Water-Related Death Investigation: Practical Methods and Forensic Applications

All too often, police called to the scene of a water-related death may consider it an accidental drowning before they even arrive. But the investigation of these types of deaths requires the same careful and thorough documentation as in other potentially non-natural deaths and these efforts must be carried through all stages of investigation. Water-Related Death Investigation: Practical Methods and Forensic Applications merges the essentials of field investigation with the best practices involved in evidence collection, autopsy performance, and laboratory testing on the deceased involved in a water-related death.

Tracking the case process from the scene to the autopsy to the courtroom, this volume examines:

• The physiology of drowning
• Investigative duties of those called to the scene, including securing the scene, searching for evidence, evidence recovery, and body assessment
• Investigative characteristics of various selected scenes, including submerged vehicles, scuba fatalities, pool drowning, erotic drowning, and boating accidents
• Obtaining decedent, witness, suspect, and first responder information
• Pre-trial preparation for the field investigator, including exhibits, testimony, and video and audio recording
• The medicolegal autopsy
• The forensic pathological and toxicological aspects of deaths due to drowning and bodies recovered from fluid environments.

Water-related death investigation involves a continuum of activities performed by a number of trained professionals. This volume demonstrates how the best collective efforts of all individuals involved in the investigation of a water-related death may help to illuminate the truth of the circumstances and unearth any criminality.