On 11 July 2017, the dead body of a 39-year-old man was found in his apartment in a small district town in the eastern Ruhr area in Germany. The man was last seen in a small district town in the eastern Ruhr area in Germany. He suffered from a personality disorder, as well as drug and alcohol addiction. The body was found near the town center. There was urban greenery vegetation in the street; yet, there were no parks or larger green areas near where the body was found. The apartment was untidy; the body was lying on the floor, clothed in sweatpants and a pullover. Greasy brown deposits on the front left outer edge of the sofa and on the upper edge of a bucket for excrement and vomit alongside the sofa to the left were visible. The bed sheets in the bedroom also exhibited similar brown deposits.
Fig.1 Finding situation of the body.
The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, and the skin on the trunk and back, as well as the extremities, did show some red–green to grey–green color. The epidermis of the stomach area had detached in strips in places. Much of the epidermis of the trunk was detached. While the front side of the upper body was dried out, the back section appeared damp and putrid.
Fig.2 Distinct dried-out areas of the face.
Fig.3 Distinct dried-out areas of the hands.
There were numerous maggots and fly pupae found on both the body and in the clothing of the deceased, and numerous egg clutches were present too. Tissue defects had been caused by feeding blowfly larvae on the left lower side of the thorax, the flank area, and above the side area of the right eyebrow. Maggots were found on and in parts of the corpse, as well as in the perineum and anus. The left arm was covered in clothing that otherwise appears to have been pulled up to the neck; the right arm and the entire upper body were uncovered up to the neck by the clothing. In contrast to the rest of the body, hands and feet were clearly mummified. In particular, the hands at the wrist were strongly distinct from the lighter skin of the upper arm.
Fig.4 Distinct dried-out areas of the feet.
Fig.5 Distinct dried-out areas of the feet.
The clothing may have been pulled up by the emergency physician so that the clothing had formerly protected the area of the body underneath against desiccation. Sun was shining from both the left side as well as from above onto the body. The lower side of the foot that was facing the left window was mildly dried out; the head was turned in the direction of the upper window and also exhibited dryness (partial mummification) in the forehead, nose, and eye area.
Fig.6 Brownish greasy spots on the left forward outer edge of the sofa as well as on the edge of the bucket on the left side of the sofa.
Latest posts
