Definitions of common terms relating to forensic death investigation.
Livor mortis refers to the presentation of blood as it has settled in the body. Depending on the presence and state of livor during the external exam, it may be useful for establishing two key elements of the investigation—postmortem interval and whether or not the body has been moved recently. As soon as a...
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Algor mortis refers to the rate at which a body cools after death. This rate of cooling makes it possible to determine the approximate time of death by counting backwards the number of hours the body appears to have cooled from the time that the temperature was taken. The preferred time window for evaluating...
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I’ve received a few emails and comments asking me to explain some of the terms I have used in recent posts. From now on, I’ll try to do a better of job of providing definitions as I use some of the more “technical� terms pertaining to death investigation. I plan on placing any posts...
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