tip) that may be moistened with saline or distilled water (or used dry) to rub in various areas to collect DNA evidence (sperm, blood, skin cells, etc.). Typically two swabs are rubbed on the area at the same time. This is necessary to have a second swab available for additional testing by the defense or in the event the first swab is contaminated. Sometimes more than two swabs are taken. Swabs come in separate packages labeled with the area to be tested which will include vaginal, anal, and oral. Swabbing may also be done of nipples, bite marks, or other body parts containing possible suspect DNA.  Some kits also contain microscopic glass slides where samples from the vaginal or anal cavities will be wiped for microscopic examination (since they are collected from “wet” locations). Deceased victims may also have their nostrils and ears swabbed for trace evidence but this is rarely expected to be of a sexual nature.

Cuttings and Scrapings:

In addition to swabs some kits have containers for fingernail clippings (autopsy) or scraping with a disposable tool called an orange stick.  Rape victims may scratch their attacker leaving his skin cells under the nails. Orange sticks are wooden and about the size of a small pencil but I suppose plastic versions exist as well. Sometimes (especially in the pre-1990′s) a similar device was used and simply cleaned between scrapings. I have also seen pathologists use toothpicks in the past. Today, disposable instruments are quite common. Most kits have envelopes or containers to separate the evidence from the right hand and the left hand but sometimes they are combined.

Combings and Tweezers:

Kits will also contain disposable combs and tweezers to collect various hair samples. For example, the CSI will comb the pubic hairs (if they are present) and head hairs for any suspect hairs that may be co-mingled. CSIs will also take samples of the victim’s hairs from various regions of the body for comparison to any hairs found on the suspect or at the crime scene. Hairs from different locations (head, pubic, etc) will be kept separated in different envelopes or containers.

Containers:

Most kits contain various coin or standard (business size) envelopes for hairs. In older kits it was common to have paper sheets that were folded into “bindles” or hand-made envelopes. Small plastic jars may also be used for various trace evidence. Swabs can be placed in envelopes or small cardboard boxes (about 1/4″ x 1/4″ x 8″) which are also labeled as to where the swabs were collected from.

Knowing what is in a kit helps you understand the type of evidence that is searched for and how it is collected.  As an author this gives you a bit more detail to work with in creating scenes and dialog.

I don’t mean to pick on these writers as you can find this gunshot injury in a lot of films. It seems like even the most elite soldiers and law enforcement officers aim for the left shoulder. The reason is silly, but understandable. In the United States children are taught to place their hands over their hearts while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. If you watch children and adults at sporting event they will place their right hand over the left side of their chest. This is exactly how I was taught. Apparently, sometime in our history we were taught that our hearts were on the left side of our chest.

In reality, our hearts are in the center of our chest. Apparently, no one has bothered to tell many directors. I have yet to read a novel making this mistake but, in truth, I haven’t read as many novels as I have textbooks.  If you look at a typical human sized target silhouette found on a shooting range you’ll notice that the center of scoring ring is actually in the center of the chest where the heart is located. Police officers and competitive shooters don’t get a lot of points for shooting the left shoulder.

When writing a scene you could have a shooting victim survive because they were shot on the left side of the chest. Your characters could dialog about how lucky they are and discuss some of the reasons mentioned above. But if you want to maintain accuracy (pun intended) in your writing remember that when police or military aim for the heart, they should be aiming for the center of the chest.

Maggot mass on dead pig

Following death, the human body progresses through five basic stages of decomposition. The duration and degree of each stage is largely influenced by the environment (temperature, humidity, etc.), body mass, any wrappings or coverings of the body, and obviously scavenging or other post-mortem disturbances. Additionally, submerged or buried bodies will decompose much differently than bodies left on the ground. This is what I will be referring to below. Here are the general descriptions of the five stages of decomposition:

Fresh:

The fresh stage begins immediately after death when the circulatory system (heart beating/pumping blood) stops functioning. It is during this stage that the blood will settle with gravity creating a condition known as lividity. After several hours the muscles will also begin to stiffen in a process known as rigor mortis.  The body temperature will also begin to acclimate to the environment.  Cells will begin to break down and release enzymes during a process called autolysis which can cause blisters on the skin. The anaerobic organisms in the digestive tract will begin to multiply, producing acids and gases (the source of the bad odors). This process is often referred to as putrefaction.

