Citation

Komar D, Beattie O. J. Forensic Sci. 1998; 43(4): 792-796.

Affiliation

Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9670501

Abstract

Determination of perimortem sexual assault can be confounded in homicide cases in which only badly decomposed or skeletal remains are recovered. One indicator of assault is a characteristic pattern of clothing disarray, including tearing, removal, or displacement of clothing. Preliminary findings from two studies of clothed pig carrion of approximate human size (59 to 162 kg) reveal that postmortem insect activity, particularly maggot masses, and natural decompositional changes such as bloating can produce changes to clothing which mirror those seen in cases of sexual assault.

Language: en