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Decomposition - is the process whereby bodily tissues are broken down into smaller molecules after death. The physical and chemical properties observed during decay are categorized into five stages: (1) fresh, (2) putrefaction, (3) black putrefaction, (4) butyric fermentation, and (5) dry decay

Time of Death

General factors used to estimate time of death are:

Body temperature, rigor mortis, postmortem lividity, appearance of the eyes, stomach contents, stage of decomposition and evidence suggesting a change in the victim’s normal routine.

Body Temperature:

• drops 2 to 3 degrees in the first hour after death; and 1 to 1.5 degrees for each subsequent hour up to 18 hours

Rigor Mortis:

• appears in the head 5 to 6 hours after death; in the upper body after about 12 hours; and in the entire body after about 18 hours.
• after about 36 hours, rigor mortis usually disappears in the same sequence that it appeared. 
• any weapon tightly clenched in the victim’s hand as a result of cadaveric spasm indicates suicide rather than murder

Postmortem Lividity:

• starts one half to 3 hours after death and is congealed in the capillaries in 4 to 5 hours
• maximum lividity occurs within 10 to 12 hours
• the location of lividity can indicate whether a body was moved after death

Eyes:

• partial constriction of the pupil occurs in about 7 hours
• in 12 hours, the cornea appears cloudy

Stomach Contents:

• the investigator should determine when and what the victim last ate - if any vomit is present, it should be preserved as evidence and submitted for examination

Water:

• a dead body usually sinks in water and remains immersed for 8 to 10 days in warm water, or 2 to 3 weeks in cold water - it them rises to the surface if not restricted
• the outer skin loosens in 5 to 6 days, and the nails separate in 2 to 3 weeks

Flies and Human Decomposition

A human body provides sustenance and a great place for insects to lay eggs. A fly trying to find its way in this crazy, mixed-up world can eat well on a corpse, and then lay up to 300 eggs upon it that will hatch within a day.

Maggots — the larvae that emerge from these eggs — are extremely efficient and thorough flesh-eaters. Starting on the outside of the body where they hatched, maggots use mouth hooks to scoop up the fluids oozing out of the corpse. Within a day’s time, the maggots will have entered the second stage of their larval lives, as well as burrowing into the corpse.

Moving around as a social mass, maggots feed on decaying flesh and spread enzymes that help turn the body into delectable goo. The breathing mechanism of a maggot is located on the opposite end of its mouth, enabling it to simultaneously eat and breathe without interruption around the clock. While a first-stage larva is about 2 millimeters long, by the time it exits the third stage and leaves the body as a prepupa, it may be as large as 20 millimeters — 10 times its initial length. Maggots can consume up to 60 percent of a human body in under seven days

ramirezdahmerbundy:

Kenneth Erskine is an English serial killer who became known as the Stockwell Strangler. During 1986, Erskine murdered as many as 11 elderly men and women, breaking into their homes and strangling them; most often they were sexually assaulted. The crimes took place in the Stockwell area of London. A homeless drifter and solvent abuser, Erskine was 24 years old when he committed the crimes, but had the mental age of a 12-year-old. He was convicted of seven murders, although police believe that he was responsible for four other murders with which he was never charged. Erskine was jailed for a minimum term of 40 years, but has since been found to be suffering from mental disorder within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1983, and is therefore now held at the maximum security Broadmoor Hospital. He is unlikely to be freed until at least 2028 and the age of 66. Almost 20 years on, the trial judge’s recommendation is still one of the heaviest ever handed out in British legal history. In February 1996 Erskine was again in the news, this time for preventing the possible murder of Peter Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper”, by raising the alarm as a fellow inmate, Paul Wilson, attempted to strangle Sutcliffe with the flex from a pair of stereo headphones

ramirezdahmerbundy:

According to Colombian police, Luis Alfredo Garavito is a glib predator and a “solitary sadist” who stands accused as one of the world’s worst serial killers. In 1999, Garavito, a 42-year-old drifter, confessed to the slayings of at least 140 boys between the ages of 8 and 16 during a 5-year killing spree. Garavito would befriend the children and take them on long walks until they were tired. Then he would tie them up with nylon rope, slit their throats or behead them, and then bury their bodies. Most of Garavito’s victims were street children, children from poor families, or children seperated from their parents by poverty or political violence. Authorities said it was beacause there was no one to notice that the children were missing or to inquire about their whereabouts that Garavito was able to go on killing for so long without being detected.

serial-killers-101:

“I hate most prostitutes. I did not want to pay them for sex. I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing.”

