Rigor Mortis ( AMAL)

By : AMAL

Rigor Mortis

         When a person dies, their body enters the state of rigor mortis. Rigor mortis has been defined as the stiffening of the body that occurs after death. The body begins to stiffen as a result of loss of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (Claridge, 2013). When there is not a steady flow of adenosine triphosphate to the muscles, they are unable to be flexible. Rigor mortis can begin as early as two hours after death and continue for up to seventy two hours. Crime scene investigators use rigor mortis to help estimate the time of time, given that there is a time frame allotted for how long rigor mortis takes it provides insight for investigator. Information provided by the corpse allows for crime scene investigators to determine additional information necessary to help solve the crime. A great place to start is determination of time of death.

            There is a process of rigor mortis. It happens throughout the entire body. Stiffening every muscle that it contains. It usually begins with the smaller muscles that are found in the body, such as the face, neck, arms and shoulders. Due to the loss of ATP, these muscles become stiff and cannot be easily moved. As the process of rigor mortis continues, it begins to affect larger muscles in the body and greater effects are determined at a later period of time. The beginning stages of rigor mortis have been identified as the Rigid Stage, this stage lasts from eight to twelve hours (Claridge, 2013). Once the body completely stiffens, it enters another stage for approximately nineteen hours.  Being that the process of rigor mortis is so predictable, it really does help crime scene investigators determine an approximate time of death.

            The process to rigor mortis allows some reliability for crime scene investigators to determine an approximate time of death. It is understood that ATP will leave smaller muscles first and the longer the body is laying there, the more it will stiffen. When crime scene investigators use rigor mortis to estimate an approximate time of death, they determine their accuracy based on how stiff the body has become. In addition to the body stiffening, it also changes colors. Therefore the accuracy of rigor mortis can be accounted for because not only does it determine how stiff the body has actually become, it allows an understanding of how decayed it has already become (Carroll, 2002).

            It is important to understand what rigor mortis is. When a person dies, their body begins to lose fluid and oxygen throughout the veins and body. During this time, ATP can no longer be produced which results in muscles becoming inflexible. The inflexibility of muscles has been classified and identified as rigor mortis. The process of rigor mortis is defined as which part of the body stiffened first and how much more there is to go. As early as two hours after death rigor mortis can begin, therefore if crime scene investigators arrive sometime after that, they are able to use rigor mortis to determine how long ago the person became deceased. There is accuracy towards the process of rigor mortis however other factors including discoloration to the skin influence the determination of rigor mortis overall.