ThomasS+R77-99

death investigator (DI): medical examiner or coroner, must be familiar with forensic pathology - determining things about a death (how it occurred, when it happened, what the cause was the manner of death: - natural (died in a non-hostile environment) - accidental (victim in a hostile environment) - suicide (caused own death) - homicide (someone else caused the death) - undetermined the body must not be moved until the DI is at the scene of the body time of death: - DI makes approximation at the scene - body temperature: a body tends to cool 1/2 - 1 degree per hour until it reaches its surrounding, but an obese person may cool slowly, or if it is really cold outside the body may cool faster - Discoloration: the dark purple color of the body that is found close to the ground where it is lying, caused by the red blood cells settling at the ground, if the color is in another place then the body has been moved, if the color blanches the person has been dead more than two hours but less than ten - Rigor Mortis: the body stiffens up in the jaw and other places after death, presence of heat, difference of musculature affect it - Ocular indicators: when the eyes are open a film covers them and when they are closed the same happens, but it takes much longer - Food digestion: food digestion - Decay/Decomposition rates: decomposition rates are applied based on the environment - waxy skin - discoloration - greenish - odor - blisters, liquefies insects and corpses: - fly and beetle cycles help to determine time of death - predators of the flies on a body tell what kind of fly has been there - the contents of an insect can lead to DNA and other substances