Using cadaver temperatures to estimate time of death: A case-specific numerical approach

Abstract

A new approach is taken to estimating the time of death based on cadaver temperatures. The predictions are obtained by using numerical simulation that can be performed in a case-by-case scenario. Such a method enables time-of-death predictions for persons of any size and weight and in any thermal environment. An added advantage of the method is that it is not dependent upon an identification of the individual tissue layers and regions. Rather, a homogeneous tissue model is used, and the results that are obtained agree closely with the results of prior estimation methods and also with a prior published case study. Among the results presented in this study are various convective environments in both air and water (or a combination for a partially submerged body). The orientation of the body (face down vs face up) is investigated. It is found that when a body is face up, its body core temperature is more responsive to the ambient conditions, compared with a face-down orientation, at least for some partial-submergence depths. The method disclosed here can also be used to handle situations, where the environmental conditions are changing (such as diurnal temperature variations, variation in cloudy or sunny skies, etc.). Current nomogram methods are not able to handle such timewise variations.