Lividity In Autopsy Case Study

To estimate time of death, we can first narrow down the window on the timeline by looking at the stages of rigor mortis and lividity. At the autopsy, it was observed that the victim was in full rigor mortis. The human body is typically in full rigor, or stiffness of the muscles, between 8 to 24 hours after death, during which time the muscles become completely stiff and stay stiff before rigor mortis dissipates (Crowe, n.d.). In this case, it may have been affected in that this process might have slowed slightly due to the ambient environmental temperature at the time of police response to be 62oF. With the body having been found outdoors at 5:30 in the morning, it should be kept in mind that the temperature in the hours prior to this would not have been much different. Post mortem lividity, or liver mortis, is the settling of blood within the body after death and becomes fixed after about twelve hours, though this may happen sooner in cooler temperatures as in this case. Investigators can tell if lividity is “fixed” by pressing on the area; if it does not blanch much if at all, then lividity is fixed. For this victim, fixed lividity was observed on the face and front of the torso. This means the victim was lying face down during the time frame that …show more content…
The victim’s clothing is soiled but not torn. Had there been a lengthy struggle, this would not have been the case. This indicates that the victim was likely there of her own volition and possibly knew her attacker. The assailant struck so quickly and violently that she did not expect it, nor did she have much time to fight back – although she did attempt to do so, as there were indications of such – before her injuries caused her death. Based on lividity, the victim had been left lying face down for several hours following the