Bloat:

As the name implies, the gases being produced during putrefaction begin to build and will give the body a distended appearance. Gases and fluid will eventually escape through the natural orifices as the pressure builds.  As the gastrointestinal bacteria multiply and can lead to conditions like marbling which is a discoloration pattern seen in the skin. You may also see green discoloration in the abdomen areas and eventually a darkening (blackish) coloring of the skin overall as the process advances. Interestingly enough; I remember one time I was giving a lecture on forensic entomology at a college campus and after the lecture a serious looking young black student approached me. She asked me why I only showed pictures of black victims in my presentation. I was a bit taken back and briefly confused as I ran through a mental recap of the cases I presented. I finally told her that all of the victims were in fact white (Caucasian) in life but due to this process their skin darkened. It was an eye-opening experience and I made sure to describe this process more effectively when lecturing the public.

Marbeling on tissue

Active Decay:

During his phase the body begins to lose much of it’s fluids and mass (tissue) through purge and insect and/or vertebrate scavenging (coyote, fox, lion, etc). During this phase you may see very large maggot masses and notice a considerable increase in foul odors.

Advanced Decay:

This phase is the end of the active decay process. Temperatures can either speed up (heat) or slow down (cold) how quickly a body reaches this phase. The body has very little body mass and soil staining of the surrounding soils is still evident. This soil staining (from body fluids) may actually kill some of the surrounding vegetation temporarily. Maggots will migrate away from the body to pupate and flies will cease laying eggs.

Dry/Skeletal:

This phase is the last measurable stage of decomposition. The timing of this stage varies widely by environment. For example, a body in Florida in July (hot/humid) may reach this stage in a week while in the Winter in the Rocky Mountains (cold/arid) it might take months. If there is any skin left it will be leather-like and very tough. Mostly the body is reduced to bones and connective tissue. There is no biomass available for diverse insect colonization. Some beetles and adventitious insects may colonize a body for shelter or feeding on other insects and connective tissue. Over time the bones may “bleach” (turn white) with exposure to sunlight and eventually will begin to exhibit cracks after several years. These weathering cracks are distinctive and would not be confused with a fresh break (injury) unless by an inexperienced analyst.

Advanced decay stage on ribs

Knowing or describing the correct stage of decomposition is not a critical issue for most authors. However, if you plan on describing the state of the body it would be wise to give the reader a little information to justify the scene. For example, if your victim has been missing six months but still has visible tattoos on their remaining skin, reasonable readers are going to wonder how that is possible. One way to address that is through dialog. You could have one detective comment to the other about the extremely cold winter they have had and how fortunate they are that the cold weather helped preserve the evidence. Readers will give you quite a bit of wiggle room but recognizing when your timeline crosses these stages will help keep your writing realistic and your readers happy.

There are a number of things that can affect how quickly the core body temperature acclimates.  Some of those conditions include the type and amount of clothing the victim is wearing, or if the victim is wrapped (like in plastic sheeting). Bodies with a lot of clothing will be more insulated from the environment and thus cool more slowly. Body mass also influences temperature change. Environmental temperatures obviously influence this process and some areas see dramatic swings in temperatures in short periods of time. My readers in Colorado are very familiar with this. We can have a white-out blizzard in the morning and have clear skies and 50 degrees F by lunch. If the clothing or wrappings are wet then that will have an influence as well, especially when temperatures swing between freeze and thaw.

Adding to all of these considerations is the realization that decomposition is not a static process. Scavengers (vertebrate and arthropod) can significantly alter coverings and body mass at unpredictable rates. Over the years, scientists have attempted to develop various formulas to estimate the time since death using changes in core body temperature. However, due to the variations experienced during decomposition these formulas are not considered reliable.

