The degree of destruction of human bodies in relation to the duration of the fire

Bohnert, Michael; Rost, Thomas L.; Pollak, Stefan

doi:10.1016/s0379-0738(98)00076-0

Cited by 139 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The body cavities burst open after approximately 30 minutes, and after 40 minutes the internal organs were severely shrunken while after 50 minutes the extremities were destroyed. The shrunken and destroyed torso broke apart after 60-90 minutes (Bohnert et al 1998). Organs and soft tissues are completely burned to fume and around 5% of the body weight remains as 'ashes' consisting of small or sometimes even larger calcined bone pieces, implanted structures and casket components.…”

Section: Cremation In the Modern Daymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cremation

Buschmann¹,

Tsokos²

2014

Handbook of Forensic Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Cremation In the Modern Daymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cremation

Buschmann¹,

Tsokos²

2014

Handbook of Forensic Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Each pig was exposed to fire for 30 minutes. The time period was chosen because a fleshed human has been shown to display thermal alteration to bone as soon as 10 minutes after exposure and at 30 minutes the majority of bony elements are exposed enough to undergo thermal damage [5]. A timeframe extending beyond 30 minutes was not considered as many skeletal elements such as the cranium, small hand and foot bones, and ribs elements may be destroyed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During decomposition, muscular contraction and soft tissue shielding are lost such that fleshed and decomposed remains will present with different burn patterns, or signatures. While the process of thermal alteration to a fully fleshed body has been studied under controlled conditions and are documented in detail [1,5,6], the effect of decomposition on normal burn patterns is not as well recognised. Because tissue and the tissue shielding contribute to the burn patterns, studies into the process of decomposition and burning may be useful in estimating the condition of the body prior to the burn event.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of skeletal changes after post-mortem exposure to fire as an indicator of decomposition stage

Keough

L'Abbé

Steyn

et al. 2015

Forensic Science International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Forensic anthropologists are tasked with interpreting the sequence of events from death to the discovery of a body. Burned bone often evokes questions as to the timing of burning events. The purpose of this study was to assess the progression of thermal damage on bones with advancement in decomposition. Twenty-five pigs in various stages of decomposition (fresh, early, advanced, early & late skeletonisation) were exposed to fire for 30 minutes. The scored heat-related features on bone included colour change (unaltered, charred, calcined), brown and heat borders, heat lines, delineation, greasy bone, joint shielding, predictable and minimal cracking, delamination and heat-induced fractures. Colour changes were scored according to a ranked percentage scale (0 -3) and the remaining traits as absent or present (0/1). Kappa statistics was used to evaluate intra-and inter-observer error. Transition analysis was used to formulate probability mass functions [P(X=j|i)] to predict decomposition stage from the scored features of thermal destruction. Nine traits displayed potential to predict decomposition stage from burned remains. An increase in calcined and charred bone occurred synchronously with advancement of decomposition with subsequent decrease in unaltered surfaces. Greasy bone appeared more often in the early/fresh stages (fleshed bone). Heat borders, heat lines, delineation, joint shielding, predictable and minimal cracking are associated with advanced decomposition, when bone remains wet but lacks extensive soft tissue protection. Brown burn/borders, delamination and other heat-induced fractures are associated with early and late skeletonisation, showing that organic composition of bone and percentage of flesh present affect the manner in which it burns. No statistically significant difference was noted among observers for the majority of the traits, indicating that they can be scored reliably. Based on the data analysis, the pattern of heat-induced changes may assist in estimating decomposition stage from unknown, burned remains.

show abstract

“…Dentro de esas categorías, a los odontólogos se les solicita para cooperar en la identificación de las vícti-mas quemadas en las clases tercera, cuarta y quinta, donde la destrucción de los tejidos es extensa y no es posible identificarlos por métodos convencionales como reconocimiento visual o huellas dactilares (24 En casos de exposición al fuego, los dientes y cuerpos extraños intraorales (prótesis dentales) se encuentran protegidos por tejidos blandos como la musculatura de la cara y la lengua (25)(26)(27), y a medida que el cuerpo se calienta, desde el intestino y el estómago son despedidos gases hasta la boca, lo cual provoca que la lengua se proyecte hacia los dientes y que haya una subsecuente contracción de los músculos masticatorios que produce la inmersión de los dientes en la lengua. La conjunción con la musculatura de mejillas y labios puede proteger los dientes durante la combustión prolongada de los tejidos (25).…”

