Introduction:

When you discover a body, one of the first thing that an investigator (forense) has
to do is to determine the time of dead using different indicators like the body
temperature, the rigor mortis, the change of color of the skin, the aspect of the
eyes, and the contend of the stomach, this factors help us to find the approximate
hour of the death. We are going to find each one of the factors and all these
Lab report When did she died
indicators.

Mr. Nestor
What is forensic
science?
SCIENCE LAB

Forensic Science is any science used for the purposes of the law, and therefore
provides
impartial
evidence
for use in thede
courts
of law, e.g.
in a criminal
Centro
de scientific
Investigacin
y Desarrollo
Educacin
Bilinge
investigation and trial. Forensic Science is a multidisciplinary subject, drawing
principally from chemistry and biology, but also physics, geology, psychology,
social science, etc.
In a typical criminal investigation crime scene investigators, sometimes known
as scenes-of-crime-officers(SOCO's), will gather material evidence from the
crime scene, victim and/or suspect. Forensic scientists will examine these
materials to provide scientific evidence to assist in the investigation and court
proceedings, and thus work closely with the police. Senior forensic scientists, who
usually specialise in one or more of the key forensic disciplines, may be required to
attend crime scenes or give evidence in court as impartial expert witnesses.
Examples of forensic science include the use of gas chromatography to identify
seized drugs, DNA profiling to help identify a murder suspect from a bloodstain
Team:found at the crime scene, and laser Raman spectroscopy to identify microscopic
paint fragments.

Yackeline Pequeo Nio #1746040

Forensic science is a subject that fascinates most of us. What makes forensic

Susana
CantsoMeza
#1725378
science
exciting
to study is the nature of the problems to be solved, and this
provides its own intrinsic rewards. Great emphasis is placed not only on developing

Katya Yissel
Leal Saldvar #1724730
the skills of forensic examination, but also on their application and on the
Fanny Alfano Peralescommunication of findings to the lay-person.

Forensic science is a rigorous scientific discipline, and as such its graduates are
highly employable individuals possessing the knowledge and skills for both subjectrelated employment, such as in a forensic laboratory, or non-subject-related
employment in a wider range of careers.

What is forensic entomology?

Forensic Entomology is the use of the insects, and their arthropod relatives that
inhabit decomposing remains to aid legal investigations. The broad field of
forensic entomology is commonly broken down into three general areas:
medicolegal, urban, and stored product pests. The medicolegal section focuses on
the criminal component of the legal system and deals with the necrophagous (or
carrion) feeding insects that typically infest human remains. The urban aspect
deals with the insects that affect man and his immediate environment. This area
has both criminal and civil components as urban pests may feed on both the living
and the dead. The damage caused by their mandibles (or mouthparts) as they feed
can produce markings and wounds on the skin that may be misinterpreted as prior
abuse. Urban pests are of great economic importance and the forensic
entomologist may become involved in civil proceedings over monetary damages.
Lastly, stored product insects are commonly found in foodstuffs and the forensic
entomologist may serve as an expert witness during both criminal and civil
proceedings involving food contamination.

Five factors to determine the time of death:

Body temperature.

When a person died, the body starts to cool immediately. The firsts 12 hours the
body temperature starts to decrease 0.75C per hour. After 12 hours, the body
temperature decrease 0.4C per hour until it reaches the temperature of the
environment. This factor is affected by some reasons:
1. Air temperature: the body temperature will decrease more quickly if it is a
cold night that if it is a warm day.
2. Body fat: a fat person will decrease its body temperature slowly.
3. Cloths: warm clothes slow the cold of a body.
4. Water: if a person if under the water, its body will cold quickly.

Rigor mortis

It is caused by chemical changes in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of
the corpse to stiffen after death. It starts in the face and neck and it goes down the
body. Between 24 and 28 hours the body the body becomes soft again.

Livor mortis

Within the first 1 to 2 hours after death, the red blood cells (RBCs) and burst settle
within tissues leaving purple marks that can turn yellow due to the breakdown of
hemoglobin. Lividness definitively fixing the tissue, between 6 and 8 hours after
death. If the skin appears discolored but turns white when touched, this means that
the lividity not been definitively established, which leads to the death happened in a
not less than two hours and not more than 10 range.

