Dr. Daniel Westcott

It depends on the time of year, but it can range from three or four days to a few weeks.

Usually here, probably within about five days, they're going into bloat.

And once that happens, then the other thing that's happening is that you're also getting flies that are attracted to the body, and those flies are laying eggs, and they tend to lay eggs in natural orifices, so they like the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, stuff like that.

So those maggots will hatch, and there again, depends on the species and the temperature, depends on how long it takes, but usually a few days to a week or so, and they start feeding on the body as well.

So you've got that process going on, and then you've got the internal organs are decomposing, and so those internal organs are kind of liquefying.

And with the gas that's building up, that liquid gets pushed out, and that's what we call the purge phase.

So you get what's called purge fluid.

And so it's just a dark fluid.

No, it's just a combination of all the internal organs that have decomposed.

It is a big place.

All right, so we turn between the first two telephones.

So our first stop will be at the shed there to put on booties.

In reality, what the booties are for is so that in case you actually step in something, you don't drag it back to your car.

That's exactly why.

Everybody thinks it's so that it's like protecting the scene, but it's actually so that you don't drag home decomp fluid on your shoes.

Right.

All right.

Let's see.

We'll start this way.

So, typically, the way that this works is...