Investigations and Psych Profiling

1. Investigations and Psych Profiling WARNING EXTREMELY GRAPHIC MATERIAL Specially prepared for students of Dr. P. Kaplan CJ430 Week 4

2. Criminal InvestigationsPostmortem Change POSTMORTEM CHANGE: LIVOR MORTIS After death, the blood pools in the small blood vessels of the skin, producing a deep purple color in dependent (lower) areas of the body. In areas where the body is in physical contact with the ground, the skin blood vessels are closed by the weight of the body, resulting in blanching (pale white areas) which indicates how the body was positioned.

3. Criminal Investigations POSTMORTEM CHANGE: LIVOR MORTIS When livor mortis forms, blood pools to the lowest points in the body as positioned due to gravity.

4. Criminal Investigations POSTMORTEM CHANGE: LIVOR MORTIS Livor mortis begins to form immediately upon death, as blood collects in vessels (venous stasis). Typically, livor is not apparent for at least 30 minutes to the trained investigator or up to about 2 hours to a novice. Over the first ~12 hours after death, livor becomes more and more prominent.

5. Criminal Investigations POSTMORTEM CHANGE: TARDIEU SPOTS An important distinction to be made is Tardieu spots in the area of the head and neck (arrows) from petechial hemorrhages in the skin resulting from strangulation.

6. Criminal Investigations POSTMORTEM CHANGE: TARDIEU SPOTS As the process of decomposition proceeds, the blood vessels in the skin continue to break down. As this happens, more blood leaks out into the skin.

7. Criminal Investigations POSTMORTEM CHANGE: RIGOR MORTIS Rigor forms as the body is positioned after death and becomes more developed over the next several hours until it becomes full or fixed (i.e. no more rigor can form).

8. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: ENVIRONMENT The environment greatly affects the condition of the body after death. When the temperature is high and/or the environment humid, decomposition occurs more rapidly (blue arrow). When the environment is cool and/or the humidity is low, decomposition is slowed (yellow arrow). Here, both extremes are demonstrated in the same case. Both died at the same time. The male was in the hot, humid attic and the female was in the cool, dry basement.

9. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: MUMMIFICATION In hot, dry environments, the skin tends to lose moisture. The result is drying of the skin to a tough, leathery state. Here, the body was clothed in a T-shirt and panties at the scene

10. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: MUMMIFICATION In an open-air environment with a breeze, direct sunlight tends to dry the skin while wind pushes the moisture away, allowing further drying (mummification) to continue. The exposed areas of the back. INAPPROPRIATE DECOMPOSITION. In the latter, carnivores are attracted to the exposed blood and body fluids at an injury site and feed there in preference to other areas.

11. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: MUMMIFICATION Even in cases where the rest of the body undergoes a “wet” or bloated decomposition, the hands often have drying of the fingers (arrow). The skin becomes leathery and hard. The drying retards decomposition, preserving fingerprints.

12. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: VENOUS MARBLING In hot, moist environments the body undergoes two concurrent processes: Autolysis is the sterile digestion of the body by the natural enzymes already present within the cells. Putrefaction is the breakdown of the body by bacteria. As the bacteria degrade the tissues, hydrogen sulfide gas forms within the blood vessels, resulting in irregular dark blue-black lines (yellow arrows). SKIN SLIPPAGE.

13. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: SKIN SLIP As the body undergoes putrefaction, clear blood tinged fluid-filled blisters (yellow arrows) form on the skin surface, lifting the superficial layers of the skin surface up.

14. Criminal Investigations With even minor surface trauma (such as friction) the blisters may pop, removing the superficial skin layers (red arrow) and exposing the deeper skin layers (white arrow). With time, the exposed skin layers dry with a dull yellow surface and might be confused with a pre-mortem abrasion.

15. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: BLOATING The swelling of the body produced by bacterial action during putrefaction can be extreme. The investigator should be cautious to not over interpret some findings, such as tearing of the clothing due to bloating (yellow arrow), as representing trauma. Note also the skin slip caused by rubbing against the pants fabric (red arrows).

16. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: BLOATING Swelling is often prominent in the face in putrefaction, significantly hindering a visual identification.

17. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: PURGE FLUID Purge fluid (yellow arrow) may soil the undergarments, if worn. In many sudden death cases, there may be perimortem incontinence of feces and urine.

18. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: EXHUMATION Even though embalming and burial slow the decomposition process, the changes still occur – at a much slower rate. Here, the subject has been buried in a dry casket for five years. The skin surfaces are dried and leathery (mummified). Even after cleaning, colonies of fungus remain (red arrows). In this case, the body was autopsied prior to the original burial (incision = blue arrows).

19. Criminal Investigations THERAPY: ARTIFACT Often when a subject is transported to the emergency room, therapeutic artifacts are introduced. A common finding is squared linear abrasions (yellow arrow) on the front and left side of the chest.

20. Criminal Investigations THERAPY: ARTIFACT When a defibrillator is used, plastic sheets (blue arrow) are used to ensure good electrical contact. Electrocardiograph leads (white arrow) are also often present. These are designed to detect natural heart activity and as a result do not have associated skin lesions. All such coverings should be removed to allow inspection of the entire body surface for injuries.

21. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: INSECTS Protected moist areas (arrows) are favored sites for the laying of eggs. These would include the eyes, nose, mouth, and axillae (armpits). The presence of only fly eggs, without adult or larval (maggot) forms suggest an interval of more than several hours but less than a day. The deposition and hatching of eggs depends on the species of fly. All available information should be considered in the estimation of a post-mortem interval; no single factor should be unconditionally considered “the most important.” Caution is the best advice in the estimation of time since death.

22. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: INSECTS This body was found with the pants about the ankles (yellow arrow) and the genitalia was covered by feeding larvae (maggots = blue arrow). Although the circumstances of the body’s discovery were suspicious, this residence was one known for prostitution in exchange for crack cocaine. The larvae had eaten most of the genital area, obscuring identification of any possible pre-mortem trauma. The remainder of the body had no identified trauma. Based on these facts, the cause of death was left undetermined. The insect activity suggests a postmortem interval of approximately a couple of days – this is unique to this area and may represent a different interval than other areas and/or with other fly species.

23. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: INSECTS Adult blow flies (yellow arrows) with larvae (maggots = blue arrow) at the area of the nose. This suggests an interval of a day or two. Samples of both adult and larval forms should be collected as described above (i.e. living and heat-killed samples of both)

24. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: POSITION Certain properties are consistent in all death cases. When insects feed on a body, they begin at areas of easily accessed food – this could be either typical purge fluid or blood from a pre-mortem wound.

25. DECOMPOSITION: ANT BITES Multiple insects may involve the body simultaneously. Fly eggs (blue arrow) and larvae are attracted to orifices and bloody fluid, such as purge. Ants are attracted to exposed areas and, in particular, to blood on the body surface. The result is superficial orange-pink to yellow irregular (geographic) abrasions Criminal Investigations

26. Criminal Investigations EXPOSURE Exposed areas decompose more rapidly than non-exposed areas. Bodies in water decompose at a rate roughly 4-8 times slower than those on land, dependent on the temperature and other environmental conditions. In this case, the body was in a river with the head, right arm, and upper chest exposed; these areas show extreme decomposition with skeletonization (arrows). The remaining (submerged) body is relatively preserved.

27. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: IDENTIFICATIONPersonal items can be used for a circumstantial ID. These might include jewelry, watches, wallets, papers, fingernail polish (arrow), clothing, etc.

28. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: IDENTIFICATION Dental x-rays and records offer an easy form of scientific identification. Here, the pattern of the cavities (yellow arrows) and the different age (blue and white arrows) fillings (amalgams) allows a definitive ID. All identifications require a presumptive identity against which to compare the unknown decedent. Without a presumptive ID, a scientific ID cannot be made.

29. Criminal Investigations DECOMPOSITION: INJURY The decomposed body here has an entry gunshot wound (yellow arrow) to the forehead. Decomposition obscures determination of the range of fire based on the overall gross appearance of the wound. After cleaning, the range was still not readily discernible. Microscopic examination of the edge of the entry revealed the presence of soot and gunpowder particles. Even with the decomposition, the typical “raccoon eyes” hemorrhage (blue arrow) from fractures of the orbital plates over the eyes is readily apparent.

30. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: KNIFE MEASUREMENTS Suspect weapons should be measured to see if they have concordance with the wound(s). The blade length (yellow arrow) correlates to the wound depth (wound track). The blade width (blue arrow) correlates to the wound length. The blade thickness (below) correlates to the wound width. The small unsharp portion of the blade (white arrow) is the RICASSO. Although these blades are serrated, there is no way, unless the blade passes across the skin surface, to determine if a serrated or regular blade caused a wound.

31. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: KNIFE MEASUREMENTS The blade thickness (red arrow) corresponds to the wound width. This is the only wound measurement that is not highly variable, yet it is seldom recorded.

32. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: STAB WOUND Typical stab wound – the penetration into the body is longer than the length of the wound (yellow arrow) on the body surface. This wound has a single sharp edge (blue arrow) and a single blunt edge (white arrow). In addition, the adjacent abrasion (red arrow) is a HILT MARK and corresponds to the edge of the HILT (handle = black arrow).

33. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: INCISION The wound length (yellow arrow) is longer than the wound penetration into the body. The wound width (blue arrow) is of very little help, due to retraction of skin by elastic tissue. The edges are clean-cut as opposed to a laceration where tissues (nerves and blood vessels) BRIDGE (extend across the wound from one side to the other) the wound base. The edges (red arrow) are purple, indicating bleeding occurred. Thus the subject was alive when this wound was inflicted.

34. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: STAB and INCISIONS Here, both stab (yellow arrow) and incised (blue arrows) wounds are present. Often, single sharp force injuries are not immediately lethal; thus there may be movement of the victim, the assailant, the blade, or any combination. The adjacent bruising (red arrows) indicates the victim was alive for all these injuries.

35. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: BLADE Occasionally, the blade (yellow arrow) or a portion thereof will break off within the body. This can be very helpful if a suspect weapon is found because a TOOLMARK ANALYSIS can be performed, matching the portion of blade to the specific weapon.

36. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: STAB and INCISION Stab wound (yellow arrow) with trailing incised wound (blue arrow). The latter occurred as the sharp knife edge was dragged across the skin surface, either on penetration or on removal of the blade from the body. As can be imagined, the blade here was at an acute angle to the skin surface (see below). As such, the length of this wound may not correlate to the blade width. The blade thickness (correlating to the wound width) would remain constant.

37. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: ANGLED/PARTIAL ENTRY If the blade does not penetrate to the full depth, the wound may have varying lengths caused by the same blade. Here, the yellow lines represent varying depths of penetration. Likewise, at varying angles (blue lines), the same blade may cause different wound lengths.

38. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: INCISION Six different wounds all caused by the same knife, demonstrating the marked variation in the appearance of wounds caused by sharp weapons. In particular, incisions (as here) provide minimal to no information about the weapon used to inflict them. Virtually any kind of sharp edge (knife, razor blade, broken glass, etc.) could cause similar wounds to these.

39. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: POSTMORTEM Relatively superficial incision, penetrating to the soft tissues (blue arrow) under the skin. Here, the tissues are yellow, indicating that the victim had negligible or no blood pressure when these two wounds were inflicted. Both were caused by the same weapon

40. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: GAPING WOUNDS Single stab wound (yellow arrow) to chest, penetrating heart. The organs, and especially bone, are less elastic than skin and thus may give more accurate approximations of the knife’s width and thickness. The motion associated with the beating of the heart may cause irregularities of the wound.

41. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: DOG-EAR Single stab to chest, over heart. Note the gaping wound (yellow arrow). When re-approximated, the blunt edge (blue arrow) is apparent. In addition an adjacent abrasion (red arrow), representing a HILT MARK is apparent, indicating the blade penetrated to its maximal depth. The large, oblique segment (white arrows) extending from the stab is a DOG-EAR and indicates movement (twisting) of the blade relative to the victim.

42. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: OVERKILL Multiple wounds, far in excess of those required to kill are termed overkill. Such cases, particularly if to sexually significant areas (genitalia, breasts, buttocks, neck, face, etc.), suggest a sexual element may be involved in the crime. Several broad categories of overkill cases include: sexual sadist (lust killing), intimate relationship (spouse, partner, family, homosexual relationship, etc.), stimulant drugs, and psychiatric condition (esp. schizophrenia).

43. END SESSION 2 Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: CHOP WOUND (Boat Propeller) Chop wounds are a cross between sharp and blunt force wounds – a sharp wound with a dull edge (i.e. propeller, machete, etc.). The edges are relatively sharp and may have marginal abrasion. The parallel series of such injuries (yellow arrows) is characteristic of a propeller.

44. Criminal Investigations SHARP FORCE: DECAPITATION In this case of overkill (see pages 38 top and 44 top), the decedent sustained some 35 sharp force wounds. Here, the neck was cut into the spine, nearly severing the head. Such extreme wounds suggest a particular aggressive and forceful overkill attack.

45. Criminal Investigations That was a quick introduction – Any questions?