Eyes

If the eyes are open at the time of death, a thin layer of tissue in them because
they are drying appears. This process occurs within approximately 2 to 3 hours
after death; however if the eyes are closed after death, the process will take much
longer (about 24 hours).

Stomach contents

The process of digestion begins in the stomach and this takes 4 to 6 hours to
empty its contents into the small intestine. After that, it takes about 12 hours for
food to leave the small intestine. As a general rule we are:
o Undigested food in the stomach. Death occurred in less than two hours after
the meal period.
o Empty stomach. Death occurred between 4 and 6 hours after eating.
o Empty small intestine. The death occurred 12 hours after eating.

Problem:
Female victim found in his home at 10:00 am Saturday, his sister, with which it would be
assumed to run. Sister quickly called the police to report the incident and the police called
us. Upon arriving we noticed the following:
The victim was lying face down at the foot of the stairs, his head at the opposite
end to the stairs. The sister of the victim indicated that this was still wearing the
clothes he wore the night before at dinner.
The victim has no pulse.
The body was cold to the touch, but the internal temperature, which was taken at
10:30 am, was 27 C, while the room temperature was 20 C.
His neck was broken and apparently appeared to have suffered head injuries.
She had bruises on the front of your shoulders and neck, dwelling not change color
when touched.
His body was stiff.
The victim's eyes were open and covered with a thin layer or membrane.

Notes: The victim had dined with his sister at 7:00 pm last night (Friday night). During
dinner they had agreed to meet at the home of the victim on Saturday morning (at 10 am)
for jogging. Sister back at 11pm but did not know with certainty the time that the victim had
returned home. The neighbors did not mention having seen the victim go home.
When performing an autopsy on the victim one day later, you notice that this died from a
broken neck with subsequent fracture choking back. The average victim 5 feet 8 inches
and weighed 130 pounds, his stomach was empty and his small intestine was full. Our job
is to discover and give the police the time of death.

Materials:
-Ruler

-Calculator
-Graphic paper
-Conversion table of measures and money

Procedure:
-Analyze the data of the problem
-Make a chart in which you register how much will change the temperature after
the death until 24 hours later
-On the graphic paper, elaborate a graphic of temperature vs time after the death
-Deduce basing on the temperature the time of death
-Deduce trough observation of rigor mortis the time of death
-Deduce trough observation of livor mortis the time of death
-Deduce through the eyes appearance the time of death
-Deduce trough the exam of the digestive system the time of death
-Basing on the evidence, estimate the rime of death and if the person died for an
accident or not

Results:
1- Based on the previous information about the average decrease of the
temperature after the death, calculate the body temperature for each hour
after the death and until 24 hours later.
Hours

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Body
temperature
(C)
36.25
35.5
34.75
34.00
33.25
32.5
31.75
31.00

Hours

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Body
temperature
(C)
30.25
29.5
28.75
28.00
27.6
27.2
26.8
26.4

Hours

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

Body
temperature
(C)
26.00
25.6
25.2
24.8
24.4
24.00
23.6
23.2

Use or application:
Because the work of a forensic scientist is intended to be used in court and
because scientific evidence can be very powerful, the forensic scientist must be
accurate, methodical, detailed, and above all, unbiased. The ability to keep
detailed notes and to write clear, concise, and accurate reports is vital. With the
development of this practice, we improved this kind of abilities, the ones that
will be pretty useful along our life.
It is important to emphasize that to qualify as an expert witness, the forensic
scientist must have a solid, documented background of education, training, and
experience in the scientific discipline used to conduct the examinations, testing,
or analyses about which the forensic scientist wants to testify.
Also, this practice is important because, probably all of us are going to need
this information in case of an accident, not only people related with forensic
science.

Conclusion:
The temperature of the body, rigor mortis, livor mortis, eyes appearance and
digestive system are very important on forensic science, because through them we
can know a lot of things after someones death.

Bibliography:
LEGAL INVESTIGATIONS. (s.f.). Recuperado el 14 de 05 de 2015, de LEGAL
INVESTIGATIONS: http://www.forensicentomology.com/definition.htm
STAFORDSHIRE. (s.f.). Recuperado el 15 de 05 de 2015, de STAFORDSHIRE:
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/sciences/forensic/whatisforsci/whatisforensicsci/
(18 de 05 de 2015). Obtenido de http://www.aafs.org/students/student-career/what-doforensic-scientists-do