Decomp smell **REVISIT**

[websurfer]

Regarding this thread-I may have posted this before in my dreams, I do not know...I would think that in order for the smell of decomp and bodily fluids to be so significant, we must be talking about a body that was wet in some way...I mean if you have a body in a car in the hot sun, would it turn to shoe leather like the reporter's pizza, or would it swell etc???

I would like to point out now that the media links people are posting indicate that there are bodily fluids in the car as well, rather than a stain that "glowed under uv light."

The body "Bloats" due to the body fluids decomposing.
Of course heat speads any kind of decomposition.
Water also.
but I have watched shows dealing with decomposition.
in those shows it was pointed out that
a body depending on the surface it is laying on contributes also to the decomposition.
A few times a body was found partially in a stream and partially out of it.
The body which side or part was above the water had decomposed faster,this was due to the animal activity around the body.
Also due to the air ,the weather.
in fact the body in this example was frozen and found after a Spring thaw.
So the body was preserved pretty well.
I do look on THE DOE NETWORk also and find
details on such unidentified persons.
Some of the bodies are skeletonized, some are partially decomposed, and some are frozen and not decomposed.
Being Florida and IF...Caylee is out there in the elements...
I really would like a conclusion to this mystery...
it is hard to sleep knowing this beautiful sweet child is missing.

 

[FLbeachdawg]

I have no idea if it's true, but I've heard that you can't get the smell out of things like cars.

well think about it...you can't even get nasty cigarette smell out. If you go to buy a used car you can tell IMMEDIATELY if a smoker had the car...no matter how much cleaning they do...

 

[Georgia101957]

Here is a link to a video on youtube that shows the decomposition of a baby pig.

WARNING THIS IS VERY GRAPHIC

a little background about this video

"Dr. Jerry Payne's time lapse movie of the decomposition of a baby pig. The technique of time-lapse photography is employed to illustrate the rapid removal of carrion (4 days reduced to approximately 6 minutes). The film demonstrates the sequence of tissue destruction and the role of insects in the ultimate dismemberment of the pig carcass and soil movement. The pink and purple beads were added to show the intense activities of the insects in moving the carcass and soil.
Payne writes..."My study was the first "detailed" study of succession in animal decomposition and the first with the pig as the model. The significance of the pig is that it closely approximates the human body (skin, body hair, size etc.) so the data generated could be used in modern forensic science to approximate the time of human deaths. At that time it was simply not possibly (moral/ethical/legal concerns) to perform decompositon studies with human corpses, I know because I tried and was denied. Even so there were many instances where some concerned person buried my research pigs."
The pigs used in the experiment were dead when Jerry Payne picked them up from local farmers. Mama pigs (sows) often lay down on their tiny piglets and crush them. This was very common on small farms and led to the invention and deployment of farrowing pens(birthing pens) where the sow is contained and the piglets have a heated space where they are not in danger of being crushed."


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5138752215932372669&q=decomposition&ei=xX6TSJ6fIoWqrgKdh8DhBQ

 

[my2cents]

Here is a link to a video on youtube that shows the decomposition of a baby pig.

WARNING THIS IS VERY GRAPHIC

a little background about this video

"Dr. Jerry Payne's time lapse movie of the decomposition of a baby pig. The technique of time-lapse photography is employed to illustrate the rapid removal of carrion (4 days reduced to approximately 6 minutes). The film demonstrates the sequence of tissue destruction and the role of insects in the ultimate dismemberment of the pig carcass and soil movement. The pink and purple beads were added to show the intense activities of the insects in moving the carcass and soil.
Payne writes..."My study was the first "detailed" study of succession in animal decomposition and the first with the pig as the model. The significance of the pig is that it closely approximates the human body (skin, body hair, size etc.) so the data generated could be used in modern forensic science to approximate the time of human deaths. At that time it was simply not possibly (moral/ethical/legal concerns) to perform decompositon studies with human corpses, I know because I tried and was denied. Even so there were many instances where some concerned person buried my research pigs."
The pigs used in the experiment were dead when Jerry Payne picked them up from local farmers. Mama pigs (sows) often lay down on their tiny piglets and crush them. This was very common on small farms and led to the invention and deployment of farrowing pens(birthing pens) where the sow is contained and the piglets have a heated space where they are not in danger of being crushed."


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5138752215932372669&q=decomposition&ei=xX6TSJ6fIoWqrgKdh8DhBQ

Oh Georgia, that was really disgusting! I think that it really does give a good starting point for determining at what point Caylee may have been put in the trunk. (There has been talk on other threads that the pizza had maggots because the body was in the trunk). Flies were all over that thing within a couple of hours, so it is likely that she was put in the trunk right away and the flies would have still been present (causing the maggots on the pizza).

Good find with that video.

If you are an animal lover, don't watch it though

 

[wallflower67]

I've been reading up on decomp, and I have a stupid question I can't find the answer to. Is a blowfly the same thing as the flies I get in my house? Just a regular old fly? The kind that likes my dog's poo?

 

[Vegas Bride]

One thing I was wondering about with the smell being so bad from the car, wouldn't the person who had towed it to be inpounded have smelled it also? I would think there would have been a call made then to the pd so it could be looked into, what if there had still been a body in the trunk?

