engleski

MYSTERIOUS CASE OF MUMMY THE MUMMY

Objective: Criminalistics investigations, particularly those considering a dead body found with certain delay, present challenges such as naming the deceased, ascertain the cause and the time of death. Rarely, these questions can be answered with certainty especially in case of assessing a purposely hidden body. Case report: After the fire destroyed an apartment, the firefighters found a mummy in the living room. The body, wrapped in blankets and prone on a sofa where it was concealed beneath the dump of rubbish, belonged to an unknown women. It turned out that she owned the apartment where her son lived but was missing after the fire. He was unemployed ; of problematic, addictive behavior and has been collecting trash and storing it in the apartment. Police concluded that he set the arson to disguise his mother’s mummy. She has not been seen alive by any of the neighbors for years and the last time she was seen by her general practitioner was seven years ago. She was the beneficiary of a German retirement pension and had it paid out by the mail. The fire burst out soon after the mail carrier refused to deliver payment to the son. Since the decisive identification was not possible without molecular DNA analysis, preserved teeth were collected. The DNA profile of teeth collected at the autopsy corresponded to that of the blood sample of the living mother of the mummified woman. Discussion: The autopsy of a mummified corpse is a significant challenge. Certain determination of the identity is undoubtedly the most pivotal challenge in these cases. In that vein, it is essential to conduct a DNA analysis of the remains. Another problem lies in deciding on the immediate cause of death, due to the lack of vital organs. On a mummy, it is almost impossible to spot any visible traces of injuries. Additionally, there is an incapacity to estimate the approximate time of death, what is best subtracted in Knight’s quote: "The opinion of any doctor who offers a single time of death, instead of a range, must be viewed with suspicion." Conclusion: Whenever the dead body is found with a delay and when late postmortem changes have already set on, many of our conclusions on the postmortal period are relative. In the case of mummified bodies, the preserved basic appearance of the corpse does not warrant accurate identification, and the DNA analysis is mandatory.

DNA expertise, identification, mummification, time of death

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