-Gary Ridgway

ramirezdahmerbundy:

Organised serial killers have a tendency to:

• Plan their crime carefully, giving thought to escape routes and body disposal

• Carefully select and stalk their victims

• Prefer strangers as victims

• Engage in controlled conversation with the victim

• Capture their victims, kill them, and dispose of their bodies at separate locations

• Use restraints, often bringing them to the crime scene

• Come prepared with weapons

• Commit sexual offences with a living victim

• Attempt to extensively control the victim through manipulation or threats, and desire a show of fear from their victim

• Use a vehicle

• Commit their crimes far away from their residence

• Study police investigation techniques

• Become more proficient in the commission of their crime with time

Human Death and Decay

• when your heart stops beating, your body’s cells and tissues stop receiving oxygen. Brain cells are the first to die — usually within three to seven minutes Bone and skin cells, though, will survive for several days.)
• Blood begins draining from the capillaries, pooling in lower-lying portions of the body, creating a pale appearance in some places and a darker appearance in others.
• About three hours after death, rigor mortis — a stiffening of muscles — sets in. 
• Around 12 hours after death, the body will feel cool, and within 24 hours (depending on body fat and external temperatures), it will lose all internal heat in a process called algor mortis. 
• The muscle tissue begins to lose its stiffness after about 36 hours, and within about 72 hours of dying, the body’s rigor mortis will subside.
• As the cells die, bacteria within the body begin breaking them down. Enzymes in the pancreas cause the organ to digest itself. The body soon takes on a gruesome appearance and smell. 
• Decomposing tissue emits a green substance, as well as gasses such as methane and hydrogen sulfide.
• The lungs expel fluid through the mouth and nose.
• Insects and animals certainly take notice of all this. A human body provides sustenance and a great place for insects to lay eggs. A fly trying to find its way in this crazy, mixed-up world can eat well on a corpse, and then lay up to 300 eggs upon it that will hatch within a day.

The environment in which a dead body is placed also affects its rate of decay. For instance, bodies in water decompose twice as fast as those left unburied on land. Decomposition is slowest underground — especially in clay or other solid substances that prevent air from reaching the body since most bacteria require oxygen to survive.

Rigor Mortis (latin: stiffness after death)

Caused by a chemical reaction in the muscles after death

a good determination of the time of death - it begins a few hours post-mortem, reaches it’s maximum at about 12 hours, and then gradually decreased for about 3 days. Environmental factors, such as temperature, can speed up or slow down the process.

Forensic Entomology

Forensic Entomology is the use of the insects, and their arthropod relatives that inhabit decomposing remains to aid legal investigations.  The broad field of forensic entomology is commonly broken down into three general areas: medicolegal, urban, and stored product pests.  The medicolegal section focuses on the criminal component of the legal system and deals with the necrophagous (or carrion) feeding insects that typically infest human remains. The urban aspect deals with the insects that affect man and his immediate environment. This area has both criminal and civil components as urban pests may feed on both the living and the dead. The damage caused by their mandibles (or mouthparts) as they feed can produce markings and wounds on the skin that may be misinterpreted as prior abuse. Urban pests are of great economic importance and the forensic entomologist may become involved in civil proceedings over monetary damages.

http://www.forensicentomology.com/definition.htm

Human Death and Decay

• when your heart stops beating, your body’s cells and tissues stop receiving oxygen. Brain cells are the first to die — usually within three to seven minutes Bone and skin cells, though, will survive for several days.)
• Blood begins draining from the capillaries, pooling in lower-lying portions of the body, creating a pale appearance in some places and a darker appearance in others.
• About three hours after death, rigor mortis — a stiffening of muscles — sets in. 
• Around 12 hours after death, the body will feel cool, and within 24 hours (depending on body fat and external temperatures), it will lose all internal heat in a process called algor mortis. 
• The muscle tissue begins to lose its stiffness after about 36 hours, and within about 72 hours of dying, the body’s rigor mortis will subside.
• As the cells die, bacteria within the body begin breaking them down. Enzymes in the pancreas cause the organ to digest itself. The body soon takes on a gruesome appearance and smell. 
• Decomposing tissue emits a green substance, as well as gasses such as methane and hydrogen sulfide.
• The lungs expel fluid through the mouth and nose.
• Insects and animals certainly take notice of all this. A human body provides sustenance and a great place for insects to lay eggs. A fly trying to find its way in this crazy, mixed-up world can eat well on a corpse, and then lay up to 300 eggs upon it that will hatch within a day.

The environment in which a dead body is placed also affects its rate of decay. For instance, bodies in water decompose twice as fast as those left unburied on land. Decomposition is slowest underground — especially in clay or other solid substances that prevent air from reaching the body since most bacteria require oxygen to survive.

(Source: criminalprofiler)