Determination of Time since Death Using the Double Exponential Cooling Model

Abstract

Derivations of an equation for determining time since death are shown based on Brown and Marshall's (1974) double exponential cooling curve of the human corpse. Five cases of known time of death are then compared with the estimated time of death incorporating the technique described in this paper. Analysis of the errors between the actual post-mortem period and the calculated time since death indicate that accuracy depends on the shape of the cooling curve.