Forensics: manner of death

Usually children will lose more body heat more slowly than adults

False

An autopsy is preformed after an unexplained death to help explain the cause and manner of death

True

A person who was running away from someone before he or she dies will go into rigor mortis sooner than a person who was sitting quietly or resting

True

In the 17th century before the telescope was invented, anyone in a coma or with a heartbeat too weak to detect was presumed dead and were therefore buried

True

There are three ways a person can die, referred to in official terms as the manner of death: natural death, accidental death, and homicidal death

False

Natural death is caused by interruption and failure or body functions due to age or disease. This is the most common manner of death.

True

A homicide is always the death of one person caused by a minimum of two or more persons

False

Between 6pm and 11pm

An elderly woman with no living relatives accidentally falls from tripping over her bathrobe. She is unable to get back up due to a break in her leg. Due to internal bleeding, she passes away when her heart stops beating. The manner of her death would be:

Accidental

The way someone dies is called the

Manner of death

The reason someone dies, or the events that lead to someone’s death is called the

Cause of death

The underlying cause of death, as opposed to the final cause of death is called the

Proximate cause of death

The specific change in the body that brought about the cessation of life is called the

Mechanism of death

Livor mortis means, roughly

Death color

Pooling of blood in the body, known as lividity, provides a clue as to how long the person has been dead. Lividity first begins about

Two hours after death

Dual lividity occur of the body was kept in one position

Two hours after death and then moved to a second position before lividity became permanent

Rigor mortis is

Temporary

If a body shows no visible signs of rigor mortis it has probably been dead

Less than 2 hours or more than 48 hours

Factors affecting rigor include

Body weight, temperature, activity before death

The speed of ————, or the rotting of all tissue and organs in the body, depends on the age, size of the body, and nature of death.

Decomposition

Within minutes of death, certain insects arrive to lay their eggs on the warm body, attracted by the ——— of the first stages of decomposition

Smell

A rule of thumb PMI estimate is that if the body feels warm and stiff, it has probably been dead for

3-8 hours

—-——- accumulates inside the eye after death

Potassium

Eyes will began to cloud over after ——— hours if the eyes were closed upon death

24 hours