Forensic Research & Technology

Biography

Biography: Stephanie Giles

Abstract

Current methods to estimate the time since death focus heavily on indicators of early decomposition and have proved fairly accurate at estimating the time-since death in the early post-mortem period under experimental conditions. Translation of these methods into forensic practice has proved difficult and as it stands there is no standard methodology to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI) for forensic investigators to use when they encounter decomposed remains at unexplained death scenes. This study used photographs and daily recordings to assess the early to moderate decomposition states of 13 cadavers placed at varying time intervals between July and October 2015 at the Anthropology Research Facility at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Preliminary results suggest that variability in the decay rate is dependent on both accumulated-degree days and intrinsic body factors. These findings assisted in the development of the Giles-Harrison (GH) Decomposition Scale which can be used by forensic investigators to assist in their estimation of the PMI when dealing with early to moderate decomposed remains.