Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A study of adipocere in soil collected from a field leaching study

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 43; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00450611003685996

1834-562X

J. Cassar, Barbara H. Stuart, Boyd B. Dent, Stephanie J. Notter, Shari L. Forbes, Christopher O'Brien, Ian R. Dadour,

Animal testing and alternatives

Abstract An investigation of a post-mortem product, adipocere, resulting from the decomposition of a pig carcass left on a soil surface is reported. The presence of this material should provide valuable information for forensic investigators: although a body may have been removed from a crime scene, decomposition products may remain in the soil below and the depth to which these are observed can provide insight into the problem of how long a body remained on the soil surface. Infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry were used in this study to identify the compounds associated with adipocere, which is comprised of particular fatty acids, in soil samples taken from different depths below the carcass. Both techniques demonstrate that adipocere may be detected in soil beneath a body and the depth to which it is detected is dependent upon the time since the body was deposited on the soil surface. Keywords: adipoceredecompositiongas chromatography–mass spectrometryinfrared spectroscopysoil Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Fritz Reif for assistance with construction of the PMMA sheet and Bob Cooper for assistance with field work.