Section: Carbonización Incineración Y Calcinación De Tejidos Bucodenunclassified

Identificación de cadáveres sometidos a altas temperaturas, a partir de las características macroscópicas de sus órganos dentales y la aplicabilidad de la genética forense / Identification of Bodies Exposed to High Temperatures Based on Macroscopic...

Salcedo

Cobos

2016

Univ Odontol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

RESUMENAntecedentes: En los casos de incineración, la odontología forense suministra evidencia científica que permite identificar cadáveres mediante el análisis de los órganos dentales. Se aísla el ADN obtenido de la pulpa como alternativa para confirmar la identidad de la víctima. Cuando el grado de temperatura es muy elevado, los tejidos dentales son vulnerables y, por ende, el ADN pulpar no es rescatable, razón por la que se pierden recursos y tiempo, dada la carencia de estándares que identifiquen características macroscópicas e indiquen esta situación de manera confiable. Objetivo: Describir las principales características de dientes sometidos a altas temperaturas y su relación con la viabilidad de su ADN, como contribución a la identificación genética forense. Métodos: Se revisó exhaustivamente la literatura en tres bases de datos: PubMed, EBSCO y Google Académico. Se seleccionaron 50 artículos en varios idiomas que se relacionaran con los descriptores: dientes incinerados, violencia, odontología forense, identificación, muestras de ADN y pulpa dental. Resultados: La mayoría de los reportes confirma la resistencia de los tejidos dentales cuando se someten a altas temperaturas. Otros muestran el éxito de la identificación mediante cotejos odontológicos. Conclusiones: Se confirma la utilidad para la identificación del análisis del ADN extraído de restos óseos y dentales. La literatura revisada sugiere que, hasta ciertas temperaturas, es posible una identificación a través de la genética forense de víctimas incineradas, mediante el ADN contenido en pulpa dental. Se observó estricta referenciación nacional, en cuanto a las características físicas o macroscópicas de órganos dentales incinerados.PALABRAS CLAVE ácido desoxirribonucleico; ADN; dientes; identificación, de víctimas; incineración; odontología forense; violencia ÁREA TEMÁTICA odontología forense ABSTRACT Background: Forensic dentistry, in cases of incineration, provides scientific evidence that allows identifying bodies by analyzing dental organs. DNA from dental pulps is isolated as an alternative to confirm a victim's identity. When the temperature has been very high, soft dental tissues are vulnerable and therefore the DNA pulp is not recoverable, so resources and time could be wasted due to the lack of standards to identify macroscopic characteristics in hard tissues. Purpose: To describe the main features of teeth exposed to high temperatures and to analyze the relationship between these and the viability of their DNA, in order to contribute to forensic genetic identification. Methods: An thorough literature review was carried out in three databases: PubMed, EBSCO and Google Scholar. 50 articles in several languages were selected when searching for the following descriptors: cremated teeth, violence, forensic dentistry, ID, DNA samples, and dental pulp. Results: Most authors reported that hard dental tissues are resistant to high temperatures. Other authors showed how identification through dental comparisons is successful. Conclusions: Identific...

show abstract

The degree of destruction of human bodies in relation to the duration of the fire

Cited by 139 publications

References 8 publications

Cremation

Cremation

Assessment of skeletal changes after post-mortem exposure to fire as an indicator of decomposition stage

Identificación de cadáveres sometidos a altas temperaturas, a partir de las características macroscópicas de sus órganos dentales y la aplicabilidad de la genética forense / Identification of Bodies Exposed to High Temperatures Based on Macroscopic...

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About