ABSTRACT
Estimation of the time since death is a practical task in daily forensic casework. The main objective is to give the police a first estimation of the time since death already at the place where the body was found. There is an extensive literature on methods proposed for estimating the time since death. However, most of these methods have never gained practical importance. Conversely, the evidence for death time estimation of the lowest scientific value involves methods with only a subjective description of the postmortem change. For the forensic investigation of the time since death, all sources of information on the time since death always should be kept in mind. In forensic medicine much research has been carried out on postmortem changes. Postmortem changes, especially body cooling, have been investigated with sophisticated methods, and formulas developed to calculate the time since death are full of mathematics.
