Proof of Embalmers' Good Work Decades Later

CAustin18 · #1 ● 12-02-2016, 10:32 AM

This is my first post in a while where I attach pictures. These are from various murder cases that were re-opened years after the fact. While none are actually identified here, a few of these are from relatively high-profile murder cases.

In each case, the victim's body had to be exhumed for examination, either due to a lost autopsy report or to examine and establish how the person actually died.
The first picture shows a woman who was exhumed after 17 years of burial in order to determine precise cause of death (she was pushed down stairs, beaten). While the brain had partly dehydrated, bruising and lesions were found on her scalp, neck and on areas of the brain surface, which contradicted the original explanation of an accidental fall.

A nearly-normal autopsy could be conducted due to the extremely high level of preservation, which was attributed to the fact the body was strongly embalmed for shipment long distance to her home state. Body was in a sealed, steel casket within a concrete vault, buried in sandy, dry soil.

Second picture is of a woman who was stabbed to death in her home in 1980, exhumed 24 years after death. The staining below her nose is post-burial purging--otherwise preservation is excellent.

Third is the body of Medgar Evers, who was shot to death in front of his own home in June, 1963. His body was exhumed in late 1991 to determine type and trajectory of bullets as original autopsy report was missing. His body was also strongly embalmed for the long journey to his burial at Arlington National cemetery--he was interred on a hillside at a depth of 12 feet, within a sealed steel casket and sealed concrete vault.

The forth, last picture is of a man who was exhumed 3 years after burial as part of the investigation into his suspected murder. He was killed by his wife in 1990. The black splotches on the skin are mold. His remains were still in good enough condition to yield very good evidence to help prove his wife had poisoned him--very large amounts of poison were still in his GI tract.