Telephone cable Essay Example for Free

Telephone cable Essay Since the victim is an old woman, it is likely that her death resulted from a robbery attempt. The body was found suspended above the ground, with the anterior abdomen directly resting on the telephone cables. The body seems to have impacted the cables with some force, as evidenced by the notable horizontal impressions of the cable upon the abdomen. Also notable is the absence of livor mortis on the abdomen, indicating that the body was obviously placed/dropped upon the telephone cables some time after death. Livor mortis is apparent on the posterior side of the body, except on the blanched areas of the shoulder blades and buttocks, which are the parts of the body that must have been in contact with the ground for some time after death, thus also indicating that the body lay horizontally, on its back, for some time postmortem. The wrinkled appearance of the livor mortis in the intrascapular area must have been caused by clothing pressing upon the skin. Abrasions on the lower back and on the upper left abdominal quadrant indicate that the body may have been dragged or subjected to some other forms of impact/friction, but whether this occurred before or after death is currently hard to determine. The actual cause of death is not apparent from the images. The neighborhood in which the incident took place is a seedy and rundown area populated by homeless persons, drug addicts, and the like. The woman had been dead for about 24 hours when her body was found, and neighbors state they heard nothing unusual during the time frame. She was at the time of her death living with a man about her age. They had been living together for sometime. The man claims not to know anything about what happened, but does state they had been drinking heavily the night before the body was discovered. The death is in almost all likelihood the result of a crime, as can be conjectured from the location, and also from the postmortem removal of the body to the last position on the telephone cable, and the presence of postmortem laceration on the forehead and the abrasions on the abdomen and lower back. As there is no livor mortis on the head and legs, as would have happened if the body had been deposited on the telephone cable premortem or immediatly after death, we can conclude that the body was placed on the telephone cables after death, a further indication of malicious intent. The sequence of events are likely as follows: after the attacker killed the victim, he/she probably waited for dark before attempting to get rid of the crimes evidence, including the body. The attacker must have dragged the body, and then pushed it over the railings of the balcony. Somewhere along this process the abrasions on the abdomen and lower back and the laceration on the forehead might have been inflicted. When the criminal pushed the body off the balcony, perhaps with the intent dropping it to the ground and subsequently hiding the body for good, the rigor mortis that had set in due to the long wait between death and disposal caused the body to catch on the telephone cable.