All
writers need to do research. We're often told to 'only write what you know',
but clearly there will be times when this is impossible. For instance, did
Hilary Mantel ever actually meet Thomas Cromwell? Did Thomas Harris ever commit
cannibalism? Did Tolkein live in Middle Earth and commune with elves, wizards
and hobbits? I think not!
And
therefore the committed and conscientious writer must undertake a great deal of
research, a lot of which will never reach the pages of the novel, but will
ensure that we don't make ridiculously inaccurate statements. Because, funnily
enough, it's not being right that matters. It's not being wrong!
So
I asked crime writer, probation officer and all round knowledgeable guy,
Michael Craven, to give us the low-down on some aspects of research that may
well help you not to seem an idiot. It's already given me some food for thought
for my work-in-progress Washed in the Blood, which deals with this very thing.
Bodies
Found In Water
by Mike Craven
by Mike Craven
This
short article is designed to give crime writers a few facts about bodies found
in water. Of course, some of these may not fit in with your plot or theme and
that’s fine. Some writers want every fact to be correct but most of us simply
want to get it right when there is nothing to be gained by getting wrong.
So
here are a few facts that are useful to know about a corpse being found in
water when it comes to plotting your novel or short story. In no particular
order they are:
•
Bodies found floating in water will ALWAYS be lying face
down with the head hanging. There are often post-mortem injuries to the head
because of this as the body is buffeted against things in the water. Normally,
pathologists can easily distinguish between ante and post-mortem injuries due
to the presence or lack of blood. However, as the head hangs down in the water,
blood congests there and post-mortem injuries will also bleed.
•
Typical signs found when a body has been immersed in water
include anserina cutis (goose bumps), where skin has swelled and wrinkled, and
adipocere which is the transformation of the fatty layer in the skin to a
soap-like substance. Depending on the water temperature this last process can
take months.
•
A body in water will normally sink as the specific gravity
(SG) of the body is similar to water. Having sunk to the bottom, putrefaction
commences and this will eventually lower the SG, causing the body to rise.
Attached weight (heavy clothing, weights etc) may delay the body rising but
will not normally be enough to stop it altogether. In cold water, putrefaction
is delayed so the body will not rise as quickly as it would in warmer water. In
water that remains very cold all year round the body may never rise.
•
Medically, a pathologist will not be able to prove the cause
of death was drowning. There are some pathological changes that are
characteristic of drowning but they also occur in other deaths (heart failure,
drug overdoses, and for crime writers, head injuries). A diagnosis of drowning
is largely done by excluding other deaths.
•
There are suggestive indicators which can help with
diagnosing whether the body was alive or dead when it entered the water.
1. Large
quantities of water in the stomach indicate the body was alive when it entered
the water. If water is not present or present but in small quantities it
suggests that death occurred before the body entered the water.
2. Hands
gripping foreign materials. Struggling victims may clutch at anything they can.
Evidence may be found during examination (fingernails etc). Occasionally
something happens called cadaveric spasm, essentially the body goes into rigor
mortis instantly. Anything the hand was holding at the time could well still be
held there. This would suggest that the victim was alive when they entered the
water.
•
For writers wanting some technical details that may emerge
from a post-mortem when the cause of death was drowning, the following would be
typical:
3. A
fine white foam may be seen coming out of the airways (mouth and nostrils). If
it is wiped off, pressure from the lungs will force it to reappear. This
indicates that the body was alive when it entered the water. Unfortunately,
this foam also occurs in cardiac victims, drug overdoses and head trauma.
4. Damage
to the middle ear, typically a blue/purple discolouration of the bone of the
mastoid air cells. However, this also occurs in electrocution, head injuries
and some forms of suffocation.
5. Shoulder
girdle bruises. People struggling against drowning often rupture muscles in the
shoulder girdle, chest and neck. This may only occur in 10% of drownings and is
not conclusive.
•
For crime writers, it is very rare for a murderer to kill
his victim by drowning. This would normally require the murderer to be
substantially stronger than the victim or for the victim to be incapacitated
somehow (i.e. drunk or unconscious). Far more common is a body being disposed
of in water and a drowning to be staged.
To
summarise, pathologists and the police have certain reliable pointers that
suggest whether the victim was alive or dead when they entered the water. It is
difficult to stage the pathological changes that occur during drowning and it
is unlikely anyone could successfully kill someone and then fake their
drowning. However, the difficulty for fiction writers is that drowning cannot
be definitively proved during post-mortem. There are indicators but they also
occur in other deaths, making it very difficult to differentiate whether
someone drowned or died from other causes, a heart attack for example.
