Post Mortem Interval

A cold environment causes algor mortis to occur

• faster

• slower

When a person dies, their body loses heat energy and the temperature of the corpse will decrease until an equilibrium is reached. This is known as ____.

• Rigor Mortis

• Livor Mortis

• Algor Mortis

• Decomposition

If this pattern is found on body and is non-fixed, what is the best estimate on time of death?

• Less than 2 hours

• Between 2 and 8 hours

• More than 8 hours

• 24 hours or more.

A person dies in the position shown. Body temperature estimates PMI to be 10 hours. Which of the following would be true?

• Non-fixed lividity on back, rigor in face and upper body

• Non-fixed lividity on face, peak rigor

• Fixed lividity on face, torso, arms stiffened.

• Non-fixed lividity on back, only legs in rigor.

At a crime scene, a person’s eyes are closed, but upon examination you find the following pattern shown. Based on this, what is PMI?

• 30 minutes

• Over 2 hours

• Between 12 and 18 hours

• 24 hours or more

Mrs. Jackiw’s body was found in the dugout near the softball field after she told some students she was not exempting anyone from finals this year. . Her body was found in peak rigor with a liver temperature of 27°C. She had fixed lividity across the front of the body. Approximately how long ago did she die? Please justify your answer with evidence from the case.

• Less than 2

• 6-8 hours

• 12-15 hours

• 18-24 hours

A corpse was found at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 9, outside on the football field. The air temperature was already 26.7°C. The body exhibited some stiffness in the face and eyelids and had a body temperature of 36.4°C. Livor mortis was not evident on the body and the eyes appear to have no cloudiness. What would you estimate the PMI to be in this case?

• Less than 2 hours

• Between 2-8 hours

• 8-12 hours

• 12-18 hours

If a body cools faster, how do you adjust Post Mortem Interval?

• Increase the time since death.

• Decrease the time since death

• Make no adjustment

If a body temperature is 34.5° C. What is the time since death? (° C X 9/5 +32)

• approximately 1 hour

• approximately 2 hours

• approximately 3 hours

• approximately 4 hours

If a person’s body temperature is 92.5°F when they are discovered, how many hours have them been dead?

• 1 hour 15 minutes

• 2 hours 11 minutes

• 3 hours 47 minutes

• 4 hours 10 minutes

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS3-4