He is? Well then it shouldn't stay a mystery. It does seem pretty scientific and fairly easy to determine.
Some info on determining time of death:
The organs most commonly used to determine the body core temperature are the liver and the brain, because of their mass and density. After death, the body temperature falls toward the temperature of the surroundings at a rate of about one-and-a-half degrees per hour.
Example:
Liver temperature, relative to room temperature, determines time of death. Since the temperature of a dead body falls at about one-and-a half degrees per hour. So an 87 degree liver temperature indicates death at 6-7 hours before.
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The digestive system and gut contents of a victim can provide important clues to the time of death of a victim. Chewed food will firstly pass through the oesophagus and then down into the stomach within seconds of the initial swallowing. After 3 hours, the food then leaves the stomach and heads toward the small intestines. 6 hours after eating a meal, the food will have traveled half way through the small intestines and begin moving through the large intestine. Where the victim's small intestine is empty, it suggests that the victim ate his or her last meal approximately 8 hours before death. The digestive process usually takes a bit more than a day, but it can be affected by sickness, liquid intake, fear or drug intake.
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The article mentions the blood pooling -- the pinkish, purple color of her skin too.
http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00206/text_ta_time_since_death.htm
Dr Perper
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cperper16feb16,0,2122763.story?track=rss
He is regarded as someone with an "incredible depth of knowledge and experience," said prosecutor Brian Cavanagh, head of Broward County's homicide unit.
"He literally wrote the book ... on time of death, on how it's established," Cavanagh said. "Whenever Dr. Perper attests to something, it is the absolute truth."
Perper is a man of few words, especially in media interviews.
"I'm very much aware that every word I say, every sentence, has to stand on its own feet," he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Thursday. That quiet style took center stage in three other Broward cases that drew national attention:
The 1995 death of 17-year-old model Krissy Taylor.
A 1999 traffic crash between former FBI agent David Farrall and two teens. Farrall was convicted of drunken and reckless driving.
Perper found that Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler's death in 2003 was caused in part by the dietary supplement ephedra; his investigation led to a federal ban of the supplement.
But never has Perper been more popular than since Smith's death.
Despite a slew of interviews, no one -- not even his own staff -- has asked about the unique shape of Perper's head.
He responded with a sense of humor rarely seen in his public persona.
"I am definitely not a member of the television's Coneheads," he said with a chuckle. "I always used to say I have extra brains that I could not accommodate in my head."
The story is told in pure Perper style: just the facts. He was dropped accidentally on his head by his aunt when he was a small child and a blood clot thickened part of his skull.
hehehehhhehehhehehehe
Approximate times for algor and rigor mortis in temperate regions Body temperature Body stiffness Time since death warm not stiff dead not more than three hours warm stiff dead 3 to 8 hours cold stiff dead 8 to 36 hours cold not stiff dead more than 36 hours SOURCE: Stærkeby, M. "What Happens after Death?" In the University of Oslo Forensic Entomology [web site]. Available from http://folk.uio.no/mostarke/forens_ent/afterdeath.shtml.
Livor Mortis.... Livor mortis is the way blood settles after death to the dependant parts of the body. Blood settles to the lowest points of the body once the heart has stopped pumping. The areas where blood has settled will become dark and take on a dark bluish or purple color. Visibility will depend on the level of pigmentation in the deceased skin.
Because the heart stops beating at death, livor begins very soon afterward. This darkening maximizes at 8-12 hours after death and does not disappear.
The body cools uniformly after death. Once metabolism has ceased, the body immediately begins to cool down. Body temperature after death can be raised or maintained due to activity, illness, decompositon, infection and absorption of heat from the surroundings. In determining the rate of cooling, consideration must be given to the clothing, victim size, activity and physical factors. The one equation used to determine the cooling rate is known as the GLAISTER EQUATION: 98.4% minus measured rectal temperature
When we begin eating, it is approximately 10 minutes before food begins to leave the stomach. A light meal will have left the stomach in 1-2 hours, a medium meal 3-4 hours, and a very heavy meal, 4-6 hours. One variable to be considered is the emotional state of the individual at the time of death since the stomach rate varies with emotional stress.
Pallor mortis is a postmortem paleness which happens almost instantaneously (in the 15–120 minutes after the death) because of a lack of capillary circulation throughout the body. Paleness develops so rapidly after death that it has little to no use in determining the time of death. Please [ expand] this article.