Manner of Death

4th ways a person could die (manner of death)

Natural, accidental, suicide and homicide

What is the 5th way a person could die (manner of death)?

Undetermined or Unknown

Manner of death

The determination of how injury or disease leads to death. Ways a person could die.

The reason someone dies is called

Cause of death

Proximate cause of death refers to

An underlying cause of death as opposed to the final cause. Ex: radiation → cancer = radiation exposure

Mechanism of death

Describe the specific change in the body that brought about the cessation of life.

Examples for manner of death

homicide

Examples for cause of deaths

stabbing, smothering, gunshot

Examples for mechanism of death

asphyxia, loss of blood, heart failure

What is loss of blood called?

exsanguination

Factors to approximate time of death

livor mortis, rigor mortis, algor mortis, stomach and intestinal contents, insects

If manner of death and mechanism of death cannot be determined from evidence?

An autopsy is performed

Liver mortis

Process when body decomposes and blood seeps down and settles into lower parts of the body. Lividity is present

Lividity

Pooling or settling of blood in tissues after death. Begins 2 hours after death, becomes permanent after 8.

Liver mortis can

Determine the cause of death.

Revel the position of the corpse within first 8 hours

Reveal if the body was moved

Skeletal muscles after death

Stiffening, as they cannot relax. Rigor mortis starts in the head and works its ways down to the legs.

Calcium

Used by the body to signal muscle contraction, this accumulation signals the muscles to contract.

What happens between 1 - 8 hours after death?

Rigor mortis begins to set in.

Postmortem 2-6 hours

rigor mortis begins in the head

Postmortem 12 hours

rigor is completed through the entire body

Postmortem 15-36 hours

The muscle fibers begin to dissolve and softening begins (rigor mortis starts to end)

Postmortem 36 - 48 hours

Rigor ends and is relaxed throughout the entire body.

Factors that affect rigor mortis

Ambient temperature

The weight of the body

Body’s clothing or lack of it

Any illness the person had at the time of death

The level of physical activity at the time of death

Sun exposure

Slow rigor mortis occurs when

The temperature is cold

Obesity

Normal body temperature is

98.6 F (37 C)

Algo mortis

cooling of the body after death. In death a body no longer generates warmth and begins to cool down.

Algo Mortis first 12 hours after death

Body cools 1.4 F (0.78 C)

Algo Mortis last 12 hours after death

Body cools 0.7 F (0.39 C)

Stomach and intestinal contents 4-6 hours

For stomach to empty contents into small intestine

Stomach and intestinal contents, another 12 hours

For the food to leave the small intestine for the large intestine

Stomach and intestinal contents 24 hours

For the food to leave the large intestine

Determine the time of death from the least meal if food is found in the small intestine

Death occurred 4 - 6 hours after the last meal

Amount of Potassium in the Eye

Pupils begin to dilate, unresponsive to direct light, and "cloud" over. The cloudy appearance of the pupils results from potassium in the red blood cells breaking down. This process can take longer (approximately 3 hours) but, because many people die with their eyes open, the process often occurs in this time frame.

Changes of the eye following death

Surface of the eye dries out

Thin film observed within 2 to 3 hrs if eyes were open and within 24 hrs if eyes were covered after death.

Following death, potassium accumulates inside vitreous humor.

The buildup of potassium may be used to estimate the time of death.