Journal
LEGAL MEDICINE
Volume 18, Issue -, Pages 49-51Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2015.12.003
Keywords
Adipocere; Water quality; Water temperature; pH; Oxygen content
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A car containing a male corpse with complete adipocere formation was found at the bottom of a lake. The deceased had presumably driven into the lake 7 years earlier. The surface of the deceased was unusually hard and firm like a gypsum board, and the entire internal viscera had turned into adipocere. Since the time required for adipocerous changes depends largely on environmental conditions, we considered the key conditions, namely, water temperature, pH, and oxygen content. In our case, cold, acidic water may have delayed adipocere formation, thus necessitating a long period of time for completeness. On the other hand, anoxic conditions and the peculiar environment of a lake bottom presumably contributed to complete adipocere formation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available