[Studies on the estimation of the postmortem interval 7. Cadavers in the water and privy (author's transl)]

Abstract

The authors have investigated 17 kinds of findings of 34 cadavers in the water and 17 newborn-infant cadavers in liquid feces-urine mixture in privies which had remained at known postmortem interval and had been subjected to medico-legal autopsies in our laboratory. The conclusions are as follows: The progress of the cadaveric phenomena in the water and liquid feces-urine mixture is slower than in the air. The time ratio of the progress of the phenomena in the media to those in the air is not the same for all kinds of the findings, and hence it is not possible to apply the criterion of the estimation of the postmortem interval for the cadavers in the air to those in the water and liquid feces-urine mixture by any correction.