By Elaine Viets
Bowls of melting ice cream once helped solve a brutal murder. An entire family – father, mother and two small children – were shot to death at their dinner table. The neighbors heard a commotion and called the police.
When the police arrived, a death investigator determined that the family had finished their main meal, and the mother was dishing out ice cream when the family was shot.
The death investigator photographed the ice cream, and measured how far it had melted in the bowl. Then she bought the same brand of ice cream and timed how long it took for the ice cream to melt in the same type of bowl.
That gave the police a vital clue to the estimated time of death (TOD).
Estimated is the crucial word. It’s nearly impossible to determine the actual time of death, unless the person dies at a hospital or in front of witnesses.
I heard this story about the ice cream when I took the MedicoLegal Death Investigators Training Course, given by St. Louis University’s School of Medicine. I’m not a death investigator, but the course was helpful.
When you write your mystery, you don’t want your pathologist to check out a body just found in a field and announce, “The time of death was at seven-fifteen.”
The pathologist doesn’t know that. There’s no way they can know for sure. There are too many variables, including these three:
Rigor mortis. A body stiffens, starting about two hours after death. Around 24 hours later, the rigidity starts to disappear.
Algor mortis. The dead body’s temperature decreases until it reaches room temperature.
Livor mortis. When the heart stops pumping, the blood settles and the skin turns dark. One way police can tell if a body has been moved is if it’s found face up, but there’s dark purple livor mortis on the chest.
Humidity, what the dead person is wearing, and the temperature are a few of the things that can affect the time of death.
Let’s say your victim is shot in their home. If it’s summer and the killer turns down the air conditioner, that can slow down the processes. In the winter, turning the furnace on high can speed things up.
Time of death calculators can help mystery writers estimate TOD. Here’s one: https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/time-of-death
If your novel has a person found dead in their home, here are some clues your investigator can use to determine their time of death:
Has the mail been taken in?
Are the curtains open or closed?
Are the lights on or off? In which rooms? This clue is less helpful now that some homes have door-activated lights that turn on automatically when the room door is opened.
Is anything cooking on the stove or in the oven?
What about the food in the fridge: Has the milk soured, the produce wilted, or the meat spoiled?
Are any food items on the counter? Butter? Ice cream? Is it melted? Is the bread moldy?
Can you still smell food cooking on the stove?
Pathologists will tell you that TOD is an art and a science. TOD is also German for “death,” but that’s another story.
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Great idea to check the fridge, Elaine. Hadn’t thought of that.
Lights turn on automatically when doors open these days? Where have I been? LOL
It’s mostly newer buildings, Sue. My lights turn on the old-fashioned way.
Fascinating, Elaine. The link you provided gives more great detail, including the physiological reason for rigor mortis: “Since there is no more respiration, the body lacks adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the muscles. As a result, actin-myosin filament bonds are not broken down by ATP, causing stiffness and muscle contraction.”
Thanks for these interesting gritty details!
Delighted.
Very helpful, Elaine. Some good ideas here.
Glad you could use it, Terry.
Commercial white bread won’t show mold for over a week. If it is going to be a clue, put home baked on the table.
Fruits and vegetables on the other hand can have very short shelf lives. Moldy strawberries in the fridge were washed a day or two ago.
Thanks, Alan, for that tip about the bread. Some white bread is darn near eternal.
Very interesting stuff here, Elaine. I didn’t know there were three types of mortis.
One thing that occurred to me as I was reading was how often Hollywood gets it wrong. Big reveal, huh? 🙂
Have a good one!
My husband hates to watch crime shows and movies with me, Deb, because I yell, “No, it doesn’t happen that way.”
😬 Same here, especially if there’s a medical scene.
Very helpful list, Elaine. Makes me want to invent a villain who kills his victim and then stocks the refrigerator with sour milk, wilted produce, and spoiled meat just to throw off the detectives.
I like the way you think, Kay.
Very informative post, Elaine, and especially helpful for we mystery writers. Your observation that TOD is both an art and a science is what I used to say about library cataloging. Art is intuitive, science deductive.
This comparison then made me realize that TOD is part of the “cataloging of death,” which includes the biggie, cause, as well.
Thanks for a very thought provoking post.
So glad you can use this, Dale.
Not sure I’ll be writing a rude mystery story, but if I do, you can be sure I’ll name my coroner “Todd.” For the victim, Douglas Abercrombie, middle name, smuggled into the text somewhere, Oliphant.
Looking forward to reading this. Go for it.