Recovery of a mummified pregnant woman from a 55-gallon drum more than 30 years after her death.
The body of a 28-year-old near-term pregnant woman was found in a 55-gallon steel drum in a crawl space under a house more than 30 years after her disappearance and death. At autopsy the body was remarkably well preserved and mummified, as was that of a male fetus. The decedent had 10 scalp lacerations and multiple comminuted depressed skull fractures and had died as a result of blunt force head trauma.
Nassau County Medical Examiner's Office, East Meadow, New York, New York 11554-0160, USA. tomtox@aol.com
Gerard
G
Catanese
Tamara
T
Bloom
D000328:Adult; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D020378:Confined Spaces; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006708:Homicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D009106:Mummies; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011247:Pregnancy; D013997:Time Factors