Corpse: Nature, Forensics, And The Struggle To Pinpoint Time Of DeathBasic Books, 2001 M10 10 - 288 pages When detectives come upon a murder victim, there's one thing they want to know above all else: When did the victim die? The answer can narrow a group of suspects, make or break an alibi-even assign a name to an unidentified body. But outside the fictional world of murder mysteries, time-of-death determinations have remained infamously elusive, bedeviling forensic pathologists throughout history. Scientists are doing their best to right this situation, using DNA testing and other high-tech investigative methods. But as Jessica Snyder Sachs argues in Corpse, this is one case in which nature might just trump technology: plants, chemicals, and insects found near the body are turning out to be the fiercest weapons in our crime-fighting arsenal. In this highly original book, Sachs accompanies an eccentric group of entomologists, anthropologists, and botanists-a new kind of biological "Mod Squad"-on some of their grisliest, most intractable cases. She also takes us into the courtroom, where "post-O.J." forensic science as a whole is coming under fire and the new multidisciplinary art of forensic ecology is struggling to establish its credibility. Corpse is the fascinating story of the 2000year-old search to pinpoint time of death. It is also the terrible and beautiful story of what happens to our bodies when we die. |
Contents
Prologue I | 1 |
The Body Handlers II | 11 |
Reasonable Doubt | 27 |
Copyright | |
12 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Corpse: Nature, Forensics, And The Struggle To Pinpoint Time Of Death Jessica Snyder Sachs No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
acids algor mortis arrived autopsy bacteria Bass Bass's beetles began beneath Bernard Knight black blow blow flies Bock body Body Farm bones botanists bugs Byrd cadavers carcasses Catts cells Celsius century chemical collected coroner corpse courtroom crime lab dead death investigation decay decomposition degrees detective disappeared early eggs estimate field flesh flies forensic anthropologists forensic entomologists forensic pathologists forensic science Goff graduate students Greenberg growth Hall Hall's Haskell homicide investigation hours after death human identified insects instars jury knew laboratory larvae maggots markers medical examiner Meek Mégnin months morgue morning murder muscle Neyland Stadium Norris Payne pigs plant police postmortem clock postmortem interval professor proved pulled pupal quickly Redi remains rigor Rodriguez Sabrosky scene scientific screwworm skeletons skin soil species specimens stage studies summer temperature time-of-death tiny tion tissue tree University Vass Vass's victim vitreous humor weather weeks witness
References to this book
The Forensic Mission: Investigate Forensic Science Through a Killer Mystery! E. K. Hein No preview available - 2007 |