| Author | Message | ||
     Kasey Wertheim |
Jyoho, From re-reading your question, I can see a possible misunderstanding. If you asked a latent print examiner the following question: "how long can you get prints off a body?" they would probably answer "it is very unlikely, even immediately after death". The reason for this answer is because they interpret the question to mean "latent" or hidden impressions off human skin. This may be what the person was thinking who answered your question with "he had been dead too long before it was tried." Your meaning was to determine the identity of the deceased, not the identity of someone who had touched the deceased. The other posts answer the second issue nicely. -Kasey | ||
| Graham Ford |
Jyoho - Below is a post to a similar question to yours of last week, "Do your finger and foot prints go away within three months of being dead?" Well, the answer can be yes and it can also be no. It can depend on the circumstances of the cause of death and the condition the body remained in after death. Now lets see. If you drowned in the sea and you became the food source for fish, then it is likely you may not have any hands and feet left after 3 days, let alone 3 months. If you died of some other cause and was subsequently cremated, well there again would be no footsies and tootsies left. Enough of the extemes. If a deceased person was buried in the normal (coffin) manner, then I would hope (& expect) ridge characteristic detail to be present on the hands & feet after a 3 month time lapse. It must be remembered that if the outer skin has deteriorated, then the ridge structure will still be present on the lower dermis layer. As brushed upon (no pun intended for the latent aficionados) above, there are many variables (decomposition, heat, water, body indoors, body out in the sun etc) which will all have some bearing on the final outcome on the ridge detail present. But lest I forget, I have seen ridge detail on the fingers of an Egyptian mummy that was over 2000 years old. The ridge detail was searched through the national fingerprint archives in London UK, with no match. But then we rarely arrested and charged 2000 year old mummies for committing an offense, except Boris Karloff of course!!! | ||
| Steve |
It depends on the physical condition of the body after death. I have recovered prints from an individual who had been killed, wrapped in carpeting, and left out in the moutainous woods in WA (very moist climate). They were estimating his death had happened 10 - 14 days or so earlier. Two of his fingers still had enough friction ridge skin that I could recover identifiable prints. They gave me a name of the person that they thought it was. I received cards from the State Patrol and identified it as that person. This body had also been stored in the ME's cooler before I arrived to get the prints. | ||
| jyoho |
Some time ago a older man passed away at a local hospital. Upon his death all papers to include the car he drove himself to the hospital showe dhe was not who he said he was. Jsut to many and if buts so on. Was told that prints could not be used from the body because:he had been dead to long before it was treid, he had as we all know placed in the cold box to which also added to not begining able to left prints from the body. I could understand maybe after two or three weeks (that is a very long time) then no prints. But if it was within the week to 10 days after death could you still obtain them? |
