SS,
See this for the good question you posted last night about how struggle before death affects rigor mortis.
http://www.hbo.com/autopsy/baden/qa_5.html
"What is cadaveric spasm? Have you ever seen it?
"Cadaveric spasm" refers to a kind of instant rigor mortis. After we die, the muscles of the body stiffen, from using up its oxygen supply and because wastes - carbon dioxide and urea - are no longer brought away from the muscle cells. It also has to do with the depletion of muscle enzymes. So, cadaveric spasm is a muscle phenomenon in which some muscles of the body become stiff instantly, rather than in the usual two to eight hours normal rigor takes to develop. The reason for such rapid rigor mortis, usually, is the extreme exertion of the muscles during the act of dying, especially as can happen during a struggle.
So, for instance, when somebody is in a struggle with another person before dying, the hand muscles may go into instant rigor mortis -- like in a mystery novel, when a button is tightly grasped in the hand of the deceased and is found later when the hand is opened. There are cases of people who have collapsed and died of a heart attack while long-distance running, and rigor mortis set in much faster in those cases, because of the depletion of oxygen and buildup of waste that occurs during such stressful exercise.
Although cadaveric spasm is not common, I have seen it. Because of the time factor, in order to see the condition, one has to view the body at the scene where it was found. One can find stiffness and rigor mortis in a body within minutes after death has occurred. As a medical examiner, I have seen cadaveric spasm in bodies that are taken out of bodies of water. In the process of drowning and in the exertion in trying to swim to shore, the hands of the victim, especially, become depleted of oxygen - and may have seaweed or other objects caught in the last grasp before death."