As an author, you should probably avoid having characters put too much emphasis on Algor Mortis estimations or readings unless you want to set your characters up to be in error. This can be a useful tool, especially if the character you want to “set-up” is not directly involved in the forensic sciences (like a hospital pathologist or family doctor). You could create some tension between the police, victim’s family, and a hospital pathologist using an over-reliance on postmortem body temperature levels. Your Coroner/Medical Examiner or entomologist character will most likely be able to settle the issue with finality and use other postmortem changes to estimate the time since death.

If you’re looking to get into a tiff with a forensic anthropologist go to a crime scene littered with bones and ask them if they are human or animal bones. If you’re really lucky they will just respond with a simple ”yes”. If you aren’t so lucky they may offer a dismissive glare followed by something like “Well, they’re not from a f***ing plant!” If your character is a natural born smart-ass like me they may ask the question just to get their blood pressure up. It’s a common mistake of terminology (especially among police) but one you’d be wise to avoid in your novel. It’s another one of those devil is in the details issues with your readers. The fact of the matter is that all “animals” (including humans) have bones. It doesn’t matter if they are from an elk, a blue jay, house cat, or a murder victim.

Human foot articulated

But non-human remains can be an effective tool for your plot development. It’s interesting really. A good forensic anthropologist can look at some bones from ten feet away and instantly recognize them as non-human. The average detective or CSI can’t tell the difference though and may call out numerous people to the scene assuming that the bones are human. In your novel you can use this confusion to your advantage. In one scenario you could have a home owner or other laymen who’s dog has brought back a human bone (or collection of human bones) and buried them on the property. If the home owner thinks they are from deer or elk they may not call police until something definitive like a skull shows up. By then the police may actually think that person was the killer. In another scenario you might have a ton of volunteer searchers mobilized over a bear paw who, in the searching process, trample over the ground and destroy evidence of the “real” homicide scene (i.e. shoe prints, tire tracks, etc left by the killer). However you choose to use non-human remains just be sure you don’t call them “animal”.

The Cheese-skipper fly Piophila casei

This is one of those posts that is very focused but may be good for a laugh or squirm for your readers. I have written previous posts on forensic entomologists and the role of insect development in death scenes but this posting is about a particular behavior of a particular fly larvae. This species is commonly referred to as the Skipper Fly or Cheese-Skipper fly (Piophila casei) from the Family Piophilidae. This is a relatively small group of flies (about 70 species) found commonly in cooler temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere (although they can be found anywhere). In non-forensic settings they can be associated with stored products like cheese (hence the name). In forensic cases they are more common in the later stages of decomposition when the body is drying out.

The particular behavior I am interested in is this larvae escape mechanism. When these larvae are disturbed they do the coolest thing. They fold their body in half and by rapidly flexing their body they propel themselves through the air. It’s quite a site to see a body infested with multiple maggots “jumping” all around.  Watch the video below to get an idea of what this might look like. These little guys can propel themselves several feet away from the body.  You can probably see where this is going.

I had a colleague of mine squirm and almost scream as one of these little guys launched into her hair while examining a body. It’s kind of a hazard of the job we all come to expect but when you consider where they’ve been crawling it can soften the knees of the most hardened professional. God forbid one launches into your mouth! If you are writing a scene with a body in the advanced stages of decay in a cooler climate you might consider adding this little character actor for the desired effect. It’s a tiny thing but your reader will appreciate your attention to detail and added depth to the scene.

But there are times when an autopsy is not done. most of the time there is a reasonable explanation but as crime authors you’ve probably already guessed that not doing an autopsy can really come back to bite you. First, let me clarify that when I talk about an autopsy I mean a full blown examination. This involves removing and examining the organs and scrutinizing every inch of the body for injuries and a cause of death. This is different than an “external” examination in which the Coroner/Medical Examiner simply checks for evidence of external injury. External exams are typically performed when the death has been attended by medical professionals or when the victim has a lengthy medical history of a terminal illness (such as being in hospice care for advanced cancer). So what factors might lead a Coroner or Medical Examiner to skip the autopsy beside the above examples?

