A SCREAM FROM THE PAST: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH IN A CONCEALMENT OF A CORPSE FOUND MUMMIFIED.
ABSTRACT
When a mummified body is found, the forensic pathologist must perform a careful evaluation of all the available data, since the manner of death could be related to suicide, homicide or concealment of a corpse. The mummified body of an old man was found walled in a masonry ledge in a silicon-sealed bedroom, in a semi-supine position with the back on the floor and the legs on the wall. Two plastic bags covered the body. Once removed the plastic bags, the body was entirely wrapped in a brown adhesive tape. At the scene, there was no evidence of microfauna. The son of the subject stated that after the father’s death, he concealed the…show more content… During the mummification the water is drove off from tissues, preventing the bacterial putrefaction. Mummified soft tissues are dry and leathery and often gray-yellow to brown in color, and are sealed to the bone tissues. Internal organs are decreased in size but preserve their shapes and structures, allowing to study it through histological samples after specific procedures.
Mummification commonly occurs in a dry environment, preferably with a moving air current, which is usually, but not exclusively, a warm place, and in a peculiar degree of environmental oxygenation. However, low body weight, state of malnutrition, dehydration, bleeding processes, and skin injuries such as abrasions and burns can facilitate the development of mummification. The action of specific molds in mummified bodies is also stressed in literature [2]. Children and elderly men bodies are more susceptible to mummification, due to the thin skin and the tissue dehydration [3,4].
The process of artificial mummification was used for millennia worldwide in order to preserve the bodies and, based on religious beliefs, to allow them to get to the…show more content… A. Mekota, M. Vermehren. Determination of optimal rehydration, fixation and staining methods for histological and immunohistochemical analysis of mummified soft tissues. Biotech Histochem 2005;80(1):7–13.
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