ESTABLISHING A DECOMPOSITION SCORING SYSTEM FOR HANGED CLOTHED AND UNCLOTHED REMAINS

The study by Megyesi et al. (2005) was significant to the field of forensic anthropology since it presented a novel scoring system for assessing physical appearance-based time since death in human cadavers. Since then several studies have attempt to come up with a standardized scoring for several regions, this study is aim to develop a regression models for surface unclothed carrions using ADD and TBS. The study used two male carrions (A & B), wind vane, cloth, cage, CCTV camera, Iphone 12 and thermometer. The carrions were first subjected to blunt force trauma. Carrion where weighed before and after death. Bothe carrion hanged but carrion A was clothed while carrion B was unclothed. Carrion decomposition and degradation rate was studies three times daily for the first three weeks and twice for the second two weeks and once respectively for the remaining 60 days. Carrion TBS and ADD score was recoded daily and TBS was compared with Northwest England Summer (2011) Score. Result observed revealed that the score for control scoring chart had similarity with the present study observation during the first stage of carrion decomposition but changed in observations from the bloating state to the advancing stage of decomposition. The study concluded that the development of TBS scoring system changes according to regions temperature, different regions should have its scoring system for research and forensic investigation. We conclude that, establishing a decomposition scoring system for hanged clothed and unclothed remains is necessary to accurately estimate the time of death of a corpse and provide evidence in criminal investigations and that the use of a decomposition scoring system has important applications in forensic entomology and can be a simple, practical, and user-friendly method for fast decomposition scoring in the field.