Murderer who spread table salt over his victim's corpse unintentionally preserved it from putrefaction

Med Leg J. 2020 Dec;88(4):205-208. doi: 10.1177/0025817219898178. Epub 2020 Apr 22.

Abstract

Adipocere is medico-legally exigent post-mortem change alternative to putrefaction. Sprinkling table salt over corpse to hasten disintegration and keep carnivores and nibblers off is a feature of ritualistic burial. We describe an unusual murder concealment wherein assailant put quantum of table salt over and around dead body while burying in jungle to hasten disintegration. Unexpected adipocere involving table salt preserved the body and firearm injuries. A mystifying thanatological aspect was the basic fact of table salt osmotically drawing even intrinsic body water needed for adipocere in non-damp conditions. It exceptionally formed in a week, and in a shallow grave, its formation in such conditions being very unusual and unreported.

Keywords: Salt – medico-legal importance (adipocere); corpus delicti; murder concealment; thanatology.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Burial
  • Cadaver
  • Forensic Pathology
  • Homicide
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Postmortem Changes*
  • Sodium Chloride, Dietary / administration & dosage*
  • Tissue Preservation*
  • Wounds, Gunshot / pathology*

Substances

  • Sodium Chloride, Dietary