Media Contact: Ron Walli Communications and Media Relations ORNL
project seeks to pinpoint time since death OAK RIDGE, Tenn.,
June 7, 2000 Determining when a crime victim died can make the
difference between a criminal going free or being brought to
justice, and researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
are developing a system that could help justice prevail. Arpad
Vass of the Department of Energy's ORNL and colleagues at the
University of Tennessee (UT) are examining time-dependent
chemical and biological markers in hopes of gaining a better
understanding of the cadaver decay process. "Our ultimate goal
would be to develop a tricorder-like device that we could wave
over a body to tell us how long the person has been dead," Vass
said. "Short of that, we're developing a model that would allow
forensic scientists to insert data into a chart or computer
program to determine how long a person has been dead." If law
enforcement agents find a body within 12 to 24 hours, forensics
experts have techniques t