Fascinating Forensic Facts Bodies and Water

All my crime novels are set around the sea so it is inevitable that I will have bodies in the water, by the water, and washed up beside the water! So here are some fascinating facts from my research - not for the fainthearted!

Bodies in the water

Typically a body in the sea will usually sink and having sunk the body will remain that way until putrefactive gas formation decreases the gravity of the body and creates enough energy for it to rise to the surface and float. If the villain thinks he or she can get away with this by adding heavy clothing and/or weights to the body then they need to think again because although it will delay the body rising it will not prevent it. It could, of course, render the victim unrecognisable because the marine life will have made a meal of it, especially the soft tissue but then there could still be bone from which to extract DNA if the crime novel is contemporary set as in my DI Andy Horton Solent Murder Mysteries and the Art Marvik Mystery Thirllers.  Not so if it is in the 1950s set Inspector Ryga novels.

However:

If the water temperature is consistently below 45 degrees Fahrenheit there may be no real decomposition even after several weeks.

And if persistently cold/freezing water there is just the possibility the body may not re-surface (so a let out clause for our killer).

Putrefaction proceeds at a slower rate in water than in air. It is slower in sea water than in fresh water. And slower in running water than stagnant water. Depending on the water temperature and the type of water a body can resurface between 3- 14 days.

All useful information for a crime author.

In THE CHALE BAY MURDERS ( formerly published as  A KILLING COAST) I wanted a body to be found floating off Spitbank Fort in the Solent, but not one that had been immersed in the sea for some time and therefore unrecognisable.

The solution? Well I'll leave you to read that particular Inspector Andy Horton novel!

Suspicious lights at sea, decomposing bodies and an old flame send Detective Inspector Andy Horton down a rabbit hole in this captivating crime thriller.