According to new research, the dead don’t always rest in peace … literally. A team of scientists from the Central University of Queensland in Rockhampton (Australia) studying the process of decomposition in a body after death from natural causes, has discovered that, without any external “help”, human remains can change their position . This discovery has important implications for forensic science.
Forensic scientists often assume that the position in which they find a body is that in which the person was at the time of death, unless there is evidence that external factors, such as scavengers or people, have altered the Body. However, the new study led by researcher Alyson Wilson suggests that the human body may be somewhat restless after death.
This discovery, published in the journal Forensic Science International: Synergy , is related to a larger project, regarding the use of time-lapse imaging techniques to estimate the time since death.
Corpse farm in Australia
For the investigation, the experts had access to a donated human body: “a mature man who died of natural causes.” They recorded the complete decomposition of the body within the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER), the only body farm or corpse farm in Australia ( Body Farm ).
Researchers use such facilities to analyze how human bodies decompose, or remain preserved, under different conditions (as they are places where human bodies decompose in the open). Findings in projects like this often help forensic scientists develop more accurate ways to determine essential information, including the time or place of death, at the crime scene.
Bodies keep changing as they decompose
In this study, the experts made sure that scavengers that could feed on decaying meat could not reach the body, and thus alter their position. They took photos every 30 minutes of the body’s decomposition process for more than 17 months and found that the remains appeared to move on their own.
For example, although they initially placed their arms at the side of the body, at one point, the researchers note , the arms moved and ended up disposed to one side. They did expect some post-mortem movement in the early stages of decomposition, but the fact that it continued throughout that time was a complete surprise.
The authors believe that understanding when such changes are likely to occur during the decomposition process could help forensic scientists provide more accurate estimates of the time of death. It could also, investigators say, help reduce the chance of forensic investigators making incorrect deductions about crime scenes.
“They will map the crime scene, they will map the position of the victim’s body, they will map any physical evidence that is found and they will be able to understand the cause of death, ” Wilson clarifies. “This knowledge could be significant in unexplained death investigations.”
The authors believe this could be the first time anyone has tried to match natural alterations in a body’s position after death with different stages of the decomposition process.
“Once I observed a movement in a previous study, I started doing research and I couldn’t find anywhere in the world that analyzed the quantification of the movement, so I thought, OK, I’m going to do it,” says Wilson.
Since Wilson’s research is the first use of a time-lapse to study human decomposition, this is also the first evidence that the assumption about the position of the body at death may not be true.
Referencia: Evaluating the utility of time-lapse imaging in the estimation of post-mortem interval: An Australian case study. Alyson Wilson, Stanley Serafin, Dilan Seckiner, Rachel Berry, Xanthé Mallettef . Forensic Science International: Synergy Volume 1, 2019, Pages 204-210 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsisyn.2019.08.003