VB

 

[distracted]

One thing I was wondering about with the smell being so bad from the car, wouldn't the person who had towed it to be inpounded have smelled it also? I would think there would have been a call made then to the pd so it could be looked into, what if there had still been a body in the trunk?

I've wondered about that, too. Perhaps it wasn't in the car very long.

 

[QuickAttack]

One thing I was wondering about with the smell being so bad from the car, wouldn't the person who had towed it to be inpounded have smelled it also? I would think there would have been a call made then to the pd so it could be looked into, what if there had still been a body in the trunk?

VB

Maybe not. It's not necessary for the tow truck driver to open the car--and in the case of some tow trucks, they never leave the cab of the truck. Lots of tow trucks these days have the capability to just back up, clamp on to the vehicle, and pull off.

 

[SusieClue]

Question to maggot experts. Can't maggots feed on sweat too? I only ask because we had a situation in our garage where my husband keeps his bicycle trainer. Basically he rides it there for hours and drips sweat like anything...anyway at one point he found little white worms (I'm sure they were maggots) all over the fabric piece he has directly beneath where he sweats which is used to keep sweat off of the bike. It was so disgusting. well, for what that's worth, I'm fairly certain there was no decomp on that thing....

Just curious...I still believe the trunk of Caylee's car contained a body, not a pizza.

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

I have a question- what would happen if soiled diapers were left in a car? Obviously, they would smell. But, left long enough could they attract maggots and make a cadaver dog hit?

 

[Parker]

Hey Medusa - I think that cadaver dogs are specifically trained to recognize the distinct odor of human decomposition so no, they should not hit on the smell of feces. While still a disgusting smell for sure - it certainly doesn't mimic human decomposition.

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

Hey Medusa - I think that cadaver dogs are specifically trained to recognize the distinct odor of human decomposition so no, they should not hit on the smell of feces. While still a disgusting smell for sure - it certainly doesn't mimic human decomposition.

Thanks, I just wondered. Especially if the diaper was in the car for a long time. Luckily, I have never smelled either (long term diaper) or a body.

 

[SailorMoon]

I've asked this before and I'm just curious, does decomp of a human smell the same as an animal?

 

[Shelayne]

Note to self: not a thread to read before lunch.

I haven't posted for a looong time, but this case is one of those that brings me back to WS!

Just a note about decomposition, a former beau of mine had a freezer in the basement where his family would freeze a half side of beef every winter. Well, one winter they went on a long vacation, and the freezer died while they were gone. Apparently, it was the most horrible smell they ever encountered, and they only opened the freezer once. They disposed of it, but also had to replace the carpet (putrid water had leaked out)and repaint to get rid of the smell that had permeated from that rotten meat. Keep in mind, this was meat that was butchered and packaged for them, not a body that slowly decomposed, and they couldn't stand it.

Just from his description of that event (obviously it has stayed with me for many years), I cannot even imagine, nor do I ever want to experience, the smell of human remains.

**shudder**

 

[zelmajane]

http://mythbustersresults.com/episode7

I watched an episode of Mythbusters on this before.

The smell doesn't go away.

 

[songline]

one thing i was wondering about with the smell being so bad from the car, wouldn't the person who had towed it to be inpounded have smelled it also? I would think there would have been a call made then to the pd so it could be looked into, what if there had still been a body in the trunk?

Vb

good point!!!

 

[wallflower67]

I read up on cadaver dogs. Human decomp smells differernt from animal decomp to the dogs. I don't know how it would smell to us humans compared to freezer full of rotton meat.

does anyone have the experience of smelling both human and large animal decomp?

 

[Nuisanceposter]

Hi, all. I'm not a maggot expert, but I do know that maggots will only eat rotten and decomposing flesh. Specially-raised sterile maggots are used to clean wounds because they will only devour any decomposing flesh and will not touch the live, healthy tissue at all.

So what was on that pizza? Was it a sausage and hamburger pizza or something like that? Maggots aren't going to infest a plain cheese pizza.

And cadaver dogs are specifically trained to recognize the difference between decomposing human remains and anything else, including animal remains. Humans may not be able to smell the difference, but the dogs can, and they're offered food and decomposing animals in training so they can be corrected if they think it's the same as human remains. That's how they learn to discern the difference and understand that their handlers want to be told when they smell human remains and only human remains.

Those dogs didn't smell a pizza, Cindy. They didn't smell a dead animal. They smelled a dead human. If it wasn't Caylee, then you need to figure out what other dead body was in that car, cause the dogs say one was there.

I don't get it...is the threat against Caylee and telling where she is magically going to be eradicated this Saturday when Casey's saying she's coming home, or why does Caylee have to wait til then to come home? To make sure it's an extra-super-special birthday?

 

[ThoughtFox]

This is so similar to Kimmer's thread, maybe these should be merged???

People are also talking about maggots and the odor of decomposition, and I don't really want to post both places.

 

[xcmmm]

Not sure how/if this would compare to a human but I thought I'd throw it out there. My son once picked up a dead cat from the road and put it in the trunk to take it to the local woods to bury. It was August in Georgia and my son swore he smelled that dead cat in his trunk for about a week afterward.