Handling+bodies+LR

- The death investigator is a medical examiner or coroner. - Some hire out for private investigations in wrongful death or insurance cases, and some work for a government office. - Pathologists are concerned with both proximate causes (chain of events leading up to death) an the immediate cause (the injury or disease that caused the person to die) - The manner of death falls into 5 categories 1. Natural - dies in an environment not considered hostile 2. Accidental - fell victim to a hostile environment 3. Suicide - the person caused his own death 4. Homicide - Someone else caused the death 5. Undetermined.

- the faster they get there, the more accurate will be the first assessment of the postmortem interval. - no one should movie th body until the DI arrives. - Any deaths not the result of natural causes, such as diseases or expiring in bed from old age, should be investigated - All childhood deaths are investigated, as are deaths of people in the public eye. - Corpses outside may have undergone changes unrelated to their demise - They make their own nonitrsive examination of the body and do skethes before it gets removed. - He must avoid disturbing any trace evidence that might linger on the corpses. - Only the coroner authorizes body transport - If insects are present, the DI works with an entomologist. If the corpse has deteriorated to skeletal form, he may call in a forensic anthropologist. - they boy gets removed by lifting and wrapping it in a clean white sheet to preserve all evidence but taking care to avoid contact with any body fluids. - The body temperature should be taken at least twice at the scene before the boy is removed, via the live, ear and rectum. - Factors: 1. body temp 2. discoloration 3. rigor mortise 4. ocular indicators' 5. food digestion 6. personal factors 7. decay/decomposition rates - left along in a warm and moist climate, a boy can decompose to a skeleton within a few weeks, while in other conditions it can take months, even year. - There are 4 main direct relationships between insects and corpses Insects can help in: 1. showing that a body has been moved 2. serving a specimens for toxicological or drug analysis 3. providing DNA materials from insect ingestion contents 4. supporting or contradicting an alibi 5. assessing when wounds were made to a body. - the autopsy provided the most crucial pieces of evidence - An autopsy may be partial, selective, or complete, but most are partial. - All bruises should likewise be photographed, especially any that appeared to be bite marks - the last thing examined is the head and the brain.