Hair reported to have been found in the car boot
Not sure in which thread I should insert this. Just making a few notes on cadaver hair, considering that much has been made of this in recent news. And like all the other news sources, who knows how reliable the information is. For now, I'd give it about an 80% liklihood that the "hair news" is accurate. There may be some details about it, that got lost in the translation.
I wanted to get some information that clarified, why this forensic evidence would be interesting, and how the hair is different than simply that which is associated with "transfer" of hair on clothes, blankets, etc. I ran across this information on the "transformation phenomena of cadavors", which suggested that the condition (they refer to it as, transformation) of the hair, may indicate how long a cadaver has been dead.
"...and detachment after 7-15 days; hair detachment simulating baldness".
And another reference to this transformation:
"The dusky, greenish-purple face appears bloated with the eyelids swollen and tightlyclosed, the lips swollen and pouting, the cheeks puffed out, and the distended tongueprotruding from the mouth. The head hair and other body hair is loose at its roots and canbe easily pulled out in large clumps".
Reference:
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/notes/timedeath.pdf
Perhaps the PJ has reason to believe that this is what they are seeing in the car. The typical presentation of hair that has detached from the head, 7 to 15 days post mortem.
If anyone has any correction or clarification of this issue, please feel free to post.
Here are a few technical papers, perhaps someone has access to Medline searches:
1. Widy W, Andreas-Ludwicka B.
[Changes observed in the hair of corpses]
Przegl Dermatol. 1970 Mar-Apr;57(2):159-61. Polish. No abstract available.
PMID: 5447277 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2. WIDY W.
[Changes in the hair roots of putrefying & exhumed cadavers.]
Dtsch Z Gesamte Gerichtl Med. 1959;48(3):411-6. German. No abstract available.
PMID: 13652699 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]