AC and TOD

[lynn cates]

pool

Hello Sam. GBP was talking about rigor mortis, not another condition. At least, taht's what he said.

I just reread Chandler's testimony. Where does he say pool of blood?

The best.
LC

[lynn cates]

hour

Hello Chris. If GBP is off by an hour, that yields 4:30 AM. At least that's not after daylight.

The best.
LC

[Chris]

When asked at the inquest about the time of death, Phillips said:
"I should say at least two hours, and probably more; but it is right to say that it was a fairly cold morning, and that the body would be more apt to cool rapidly from its having lost the greater portion of its blood."

I think that makes it clear that his estimate of the time of death was based mainly on the temperature of the body rather than other factors.

Although doctors at that time believed they could make reasonably accurate calculations of the time of death based on body temperature, science has moved on since then, and we know that the estimation of time of death is subject to a lot of uncertainty.

Here are a couple of links to relevant pages on the website of the Centre for Forensic and Legal Medicine at the University of Dundee:

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/notes/timedeath.pdf

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/notes/HenssgeNomogram-upto23C.pdf

I think that if anyone looks at them with an open mind, and considers how accurately Phillips would have been capable of gauging the temperature of the body, and also takes into account all the additional sources of uncertainty, they will agree that the margin of error for his estimate of the time of Chapman's death can't realistically be less than an hour or two.

[Sam Flynn]

Note, also, Inspector Chandler's inquest testimony. He was on the scene almost immediately after the body was discovered, and some time before Phillips, and testifies that there were parts of Annie's flesh lying above her shoulder in a pool of blood. If the body had been there for as long as Phillips (initially) estimated, there would have been precious little "pool" left for Chandler to see.

[Sam Flynn]

Look up "cadaveric spasm", or "instantaneous rigidity", Lynn.

[lynn cates]

Hello. I think the time has come to talk about Annie Chapman's time of death.

Dr G B Phillips testified:

“On Saturday last I was called by the police at 6.20 a.m. to 29, Hanbury-street, and arrived at half-past six. . . Stiffness of the limbs was not marked, but it was commencing.”

When does this rigor mortis commence?

"Rigor mortis refers to the state of a body after death, in which the muscles become stiff. It commences after around 3 hours"

http://www.deathonline.net/decomposition/body_changes/rigor_mortis.htm

So a reasonable TOD would be between 3:30 and 4:00.

Often, the outdoor temperature is cited to account for this discrepancy, but the lowered temperatures had no such effect on Liz and Kate.

Thoughts?

LC