In the best of circumstances (meaning the death was medically foreseeable), when the cause and manner of death are obvious, a family may object to an autopsy on religious or cultural grounds. The Coroner ALWAYS has the authority to conduct an autopsy if they so choose but may decide not to under the above circumstances. Now for the bad news. Actually this is good news for fiction writers. Sometimes a Coroner/Medical examiner may fore go an autopsy for…shall we say…stupid reasons. I have to stress that in my experience this is very rare but it can, and does, happen so you can use conditions like these to fuel your story and add a ton of tension.

Reason #1:  As I have previously written, not all Coroners are forensic pathologists. Some don’t have any real medical training at all. In the United States it is an elected position. As such, their decision to skip an autopsy may be influenced by such things as budget constraints. many of these offices have to hire a forensic pathologist to do the autopsy which may cost upwards of $1,000.00.  So if the death doesn’t “look” suspicious they may decide to save the cost and skip the procedure.

Reason #2: These elected officials might also skip an autopsy because they feel one is not warranted. For example, if the death appears to be a suicide by intra-oral gunshot then they might say “why do an autopsy when the cause and manner of death is obvious”? or “I don’t need a forensic pathologist to tell me that this woman died in a car accident”. In my opinion this is unwise but it happens. The most obvious concern is that the scene has been staged in some way or the actual cause of death is hidden among other traumatic injuries. For example, what if a person found in a burning car following an accident actually had a gunshot wound to the head which wasn’t obvious because of severe trauma following the accident? What looks like an accident might actually be homicide from road rage or some other motive.

Reason #3: This is extremely rare but again, it happens. The elected official may have a personal interest or motivation to avoid an autopsy. As fiction writers this is the most “juicy” motive of all. On the benign end of the scale the victim may be the child of a friend, business partner, or other associate of the Coroner. Think SIDS death where the parents are known to the Coroner. There may be a motive to write the death off as SIDS rather than investigate any negligence on behalf of the young mother. The Coroner may also have an ideological aversion to certain forms of death such as auto-erotic, SIDS, shaken baby, etc and may choose to declare a death suicide or accident rather than some other cause. The manner of death, such as auto-erotic, may be very embarrassing to the victim’s family or even the community (think religious leader or politician found that way) so the Coroner may avoid an autopsy which may declare the death as such.  Under the worst of condition the Coroner or associate may actually be involved in the death (or at least a suspect). Imagine if a Coroner was carrying on an affair with a wife who kills her abusive husband staging it to look like a suicide. Once he goes down that road there may be no coming back. So while that may be rare and extreme, it makes for an engaging story!

Pig buried with quicklime

There is a long-held belief that applying quicklime to a buried body will accelerate decomposition. Maybe it is the use of quicklime or slack lime in outhouses to control odor but it does not cause rapid decomposition as reported in many sources.  This fact has been documented by scientific research since the 1930′s at least.

The preservation of tissue is the result of dehydration which does not allow for bacterial growth normally seen in decomposition.  The more lime used, the better the preservation. When mixed with water and air (as in a shallow grave) can cause a shrinkage of tissue and the lime may even have a solvent effect but connective tissue. bone, hair, etc would not be damaged much.

I’m not suggesting that bodies buried in quicklime will look pristine but they will not rapidly deteriorate as some criminals believe.  Lime does not deter animal scavenging either. I have done studies on bodies buried in quicklime and have seen rodent burrowing within a few months of burial.

If your novel contains a burial with quicklime you should be aware of its preservation effects. If you want to use the misinformation to your advantage then have your killer use it to destroy evidence. Then when they discover that it helped to preserve the body maybe they have to take more drastic steps to thwart the police.

