[...]... slipped off the feet If this occurs on the hands, identification could be made with only the slipped-off skin because the fingerprints are on the skin FIGURE 1.25 Notice the difference between the skin of the hand and the rest of the body This man drowned, leaving the skin of the hands (and feet) wrinkled, in contrast to the skin on the remainder of the body See next photo FIGURE 1.27 This 22-year-old... markedly swollen and discolored Initially, he could be mistaken for an African-American man FIGURE 1.26 A close-up view of the hand shows the dramatic wrinkling of the skin Had the person been in the water longer, the skin might have easily slipped off like a glove FIGURE 1.28 As decomposition continues, the tissues and organs on the inside of the body begin to look the same in color See next photo ©... decompose along with the rest of the body or they will become destroyed if the body is burned X-rays The location of antemortem X-rays does not ensure a positive identification can be made There may not be enough points of variation allowing the radiologist to render a conclusive opinion A presumptive identification can be made if the X-rays are consistent with those of the decedent, and there is no... contusion The age of a contusion is difficult to determine because of the great variability of a body’s reaction to trauma People with blood disorders and liver disease may develop more severe contusions than healthy individuals As healing occurs, a contusion changes color from blue or red, to red-blue, to green, to brown, and finally yellow These color changes, however, may appear out of order and may... 11/18/2001 11:08 AM Page 10 FIGURE 1.35 The next series of photos are of a man shot in the back of the head and buried He was discovered six months after burial See next photo FIGURE 1.34 This is another example of asymmetrical decomposition The exposed head is much more decomposed than the rest of the body, which is in the sleeping bag FIGURE 1.36 Much of the surrounding dirt accompanied the body The blanket... be that of an African-American man who was shot in the abdomen during a barroom brawl In order to prosecute the assailant, a positive I.D needed to be made See next photo © 2000 CRC Press LLC FIGURE 2.15 An examination of the skull revealed black curly hair and the jaw of a man The teeth appeared as though no dentist had ever worked on them The findings were consistent with those of an African-American... next photo FIGURE 2.19 An X-ray of the pelvis revealed bullet fragments These were surrounded by scar tissue, indicating the man had been shot before See next photo FIGURE 2.18 A postmortem X-ray revealed a bullet (arrow) next to the spine The man had recently been shot because examination revealed no scar tissue around the bullet See next photo FIGURE 2.20 An eight-year-old X-ray from the probable victim... been X-rayed No bullets were discovered FIGURE 1.38 The skeleton was complete except for the head Many of the facial fragments were lost at the time of the shooting The man was wearing red shoes, shorts, and a shirt which were used in the identification See next photo © 2000 CRC Press LLC FIGURE 1.37 There was no soft tissue remaining A dentist was asked to look through all of the bone fragments of the... cutting injury A laceration usually has bridges of tissue con necting one side of the wound to the other Cutting and incised wounds have no tissue bridges because a sharp object cuts the wound cleanly from the top to the bottom of the wound Deaths due to blunt trauma may have some or none of the above external signs of trauma This is particularly true of fatal blows to the abdomen BLUNT HEAD TRAUMA... the dental chart for identification There are numerous points of positive matches (arrows) in this case FIGURE 2.10 Further examination of the hand and the X-ray revealed the specimen to be a bear paw A local taxidermist threw the specimen in the dumpster © 2000 CRC Press LLC FIGURE 2.11 In charred bodies, most of the skin may be burned off the bone and only the saw is needed to remove the mandible . y0 w0 h2" alt="" FORENSIC PATHOLOGY COLOR ATLAS of by Jay Dix Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C. CRC Press © 2000 CRC Press LLC Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Catalog. works International Standard Book Number 0-8 49 3-0 27 8-1 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Printed on acid-free paper © 2000 CRC Press LLC PREFACE This atlas is intended for those individuals. day-to-day basis. The reader will hopefully gain some insight in the many different types of causes of deaths we deal with and how the manners (accident, homicide, suicide, and nat- ural) of