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-churning
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 you 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 gonna 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. Marx when the maggots reach 15
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
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-churning
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 you 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 gonna 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. Marx when the maggots reach 15
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
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