Crime Scene Challenges: How to Process the

Crime Scene Challenges: How to process the crime scene safely Retrieving a body from the water so it can be analyzed appropriately is a considerable forensic challenge. In most crime scenes, everything is supposed to remain 'as is' until forensic personnel investigate. However, a crime scene located near a body of moving water usually means that the body must be retrieved as quickly as possible, to prevent further damage to the evidence.

"Nobody is supposed to move the body (other than look for ID and some superficial moving) until the coroner's investigator gets there" (Pileggi, n.d., Crime scene). The body's removal from the water must be expedited, without disturbing any vital clues. In most terrestrial settings, "sometimes the position gives them a clue as to the cause and method of death.

Also they need to see if the lividity (where the blood has settled in the body, it will always go to the lowest point and starts about 6 hours after death, and is a pinkish, purplish color) matches the position of the body" (Pileggi n.d.). But the body has already been disturbed in an aquatic setting, thanks to the movement of the water.

"Forensic handling of submerged bodies calls for special teams who not only have specific diving skills but knowledge of how to carefully collect evidence under water, handle a water-logged body, and preserve a crime scene" (Ramsland 2012: 1). The location of the body near the ravine makes it difficult for crime scene personnel to maneuver safely in the area. In any crime scene located near a body of water, both the surface (land) area and the submerged (water) area must be investigated (Ramsland 2012: 3).

The body is located in water that is surrounded by rocks and other brush that make it difficult to scale. Additionally, the considerable natural matter around the body makes it challenging for personnel to create a 'clean' crime scene, and to minimize the valuable evidence from being tainted from other debris.

Although specially trained divers are required to investigate the submerged area of the crime scene, under most circumstances, "investigators should look for the point of entry into the water, searching for potential evidence clothing, footprints, or indications of a struggle" (Ramsland 2012: 3). The precarious location of this crime scene makes finding such indications without danger to the on-shore personnel particularly challenging. Divers as well must be careful when investigating the crime scene.

"Air-containing cavities, such as the sinuses and lungs, react to sudden pressure changes, and divers must pay attention to the effects of decompression. Breathing compressed air underwater can increase gas pressure in the lungs.. also 'barotrauma,' or physical damage to body tissues as a result of difference in pressure between an air space inside or beside the body and the surrounding gas or liquid" can cause damage to the lungs (Ramsland 2012: 10).

One of the determinants personnel must make is if the death was due to drowning or to other causes. Signs of drowning, for example, include lungs that are distended by water; water in the stomach; foam at the mouth; diluted blood (in fresh water) and hemorrhaging in the middle ear from water pressure (Pillegi, n.d, Dead bodies). However, determining that drowning was the cause of death is only the first part of the puzzle.

"Drowning is difficult to prove beyond the accidental death stage simply because of the nature in which it happens. Proving that an unknown assailant in some way aided the death of another by drowning is difficult to establish and can usually only be established if there are physical wounds such as cuts or bruises or indeed if an eye witness has saw the event take place" (Claridge.