Body in full Rigor Mortis

Rigor Mortis, like Livor Mortis or vitreous fluid, is a post-mortem change in the body that may allow investigators to establish an approximate time since death. A few hours after a person dies (and the circulatory system has stopped) the joints of the body begin to stiffen. As they stiffen they become locked into whatever position they were at the time of death (dead bodies aren’t supposed to move right?). The process is affected by temperature but as a rule of thumb for an indoor crime scene the process is noticeable after about three hours and reaches its maximum “stiffness” after about 12 hours. At this point it is very difficult to straighten the limbs and it seems as if you’d need a sledgehammer to bend them in another direction. The joint stiffness will slowly dissipate from this point leaving the body completely after about 72 hours.

One downside to the process is getting the body to fit into a standard body bag. Aside from providing another condition to estimate an approximate time since death, Rigor Mortis is also helpful in understanding the victim’s body position for crime scene reconstruction. Most people choose to avoid dead bodies unless it’s their job. So aside from first responders and the medical examiner why would someone else move a body? Of course, there is always the possibility that a family member or friend who discovers the body may try to administer some form of first aid but that isn’t too common with bodies in Rigor. Another possibility is an unscrupulous passer-by when your victim is found outdoors. Not to stereotype, but imagine a homeless person or drug addict finding the corpse of a well dressed businessman laying in the bushes of a field or something. It wouldn’t be that big a stretch for them to roll the guy and go through his pockets would it?

The last and perhaps the best possibility for your novel is having the killer come back.  Returning to the scene of the crime is a high risk move but it happens. Murders are a messy and chaotic act in which your bad guy will likely be rushed. Fast forward several hours and the killer will likely be going out of his mind reliving the events (unless he’s a sociopath of course). As the killer plays the events over and over in their head they start to second guess themselves. Did I leave anything there? Will the cops believe she really shot herself? Stuff like that. For some killers the stress is unbearable and they make a decision to return and do damage control.

This is great news for CSIs and for authors because any action they take leaves more evidence for us to consider.  Let’s say a victim was hit over the head with a frying pan while they laid in bed and died. Then, six hours later, the killer returns and decides that they want to stage the crime scene to look like the victim fell down the stairs and hit their head. Sounds reasonable to a dirtbag right? But when they pull the body from the bed and toss her down the stairs her body is going to be outstretched and inconsistent with what we would expect to find in an accident. Not to mention all the other evidence they will likely create in the staging process.

As an author you might consider the body position to be a key clue to discovering the place where the victim was killed. For example, maybe your victim is in a sitting position but reclined at an extreme angle. That may match the reclined driver’s seat of a car discovered in another part of town. In such a case the killer may have returned to separate the body from the car because they felt there was something about the two that would point towards the killer’s identity. There are a lot of possibilities at your fingertips so role play a bit and have some fun with it!

Darkened soot in excised airway

The second indicator is the presence of soot in the airway. This is only determined through autopsy and a detailed examination of the airway. The presence of darkened soot in the airway indicates that the person was breathing during combustion.  Dead people don’t breath and thus can not draw soot into the airway.

Using this information in your storyline can be pretty straightforward.  One option is to have a house fire in which a victim died but the scene was staged by setting the fire to mimic an accidental ignition (maybe a space heater set up next to a blanket).  If an autopsy wasn’t conducted and the local Coroner ruled it an accident then there wouldn’t have been any examination of the airway. You could then have the body exhumed or examined prior to burial to find evidence that the victim was already deceased.  Of course it’s possible to have a person die prior to an accidental fire (in theory) so you’ll need to introduce a motive for the killing and perhaps some evidence found on the suspect. This might include fire damaged clothing (burned clothes, melted out soles of shoes, etc.).

