How can forensic analysis distinguish and characterize drowning from other causes of death?

To identify a drowning victim, forensic scientists look for strong rigidity of the body, bronchial foam, vertebral body bleeding, and diatoms in the bladder. While these features are important clues to drowning, they can be confused with other causes of death and require careful investigation and further confirmation.

 

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of dramas, movies, and television programs that focus on criminal investigations, which has led to increased public interest. In particular, the process of apprehending the perpetrator and the courtroom battle to prove that the victim was definitely murdered are suspenseful and captivate viewers. These tense situations are not only common in dramas and movies, but also in real-life cases. It’s important to get as much evidence as possible from the crime scene to identify the killer before they get away. This is where a careful analysis of the corpse is crucial to uncovering the truth. In other words, figuring out how the victim died is at the heart of any investigation, and the method of inquiry to do so is called forensic science.
Forensic science categorizes deaths into a number of different causes, including death by sharp weapon, death by blunt force, poisoning, fire, asphyxiation, drowning, and traffic accidents. Drowning is one of the most difficult causes of death to determine, as drowning victims are less characterized than other causes of death and the body is more likely to be damaged by water. While the rapid development of forensic science since the 19th century has led to significant advances in identifying other causes of death, drowning has remained a challenge for forensic scientists. However, many scholars have continued to work to determine whether a drowned person was alive or dead, and in recent years, methods have been developed to accurately determine the cause of drowning. These advances have been welcomed by law enforcement and the legal community.
It is very difficult to distinguish between a body that has already died and one that has been thrown into the water. This is because if the body is mutilated by aquatic life, any visible evidence is lost. However, there are four characteristics that distinguish drowning from other causes of death.
The first characteristic is the strong rigidity of the body. When a person falls into water, panic causes them to move their entire body with all their might, resulting in severe muscle stiffness. Therefore, when a drowning person is rescued, their body is often much more rigid than normal postmortem rigidity. Postmortem stiffness usually doesn’t start until two to three hours after death and can last up to 48 hours. A body that drowns shows much stronger stiffness than normal stiffness. In addition, drowning victims often clutch underwater plants in their hands. This is because the stiffness that develops after death makes it difficult for them to let go of the object they’re holding. Therefore, if you find a body with abnormal stiffness and clutching underwater plants, you can assume drowning.
The second characteristic is the foam found in the bronchi. When a person falls into the water, they struggle to breathe and inhale water, which mixes with the air in their bronchi and creates foam. This is caused by the water mixing with the proteins in the body’s fluids, such as saliva. Since a dead body is not breathing, there is no reason for foam to form in the bronchi, so if you find foam around the bronchi, mouth, or nose of a dead body, it’s a strong indication that the person was alive when they fell into the water.
The third characteristic is bleeding from the vertebrae. If the person was alive when they entered the water, the pressure differential can cause the vertebrae inside the ear to bleed. This is because the difference between the pressure in the water and the outside pressure damages the Eustachian tube. A dead body doesn’t respond to this pressure difference because the eustachian tubes don’t work properly, and bleeding doesn’t occur because there is no blood pressure. Therefore, if you find bleeding in the vertebral body, it’s likely that the person fell into the water while alive.
The fourth characteristic is the presence of diatoms in the bladder. Diatoms are single-celled plants that live in the ocean or freshwater, and if you were alive when you fell into the water, when you breathe, water enters your lungs and diatoms enter with it. The diatoms spread through the lungs into the bloodstream and are eventually filtered out by the bladder. It’s difficult for diatoms to reach the bladder if the person is already dead when they’re thrown into the water, so if diatoms are found in the bladder, it’s a good indication that the person was alive when they fell into the water.
The characteristics of a drowning victim described above – severe stiffness, hands clutching underwater plants, foam in the bronchi, bleeding from the vertebral bodies, and diatoms in the bladder – are important clues to drowning. However, be cautious when only one of these features is present. For example, severe stiffness can also be present in victims who die after strenuous exercise or during combat. Bleeding from the vertebral bodies can also be caused by other pressure changes, and diatoms in the bladder are still controversial. Therefore, if only one characteristic is found in a body suspected of drowning, the other three should be investigated together, and if all three are inconsistent, other causes of death should be investigated further.
If you follow this process closely, you should be able to correctly determine most drowning cases.