U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Using Accumulated Degree-Days to Estimate the Postmortem Interval From Decomposed Human Remains

NCJ Number
209752
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 50 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2005 Pages: 618-626
Author(s)
Mary S. Megyesi M.Sc.; Stephen P. Nawrocki Ph.D.; Neal H. Haskell Ph.D.
Date Published
May 2005
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This preliminary study describes a method of accurately estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) from decomposing human remains.
Abstract
The state of decomposition of human remains is often used by forensic anthropologists to estimate the PMI. In homicide cases, accurately determining the PMI is important to investigations because the PMI could lead investigators to certain suspects. The current study explored a supplemental method of estimating the PMI based on scoring decomposing remains using a point-based system while taking into account temperatures affecting the remains. Sixty-eight human remains cases in which the date of death was known were scored for decomposition using a modified Galloway et al. method and regression equations were estimated to predict accumulated degree-days (ADD) from the decomposition score. Temperature data was collected for each case from the nearest National Weather Service Station. Results indicated that more than 80 percent of the observed variation in human decomposition could be accounted for by the combination of elapsed time and temperature. Future studies should control for other factors such as sunlight, humidity, and rainfall. Tables, figures, references

Downloads

No download available

Availability