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conferenceseries.com
Volume 7, Issue 5 (Suppl) J Forensic Res 2016
ISSN: 2157-7145, JFR an open access journal Forensic Research 2016
October 31-November 02, 2016
October 31-November 02, 2016 San Francisco, USA
5th International Conference on
Forensic Research & Technology
Estimating the post-mortem interval in forensic practice
Giles S1 and Harrison K2
1Thames Valley Police, UK
2Cranfield University, UK
C urrent methods to estimate the time since death focus heavily on indicators of early decomposition and have proved fairly
accurate at estimating the time-since death in the early post-mortem period under experimental conditions. Translation of these
methods into forensic practice has proved difficult and as it stands there is no standard methodology to estimate the Post-Mortem
Interval (PMI) for forensic investigators to use when they encounter decomposed remains at unexplained death scenes. This study
used photographs and daily recordings to assess the early to moderate decomposition states of 13 cadavers placed at varying time
intervals between July and October 2015 at the Anthropology Research Facility at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Preliminary
results suggest that variability in the decay rate is dependent on both accumulated-degree days and intrinsic body factors. These
findings assisted in the development of the Giles-Harrison (GH) Decomposition Scale which can be used by forensic investigators to
assist in their estimation of the PMI when dealing with early to moderate decomposed remains.
Biography
Giles S is a Crime Scene Investigator for Thames Valley Police, the largest non-metropolitan police force in the UK and a part-time Forensic Anthropology PhD
student at Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. She has been an operational Crime Scene Investigator since February 2014 and has so
far examined approximately 600 crime scenes. She holds a distinction MSc in Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology and a First Class BSc in Medical Sciences
from the University of Leeds. During her MSc, she secured a research scholarship at the Anthropology Research Facility (“The Body Farm”), Knoxville, University
of Tennessee. Here she developed a new method to estimate the time since death from decomposition states and conducted research utilising the William Bass
Skeletal Collection. Following her Master’s, she was awarded the “Forensic Science Society Prize”, “Head of School Prize”, “Inforce Prize”, “Top Student on the
Forensic Programme Award” and the “Cranfield Forensic Institute Distinction Prize”. She holds Assosicate Membership of the Chartered Society of Forensic
Sciences.
Giles S et al., J Forensic Res 2016, 7:5(Suppl)