Citation

Madea B, Doberentz E. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bonn, Stiftsplatz 12, D-53111, Bonn, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12024-019-00137-y

PMID

31286395

Abstract

We read with great interest the review “Homicide by drowning” [1] which addresses some important points in the investigation of bodies recovered from water. Since we have been dealing with different aspects of bodies recovered from the water for nearly 30 years (estimation of the time since death, appearance of strangulation marks in bodies recovered from water, estimation of duration of immersion, homicide in the bathtub etc.) some additional points shall be addressed.

For the estimation of the time since death in the very early postmortem period the temperature time of death nomogram developed by Henssge or computer programs can be used. Empirical corrective factors for the body weight of the naked body in flowing water are 0.35, in still water 0.5 [2, 3].

For bodies recovered from water a reliable method for estimating the minimum and maximum time in water has been developed more than 50 years ago based on putrefactive changes that are visible either during external examination or...

Language: en