A murderer will always
leave marks of violence on the bodies of their victims,
no matter how hard they try to hide it. During an autopsy,
these marks may be difficult to find if the murder agent
was drugs or poison, but these agents can still be found
through blood tests. On the other end of the scale,
signs that the victim suffered a violent death are immediately
discovered from the external examination.
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During
an autopsy, there may be no external signs that
the victim suffered from a brain haemorrhage.
Brain scans performed during the internal examination
are the only way that a coroner can reveal the
fatal clots that may have been caused by a blow
to the head. Changes in the appearance of skin
colour may also lead to solving the crime, as
some fatal agents have the ability to change the
physical appearance of the body. For example,
carbon
monoxide poisoning can cause the skin to
become pink in colour and smothering and the crushing
of the chest can cause can cause pin sized patches
of bleeding in the face. When many of these pin
sized patches of bleeding occur, it can give the
face a blue appearance.
*The
autopsy tools listed above are commonly used during
internal examinations. Photo courtesy of Ed
Uthman.
Bruising on the skin
occurs when the blood vessels are broken by some form
of hard and forceful contact with the skin, usually
by a blunt object. The shape of the bruise can often
reveal which direction the blow was received from and
the colour of the bruise can indicate how long ago the
injury occurred. As bruising heals, it goes red-purple,
to brown, to green and finally to yellow. Bruising is
not an accurate way of deciding how the victim met their
fate, as interpreting bruising is different in every
person, due to the fact that people bruise at different
rates and bruising continues for a short while after
death. Strangulation
around the neck also leaves significant bruising. The
hands, cords and ropes usually leave a distinct mark
around the neck in the shape of the pattern on the strangling
agent. If the strangling agent is very soft material,
it may leave little or no marks, but the dissection
of the neck area is able to show tissue bruising beneath
the skin.
The shape of a cut in
the skin can show whether the weapon had one or two
cutting edges, while the angle and direction of the
cut can reveal whether a death was accidental or intentional.
For example, committing a suicide would leave a wrist
cut cutting towards the knife carrying hand. Also, the
deepness of the wound can show how much force was used
during the stabbing and can also expose whether the
criminal intended to kill his victim. Cuts present on
the hands can reveal if there was a struggle with a
knife, meaning that the criminal who committed the crime
could also be wounded. Lacerations
on the skin can also provide more information on the
type of weapon used, though it is often inaccurate when
trying to find out the width of the blade as the weapon
may have been moved after the original cut was made.
Gunshot
wounds can provide information on the conditions
surrounding the death, for example, it may rule
out suicide. The size of the wound can act as
a guide to the type of gun and bullets used and
burn marks around the wound can reveal whether
the victim was shot at close range or from further
away. A weapon fired close to the victim makes
*Close
range shots leave gunpowder burns on the inside
of the skull. Photo courtesy of Valeri
Craigle and the Spencer
S. Eccles Health Sciences Library.
a
single large wound, but a weapon fired from far
away leaves a series of individual wounds, provided
several shots were fired. Using these wounds as
evidence, pathologists are able to estimate an
approximate distance between the victim and the
person with the gun and gunpowder samples aid
in identifying the actual gun responsible for
the death.
Burns discovered on
the body could potentially be the cause of death, as
the body may go into shock and die if not treated immediately.
Small burns on the body could be a result of electrocution,
but a lethal dose of electric currant can often cause
severe blistering were the electric currant has first
met the skin. Electrocution occurring in water often
leaves the body unmarked. External injuries can often
reveal internal injuries that may have been the cause
of the fatality. An example of this could be bruising
occurring on the body. The bruising could have been
caused by a blow strong enough to incur fatal internal
bleeds, causing death. Brain damage may be an exception
to this as often a blow to head can leave no marks or
grazes but is strong enough to lead to death by bleeding
in the brain. The same applies to shaken baby syndrome,
whereby a baby's head is violently shaken, causing internal
bleeding in the brain and eventually leads to loss of
life.
Assault leaves telltale
signs such as ruptures, internal bleeding and broken
bones. During an assault, the abdominal organs are most
easily damaged, as the body offers no protection for
these organs, unlike the heart and lungs, which are
protected by the rib cage. Ruptures in the liver and
spleen
cause cuts in the bladder and stomach. The victim usually
dies from internal bleeding into the abdominal cavity
rather than organ failure. Broken bones occur most commonly
in the nose, jaw and ribs as these bones are more fragile,
than, for example the bones in the legs and arms. Although
broken bones appear in both the left and right side
of the body, they are more common on the left, as this
is the side that is raised to fight off a right-handed
attacker.
