Forensic help please: can somebody here tell me whether what’s left of a 5-7 week dead body yield information on the drugs used to kill him?
Forensic help please: can somebody here tell me whether what’s left of a 5-7 week dead body yield information on the drugs used to kill him?
Email your friendly local mortician or police surgeon perhaps? Failing that The body Farm in the US x forensic anthropology research facility Texas.
it depends where they are kept and the temperature for starters.
Long term drug use can be evident in their bones especially cocaine – many factors.
Drop a line to Garry Rogers via his blog – just look him up on Google and say hi from me – he’s an ex-coroner and loves those sorts of questions!
Thanks for sharing this resource, Rachel!
It’s http://www.dyingwords.net/
Thanks Rachel – I’ve emailed him.
Have fun! ?
Rachel – Garry has sent a very helpful reply, and says ‘Hi’ back to you – thank you for the link.
Contact your local histopathology dept at your hospital
I feel they’ve enough on their plates doing their job without me bothering them for information!
@Sandra They’ll probably enjoy helping
I really think so.
Toxicology reports must be done immediately and rarely will drugs stay in the body days later, certainly not weeks.
Thank you Louise – very helpful indeed.
But you could possibly try hair samples. It may show drug usage but not necessarily COD.
Thanks Joy, I’ll bear that in mind too.
Apparently, can show regular/longer term use, but not if administered immediately prior to death.
I thought that might be the case. Useful for a long term poisoning case though.
Well some drugs do stay in the body. There was this doctor Shipman in UK, who killed 218 people. The bodies were exhumed and the drugs were found in the bodies.
I’d be interested to hear Garry’s reply!
In brief, the answer was ‘probably’. Hair a possibility (if it had grown enough after ingestion for some to show) but liver the best bet. Also a possibility drugs would show up in the cadaver-feeding insects. All very useful, and absolutely fascinating.
…and continuing to be useful as I re-write and strengthen a previously-feeble chapter!