Postmortem Microbiome Changes During Thaw for Autopsy: Two Pediatric Case Studies

This project will impact the forensic community and practitioners by providing the first case studies in which the bodies had been substantially altered and modified after death as part of the process of concealment. Since the bodies were completely frozen, data for this presentation also represent new microbiome profiles for two frozen bodies with estimated postmortem intervals that ranged from 22-32 months. Given the dearth of postmortem microbiome studies that have used samples taken during death investigation, this presentation will also impact the forensic science community by detailing the complexities associated with using microbiome information in one of a wide variety of death circumstances. It also provides unique microbiome data that may be useful for establishing long-term postmortem interval estimated that result from concealing a body in ways that slow or limit decomposition and subsequent microbial activity.