Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dautartas, Angela
• Kenyhercz, Michael W.
• Vidoli, Giovanna M.
• Meadows Jantz, Lee
• Mundorff, Amy
• Steadman, Dawnie Wolfe

Titel

Differential Decomposition Among Pig, Rabbit, and Human Remains

Ist Teil von

• Journal of forensic sciences, 2018-11, Vol.63 (6), p.1673-1683

Ort / Verlag

United States: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library - AutoHoldings Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• While nonhuman animal remains are often utilized in forensic research to develop methods to estimate the postmortem interval, systematic studies that directly validate animals as proxies for human decomposition are lacking. The current project compared decomposition rates among pigs, rabbits, and humans at the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility across three seasonal trials that spanned nearly 2 years. The Total Body Score (TBS) method was applied to quantify decomposition changes and calculate the postmortem interval (PMI) in accumulated degree days (ADD). Decomposition trajectories were analyzed by comparing the estimated and actual ADD for each seasonal trial and by fuzzy cluster analysis. The cluster analysis demonstrated that the rabbits formed one group while pigs and humans, although more similar to each other than either to rabbits, still showed important differences in decomposition patterns. The decomposition trends show that neither nonhuman model captured the pattern, rate, and variability of human decomposition.