Modelling the buried human body environment in upland climes using three contrasting field sites

Wilson, A. S.; Janaway, Robert C.; Holland, Andrew D.; Dodson, Hilary I.; Baran, Eve N.; Pollard, A. Mark; Tobin, Desmond J.

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2006.07.023

Cited by 131 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Previous studies proved that formation of adipocere normally starts from adipose tissue in the body (Forbes et al 2005;Wilson et al 2007). Obese individual, female, the elderly and babies have higher tendency to form adipocere as compared to thin individual, male and adult due to the variation of fat property and composition (Fiedler & Graw 2003;Schotsmans et al 2011b).…”

Section: Adipocerementioning

confidence: 98%

Decomposition Process and Post Mortem Changes: Review

Teo¹,

Hamzah²,

Hing³

et al. 2014

JSM

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Section: Adipocerementioning

confidence: 98%

Decomposition Process and Post Mortem Changes: Review

Teo¹,

Hamzah²,

Hing³

et al. 2014

JSM

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“…It is, for example, generally accepted that the degradation of organisms and their enzymes is greatly inhibited at temperatures below 10°C [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]54,[56][57][58][59]. During the winter and early spring months, it is known that the soil temperature in the area in which the victim was found is lower than the 8°C measured during early spring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In previous taphonomic studies, it has been shown that pig tissue decomposes more or less identically to human tissue, although this has not been studied in sea sand before [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moisture Inhibits the Decomposition Process of Tissue Buried in Sea Sand: A Forensic Case Related Study

Goot¹

2012

J Forensic Res

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Many aspects influence the decomposition process of a body and, as such, are important in forensic science for estimation of the post mortem interval. In a recent forensic case, a missing man was found buried in sea sand. The post mortem interval estimation as obtained at autopsy was quite different to the actual period this man was missing. In the present study, we have set up an artificial decomposition model to study the effect of sea soil and moisture, relevant to this particular case, on the decomposition mode.Pig (Sus domesticus) legs were buried in 50 litres of sea sand and control sand (woodland sand) respectively, within containers for 1, 2 and 3 months. The sand was evaluated using routine pedological analysis. The legs were analysed using AZAN staining and microscopically scored for their decomposition grade. In the second part of the study, the effect of moisture hereon was analysed.Pedological analysis did not show significant differences in composition between the sea-and woodland sand. Although an increase in decomposition grade was found in both soils over time, no differences in decomposition grade were found. In the second part of the study, however, we found a significant decrease in decomposition score in legs buried in wet, soaked sea sand compared to those buried in dry sea sand. Soaked means a small layer of water was seen on the container's surface.We have successfully developed an in vitro decomposition model in order to address taphonomic questions related to a forensic case and have found that moisture inhibited the process of decomposition in sea sand.

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“…Environmental factors include pH [39], redox conditions [38], ambient temperatures [40][41][42], and hence associated decomposition rate changes [43][44], seasonality, time of burial [45] and depth below ground level [46], soil type and texture [34,44,47] and moisture content [37,44], local land use and environment [48][49].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Elevated levels of volatile organic compounds [58][59][60] and pH [52,54,61] have also been recorded. These affects have been suggested to cause cadaver-associated clothing and textile degradation which have also been suggested to estimate a PBI [49,62].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary soilwater conductivity analysis to date clandestine burials of homicide victims

Pringle

Cassella

Jervis

2010

Forensic Science International

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This study reports on a new geoscientific method to estimate the post-burial interval (PBI) and potential post-mortem interval (PMI) date of homicide victims in clandestine graves by measuring decomposition fluid conductivities. Soil water analysis from a simulated clandestine grave (which contained a domestic pig carcass) in a semi-rural environment had significantly elevated conductivity measurements when compared to background values. A temporal rapid increase of the conductivity of burial fluids was observed until one year post burial, after this values slowly increased until two years (end of the study period). Conversion of x-axis from post-burial days to 'accumulated degree days' (ADD) resulted in an improved fit for multiple linear regression analyses. ADD correction allowed comparison with two other conductivity grave studies and demonstrated it was possible to date a discovered grave and hence the victim if past local temperatures could be obtained and burial depth measured. Contemporary soil moisture sampling was also undertaken to quantify this potential variable. Research also has implications to time illegal animal burials. Further research is required to extend the monitoring period, to use human cadavers and investigate other soil types and depositional environments. NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Forensic Science International. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Forensic Science International, v. 198, May 2010, doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2010 Determining PMI of recently deceased individuals have been extensively researched using a variety of methods and revisions to said methods. However, dating PMI over a longer time period or importantly the Post-Burial Interval (PBI) emplacement within a burial site is more uncertain and lacking a simple technique.This manuscript is the first to document a new and simple technique to date PMI or estimate how long a body may have been buried for using the conductivity of the decomposition fluids. Our previous FSI paper ( Jervis et al. 2009) has suggested that these fluids are the primary reason why electrical resistivity surveys work to detect the positions of clandestine burials of homicide victims. Our new suggested PBI/PMI technique, based on a two year monitoring study, is to simply measure the conductivity of decomposing fluids as we have found this has a two-step, linear relationship. Results are reinforced by comparison to another study as well as to a simulated "discovered" burial, where a ~16% error was found between the conductivity estimated date compared to the true burial date. We have also converted post-burial days into accumulated degree days (ADD) which improved the date mis-match error (to ~12%) and will...

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Modelling the buried human body environment in upland climes using three contrasting field sites

Cited by 131 publications

References 43 publications

Decomposition Process and Post Mortem Changes: Review

Decomposition Process and Post Mortem Changes: Review

Moisture Inhibits the Decomposition Process of Tissue Buried in Sea Sand: A Forensic Case Related Study

Preliminary soilwater conductivity analysis to date clandestine burials of homicide victims

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