Section 8.1 Flashcards
Who are they? Why are they dead? A lot harder than you think to?
identify the victim
Almost never are you going to get the exact time unless you get a video with a time stamp. What does this refer to?
Time of death
Sometime between 2 am and midnight. The range will be narrower or wider depending on the information you have. True or False
True
Ultimate authority is the ME or the corner
Establish a cause and method of death
who did it?
identify a suspect
Example, if they have been shot once in the chest and they still have their ID it can be a pretty positive ID. Loved ones still come in and identify assuming we have a guess who the body is. This refers to what?
Identification is harder than you think
If we have no clue who the person is we can look for other personal affects. True or False
True
Unidentified bodies DNA and is still used sometimes today if the body is decomposed or burned beyond recognition.
Dental
The ______ outside of some traumas are going to stay the same and you can have an idea of who the person is.
Teeth
You compare dental x-rays from the body with x-rays that were taken prior to their death and that can be matched up. True or False
True
Big deal but sometimes you do not have DNA. We get DNA but it does not match any databases. Great tool but not be all end all. True or False
True
Only have so many people’s ________ on file.
fingerprints
Maybe their hands have been decomposed, burned, acid, in the water for a long time and their _______ have not been maintained.
fingerprints
Surgery scar, tattoos and pictures where you are showing them, birthmarks.
okay
If you find a body you could quickly tell that it was not Kevin or is Kevin. Hight is used to narrow it down. What does this refer to?
Bones can provide class
Example, height, gender can be told by what?
bones
You can tell in the bones of people if their have been more growth from a repeated act. True or False
True
Dead body that was fresh found it was 5,000 years old because the bones there was an arrow in one of the ribs. True or False
True
Important and you need to know about every victim. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
- name
- age
- sex
- nationality
- type and place of work
Know who they spend time with and enemies who might have a motive to kill them. This refers to what?
Family members, friends, and enemies
Example, manager and just fired someone you might need to look into that. True or False
True
Everything from work schedule, when they eat dinner, do they watch baseball all the time. This refers to what?
Habits
Can be important for establishing the time of death.
Habits
If you find a body and it has been weeks or months and you are not sure when the body was killed you can look at what they missed and if the TV was on a certain channel. This refers to what?
Habits
Domestic violence is a huge cause of early death among women. Domestic violence can be committed by anyone of any gender. What does this refer to?
romantic relationships
If there religion says suicide is bad they might have paid someone to kill them. If their business is bad, they might have staged their suicide to look like murder to get insurance money. This refers to what?
Religious, political, business (about the victim)
Always important when identifying the witness is their criminal history. True or False
True
Whoever their normal everyday DR. is to see if they have a new recent diagnosis that could have caused suicide. This is someone who may have information about the witness. True or False
True
Almost never get a ___ ___ _____ where it is 11:47 PM. (99% of the time it is going to be a range. It could be hours, days, weeks, or years.
Time of death
The period of time between the person dying and their corpse being discovered and the investigation being started is called the what?
Post mortem interval
Example, someone gets shot and killed in the middle of times square the time of death and the time of reporting is going to be the same. True or False
True
Example, calls of shots fired and the police watch them die after they have been shot we can get the time of death really accurate and the ___ _____ _____ is very known.
Post mortum interval
More often you get someone who has not talked to their mom in weeks and they find her dead. At first all they know it was within weeks since the kid talked to the mom. The ____ ______ ______ is not clear.
post mortum interval
Evidence we find on or in the body.
Corporal evidence
Evidence which is evidence of death other than the body.
Associative or environmental evidence
Is there a difference between corporal evidence and associative evidence?
Yes
What is another name for associative evidence?
environmental evidence
Temperature- Algor Mortis
CORPORAL EVIDENCE.
Temperature is also called
Algor Mortis
When you are alive your temp is 98.6. Once you die the thing that produces heat stops. Room temp is 70. The body cools off at a standard rate all other things being equal. True or False
True
Body gets stiff.
Rigor Mortis
When you die your entire body goes through a process of getting stiffer and stiffer. This refers to what?
Rigor Mortis
At some point Rigor Mortis goes away and it will be easy to move again. Knowing how stiff someone is and knowing that bodies get stiffer than less stiff means that you can get the range of death time within hours. True or False
True
A process of your blood and bodily fluids no longer circulating.
Lividity
The blood and fluid in your body would go away without gravity. Happens at a specific rate and makes a mark it looks like bruising. This refers to what?
Lividity
Example, laying on stomach anywhere the stomach and chest is touching it would not have ________.
lividity
The rate it shows up and is able to see happens at a specific rate.
Lividity
Get cloudy after you die at a certain rate. If you can get a picture of the _____ when the body is discovered you can use that to help determine the time of death.
eyes
Witnesses that say this person ate at this restaurant at 9:50PM. That was the last time anyone saw him alive. Find the body the next day and they check the ______ ________ and find the last meal still in there at a certain rate of digestion how much was digested.
Stomach contents
What does this refer to? Rotting away, Nature loves death. When you die these other things start using you.
Decomposition
Some are tiny microscopic, also big animals will eat. Bacteria indoors will eat away at the body. If you find a body at a certain time of decomposition you can get a rough estimate of what?
how long ago they died
Rigor Mortis
Corporal evidence
Lividity
corporal evidence
Eyes
Corporal evidence
Stomach contents
Corporal evidence
Decompositio n
Corporal evidence
Routine
Associative and environmental evidence
Example, if we find their dinner sitting on the stove having been burnt really bad. They normally eat dinner at 7:30 they were in the middle of cooking and we can estimate the time of death. Based on their what?
Routine
Insects (forensic entomology)
Associative and environmental evidence
Immediately after death the flies show up then the flies lay eggs as part of the process of eating the body and then larva go through stages.Fairly scripted process and you can measure the exact number and type of bug to get a range of how long the body has been there. True or False
true
