imagine that a partly decomposed body is
found lying in the woods was the person
murdered and how long have they been
dead to find out investigators come here
a place known as the body farm
this two acre compound at the University
of Tennessee is devoted to studying what
happens to the body after death the
scene isn’t for the squeamish on any
given day the ground is strewn with some
50 corpses for the scientists who work
here
it’s an open-air laboratory of decay
what is unique about the facility is
that we can look at this process of
decomposition day 1 day 2 day 18 and day
37 and day 156 dr. Murray Marx is a
forensic anthropologist once
decomposition sets in a normal autopsy
cannot be done and so the pathologist
turns to the anthropologist to come up
with some information to provide that
information dr. Marx is compiling an
unusual and for some stomach-turning
reference work an atlas for law
enforcement that will display bodies in
every state of decay what happens is you
pull out the atlas and you compare your
body that’s decomposed to this it’s a
standard it will provide I think a gold
standard for the process of
decomposition the work at the body farm
is important to solving crimes but it’s
also gruesome this corpse has been
outside for two weeks and it’s giving
off a powerful stench
it’s not like garbage it’s not even like
a dead animal it’s not like a mouse
that’s behind your wall that dies I mean
it’s a it’s a pungent sweet smell you
never forget it the researchers focus on
details that would revolt most people
such as blackened skin an important clue
in establishing time of death the darker
the flesh the longer the body’s been
dead can see the head is darker that arm
is a little bit darker so I’m trying to
show all the variation throughout the
body few people want to think about what
flies and maggots do to a body much less
study it but dr. marks knows these
scavengers are as regular as clockwork
the first flies will arrive within half
an hour of death and invade the body
what they look for are the orifices the
nose the mouth ears the ground body
interface where it’s going to be shaded
inside the body the flies lay eggs and
24 hours later the eggs produce the
slithering flesh-eating insects
maggots they’re an important clue for
dr. marks when the maggots reach fifteen
millimeters in length they’ve been fed
for about one week the better I am
sitting over on that hill watching these
processes the better the crime-scene
investigator is going to be and the more
evidence they’ll have to give as far as
finding suspects and I’m fortunate to be
able to be a part of that it’s not nasty
and it’s not gross or awful to do I mean
it’s a job that has to be done
you
found lying in the woods was the person
murdered and how long have they been
dead to find out investigators come here
a place known as the body farm
this two acre compound at the University
of Tennessee is devoted to studying what
happens to the body after death the
scene isn’t for the squeamish on any
given day the ground is strewn with some
50 corpses for the scientists who work
here
it’s an open-air laboratory of decay
what is unique about the facility is
that we can look at this process of
decomposition day 1 day 2 day 18 and day
37 and day 156 dr. Murray Marx is a
forensic anthropologist once
decomposition sets in a normal autopsy
cannot be done and so the pathologist
turns to the anthropologist to come up
with some information to provide that
information dr. Marx is compiling an
unusual and for some stomach-turning
reference work an atlas for law
enforcement that will display bodies in
every state of decay what happens is you
pull out the atlas and you compare your
body that’s decomposed to this it’s a
standard it will provide I think a gold
standard for the process of
decomposition the work at the body farm
is important to solving crimes but it’s
also gruesome this corpse has been
outside for two weeks and it’s giving
off a powerful stench
it’s not like garbage it’s not even like
a dead animal it’s not like a mouse
that’s behind your wall that dies I mean
it’s a it’s a pungent sweet smell you
never forget it the researchers focus on
details that would revolt most people
such as blackened skin an important clue
in establishing time of death the darker
the flesh the longer the body’s been
dead can see the head is darker that arm
is a little bit darker so I’m trying to
show all the variation throughout the
body few people want to think about what
flies and maggots do to a body much less
study it but dr. marks knows these
scavengers are as regular as clockwork
the first flies will arrive within half
an hour of death and invade the body
what they look for are the orifices the
nose the mouth ears the ground body
interface where it’s going to be shaded
inside the body the flies lay eggs and
24 hours later the eggs produce the
slithering flesh-eating insects
maggots they’re an important clue for
dr. marks when the maggots reach fifteen
millimeters in length they’ve been fed
for about one week the better I am
sitting over on that hill watching these
processes the better the crime-scene
investigator is going to be and the more
evidence they’ll have to give as far as
finding suspects and I’m fortunate to be
able to be a part of that it’s not nasty
and it’s not gross or awful to do I mean
it’s a job that has to be done
you
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