Disposing of a body

[The Judge]

This is clearly a tragedy for those involved, and I don't want to make light of the gruesome nature of the death and the undoubted physical suffering of the poor man and the mental anguish of his relatives, but if anyone is writing a murder and needs to dispose of the body without leaving any trace Yellowstone Park accident victim dissolved in boiling acidic pool - BBC News

 

[Brian G Turner]

Oh, dear god, we set off the government monitoring stations again.

Just for those officials: this is a research discussion for fiction writers.

 

[The Judge]

I did say "is writing" not "is planning"!!

 

[hopewrites]

I have noted through the years I watched the news, and the fiction I've encountered, that it is often the perpetrator who gives themselves away by bragging about what they've gotten away with. (I assume anyone who doesn't care that they "get away with" won't be as careful as someone terrified of discovery. -Sloppy Criminals, I've heard them called.)

When writing such scenes, it is another thing to bear in mind.

 

[RX-79G]

I don't know if traveling long distance with a body to bring it into a tourist destination would count as "without a trace".

 

[goldhawk]

I have noted through the years I watched the news, and the fiction I've encountered, that it is often the perpetrator who gives themselves away by bragging about what they've gotten away with. (I assume anyone who doesn't care that they "get away with" won't be as careful as someone terrified of discovery. -Sloppy Criminals, I've heard them called.)

When writing such scenes, it is another thing to bear in mind.

Bragging is hearsay evidence. Unless the braggart includes details not known to the public.

 

[Alex The G and T]

A long way to go, indeed; and looks like it takes 24 hours too long.

Barely a dozen Miles SSW of the Humboldt Bay entrance, we have the The Eel River Canyon. All of a Sudden, the water depth drops from 300 feet to 3000. A couple of more miles West by South West and it's over 4000 feet deep, and then only a couple of more miles to the Abyss.

*sailing nonchalantly away; whistling random, skirling, atonal tunes*

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I did chuckle when a post notification popped up by The Judge, of all people, about disposing of bodies.

 

[The Judge]

I don't know if traveling long distance with a body to bring it into a tourist destination would count as "without a trace".

Oddly enough, I wasn't actually envisaging any of us going all the way to Yellowstone Park to do it...

If someone were world building, creating a land with such boiling hot pools might well come in useful. (An idea for a pseudo-Icelandic saga had already come to me the other day, and then I saw this and cogs started whirring.)

 

[hopewrites]

Bragging is hearsay evidence. Unless the braggart includes details not known to the public.

(First I read heresy, instead of hearsay... made more sense when I read it correctly.)

I'm not referring to going down the local watering hole and making drunken declarations. More like those people who post on social media evidence that they have gotten away with breaking the law (any law, not just the "don't murder" ones.) Or the string of child murders back in the 90's who all went to the media and loudly and constantly denied any involvement before they were suspect. All the real life actions that make one think of that E.A.Poe poem with the heart beating under the floor.

Call it Conscience, or Guilt, or whatever... it's that nagging feeling that thumps about making one fear the skeletons will come busting out of the closet.

Because if your going to write that the victim is taken to the body-disposal site (I assume it will be written from the perpetrator's perspective) you'll want to take into account how their emotions effect or even drive their actions.

 

[farntfar]

Glopitta glopitta!

 

[RX-79G]

Oddly enough, I wasn't actually envisaging any of us going all the way to Yellowstone Park to do it...

If someone were world building, creating a land with such boiling hot pools might well come in useful. (An idea for a pseudo-Icelandic saga had already come to me the other day, and then I saw this and cogs started whirring.)

What kind of story do you see writing where acidic hot springs are almost as common a spot to dump a body as a dumpster, pond or ravine? Will it be some murderland where everyone knows who the killer is, but can't convict him because the victims are never found?

 

[The Judge]

Not written it yet, so I don't know!

 

[ErikB]

In WW1 in Verdun France in the bunkers (and in other places) quick lime was used to dispose of bodies. It works well and works fast.

If you just need to dump a body George Hayduke in his book "Screw unto others" suggests the theater dump. Get a wheelchair and a floppy hat. Wheel the body into a movie theater wearing gloves. Leave the body in the disabled section. Movie theaters are manned by teens most of whom pay little attention to patrons.

By the time someone checks the "sleeping" handicapped body the disposer is long gone. But you have to be sure that all evidence is clean. A tricky proposition these days.

Of course there is always water. But this can be tricky. Dumping a body in the ocean works well if you puncture the lungs and weigh the central cavity with heavy (preferably natural) objects like rocks. Make sure you've removed clothing, jewelry, and teeth. Avoid depositing too close to reefs or popular dive sites. Deeper is better. It will take marine organisms around two to four weeks to strip a body of flesh. Its also important to know if the body was subject to traceable medical devices. Pace makers, breast implants, false limbs, foreign objects.

Forensic labs use flesh eating beetles to strip all soft material from bone. This can be done as well and the bone simply ground up into powder and dispersed or burned to get rid of evidence.

Creativity is the key. And knowing what methods will suffice for one's goal. Fiction writing must have basis in facts or at least believability.

Oh and allow me to assure any Government/s monitoring this thread that no actual humans were killed or discarded of during the making of this message. LOL.

Cheers!

 

[Ursa major]

I did say "is writing" not "is planning"!!

So not until your second post in this thread, then....

 

[JunkMonkey]

I have noted through the years I watched the news, and the fiction I've encountered, that it is often the perpetrator who gives themselves away by bragging about what they've gotten away with. (I assume anyone who doesn't care that they "get away with" won't be as careful as someone terrified of discovery. -Sloppy Criminals, I've heard them called.)

Or not. I know of a local man who (I have been told) has been known, when drunk, to talk about 'having got away with it'. His wife drowned under curious circumstances. He was, as far as I know, never charged with anything and is still at liberty. Nothing I have heard (and this is small community rumour and innuendo) would be admissible as evidence anywhere.

 

[RX-79G]

Rolling a body into a theater is one of those things that sounds pretty clever, until you have to deal with the busy parking lot, the ticket seller, the person who tears the ticket and every other person who looks with interest at the nice guy taking the handicapped person to the movies.

In the age of DNA, trying to disguise bodies is probably pointless. Either the body needs to completely disappear or be left where it falls. Everything else greatly increases the risk of contaminating the sites/vehicles and people involved.