At autopsy the pathologist will insert a syringe into the globe (white portion) of the eye and take out about one milliliter of fluid from each. This fluid is then analyzed for potassium levels and compared against known rates of diffusion. There are some things that the pathologist will have to factor in their analysis. The age of the victim, environmental conditions, estimated time since death, injuries to the eye, and contamination can all affect the test results. Vitreous fluids are eventually destroyed through decomposition so samples need to be collected before the eye becomes dessicated. The vitreous can also be examined for illicit drugs or alcohol levels.

As far as your novel is concerned the use of vitreous fluid to estimate the time since death is a common forensic examination at autopsy. It should be mentioned even if just in a sentence. Most of the time the results will establish the time of death within a few hours depending on how long after death the fluid is collected.   You may also want to contact your local pathologist or coroner and see if they have had any unusual test results that you could incorporate into your story. As far as the testing process it is pretty mundane and probably won’t lend itself to a “page turner” scene but it’s good to be aware of the test.

The Manner of death is one of the following five categories; Natural, Accident, Suicide, Homicide, and Undetermined. These categories have both medical and legal implications for law enforcement. Forensic pathologists carry a heavy burden to reach an unbiased, fact-based, conclusion which may be contrary to the wishes of the family, friends, or others. Nevertheless, these conclusions are crucial for law enforcement to make decisions on how investigations should proceed. I don’t mean to imply that these conclusions are reached in a vacuum.  Evidence discovered by law enforcement may greatly influence these decisions.

Determining the manner and cause of death can be straightforward or it may take weeks to determine. The pathologist may have to await various laboratory tests in toxicology or histology before they can reach a definitive answer. Sometimes the cause and manner of death are unknown, which is very frustrating to everyone involved.  There are times when a person dies and the cause can not be definitively proven.  Other times, investigators may be unsure of the manner of death (is it a suicide or a homicide?).

In your novel you might consider using this reality to create tension between your characters. You could have a staged crime scene that appears to be a suicide with the family insisting their loved one was murdered.  You may even generate tension between law enforcement characters such as detectives and the pathologist. Do any of them have a bias which may force them to lean one way or another?

Lividity is important to the investigator for two reasons. First, it can provide investigators with a general understanding of the time since death. These estimates are influenced by things such as temperature, body mass, conditions at the crime scene, and other factors. Suffice it to say I’m only giving you very general time frames but for your novel they should be fine.  Lividity is generally seen within the first 1-2 hours following death. It will typically become fully developed within 3-4 hours but could still be altered if the body position changed. After 12 hours the lividity becomes fixed meaning it will not change.

As I have just alluded, there is another important reason for investigators to note postmortem lividity. It can indicate a change in body position. If, for example, your detective finds a body face up with the purplish color face up as well; it’s a clear indication that the body was turned over several hours after death.  Investigators can also use the areas of blanching to help reconstruct the original position of the body. Blanching might even indicate another location or crime scene.  Hypothetically, if you were to see 4″ wide slots of blanching separated by thin purple lines that may indicate your body was laying on a wooden deck made of 2x4s.

You might be asking yourself why a suspect would wait several hours before turning a body. One possibility is that they returned to the scene for some reason. They may have forgotten something or decided later on to come back and remove evidence like shell casings that might be used to implicate them.

Lower legs showing both lividity and blanching

Tracklist:

01 Cigaret And A Beer
02 Aloha Broha
03 Hancock

Download (Sharebee)

During the FB Intern Contest, candidate Jemise reported that GQ has already lauded Andre Benjamin(also known as Andre 3000 of Outkast) as a designer to watch. In further news, his line, BENJAMIN BIXBY, debuted its Spring ‘09 collection this past Wednesday at Holt Renfrew in Vuitton’s ‘hood, Canada.

As Dre describes it, “The BENJAMIN BIXBY man is a rebel gent. He likes classics with extraordinary styling.” For the Spring collection, the inspiration is Colonial India–”the black madras tux, the over-dyed polo with underarm details and the khaki cotton suit with a map of India lining.” Interesting. If there’s one celeb I have faith in to produce a clothing line based on something other than vanity and potential profits, it’s definitely 3000.