Data de inmersión en cuerpos recuperados del agua en el norte de la Patagonia Argentina

Abstract

Introduction

The estimation of the immersion time of bodies recovered from the water, through the evaluation of the cadaveric changes, allows inferring the time that they have remained in the water regardless of the cause of death. In the present study, the Daily Accumulation of Degrees (ADG) method is analyzed for the calculation of the immersion interval in bodies recovered from the water in 36 bodies with a known interval of permanence in the water.

Material and methods

A total of 161 bodies were recovered from the water between 2007 and 2022, in 41 cases there was data to be analyzed by the ADG method and 36 were suitable for analysis of the method when confronted with the known intervals of immersion of the bodies.

Results

The comparison of calculation by Daily Accumulation of Degrees versus Known Immersion Interval, of the sample of 36 cases, showed that the difference in days obtained is statistically significant (p= 0.48 > 0.005). In 16 cases (44.4%) there was an underestimation by the Daily Accumulation of Degrees method with respect to the time spent in the known water that differed by an average of 40%, and in 18 cases (50%) an overestimation of 41%. Based on the observation of the cadaveric changes, the month of the year and the water temperature, a table was made to estimate the Postmortal Interval of Immersion for watercourses in Northern Patagonia.

Conclusion

The method of Daily Accumulation of Degrees in bodies recovered from the water to estimate the immersion interval may give a false perception of accuracy due to the complexity of integrating all the changing factors that affect human decomposition in aquatic environments.