Chapter 11 Death Investigations

What are the 4 ways deaths can be classified in (the manner of death)

• Natural causes (the most common)

• Accidents

• Suicides

• Homicides

Autoerotic deaths

Involve a SOLO sexual activity gone wrong, where the individual dies as a result of asphyxia

Murder

The willful killing of one person by another

• Most often, homicides occur as a result of an ARGUMENT or the commission of another felony (Felony murders)

PA crime codes

Penalty that has two outcomes after murder

• death

• Life in prison, rest of natural life in jail until you die if you get convicted

What was the cause of death

• Gunshot wounds as a result of firearms

• Cutting wounds

• Stab and Puncture wounds

• Blunt force trauma

• Poisoning

• Asphyxia

gun shot wounds as a result of firearms

• Type of gun or bullet

• Distance

• Entrance & Exit wounds

• GSR

Cutting wounds

involve the slicing of tissue with smooth edges

Stab and puncture wounds

Will present holes in the tissues

Blunt force trauma

characterized by irregular or rough-edge lacerations, bruising, and broken bones

Poisoning

Most often occurs accidentally but can be a result of suicide or drug overdose

Asphyxia

When a person is unable to breathe due to an action or material

• Manual strangulation (with hands)

• Ligature strangulation (such as a rope), hanging 

• Suffocation (smothering)

• Drowning

• Petechial hemorrhaging (from stangulation)

Drug overdoses

Often about determining who supplied the drugs to the victim

Postmortem interval (PMI)

guesses the time of death through the changes a body goes through after death

• Algor mortis

• Livor mortis

• Rigor mortis

• Potassium levels

• The degree of decomposition

• Insect and animal activity

Algor mortis

Refers to the cooling process of the body- loss of heat by a body

Livor mortis (postmortem lividity)

Refers to the blood pooling of body

• after the heart stops beating

Rigor mortis

Refers to the rigidity of the body (12 hours to be fully in rigor mortis)

Potassium levels

in the vitreous humor

Insect and animal activity

An insects presence, stages of development, and contents of their gut is particularly useful

Forensic entomology

is the study of insects and their relation to a criminal investigation, commonly used to estimate the time of death

Autopsy

Information is useful in determining the cause and manner of death