D. P. Lyle - Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers

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Table of Contents

This book is not solely mine. It belongs to many people. So, to each and every writer who submitted a question, I thank you for your curiosity, your amazing imagination, and your dedication to getting it right. I have learned as much from researching and answering your questions as I hope you have from my answers.

To each and every reader, I hope this book answers some of your own questions, raises your level of understanding of medical and forensic issues, causes new questions to sprout within your own mind, and, most of all, stirs your creative juices.

Murder and Mayhem
Forensics for Dummies

Now that you have completed this book, I hope you have learned something from the questions and answers inside. Some questions were simple and straightforward; others complex, sophisticated; and still others downright bizarre.

Yet, each question reveals the incredible imagination, curiosity, and dedication to getting it right that is essential for credible storytelling and fiction writing. As I said in the introduction, I believe these questions provide insight into the creative process and demonstrate the depth of commitment to craft that is found in successful writers of fiction.

I hope you found these pages interesting, informative, and stimulating. It is my sincerest wish that this information will improve your own writing and reading, and will stir your creative juices.

Thank you for your time, interest, and curiosity.

Visit Dr. Lyles Web site, the Writers Medical and Forensics Lab, at www.dplylemd.com .

Q: What would be the symptoms and visible signs of being bled to death? The situation in my story is a man being bled to death by way of blood transfusion tubes.

Marion Arnott
Paisley, Scotland
Author of Sleepwalkers

A: Blood is a liquid filled with various cell types, one type being the red blood cells (RBCs). These contain hemoglobin, a molecule that carries oxygen (O2) from the lungs to the tissues and removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the tissues and transports it to the lungs, where it is exhaled with each breath. Bleeding, depending upon how rapid it is, leads to two basic derangements. One is a drop in blood pressure (BP), resulting in shock, and the other is the development of anemia, which is a low level of RBCs in the blood. The former is due to a rapid drop in the volume of the blood (think bleeding air from a tireas you do, the pressure within the tire falls) and the latter is due to a loss of the blood cells that carry oxygen.

In your scenario, if the blood is removed rapidly, the volume of blood in the victims body falls, which causes a drop in BP, and results in shock and, if not treated appropriately and quickly, death. This is what happens when someone exsanguinates (bleeds to death) after an auto accident, a gunshot wound (GSW), or a rapidly bleeding ulcer. Depending upon the size of the person, the body contains from 8 to 12 pints of blood. The rapid loss of 3 or 4 pints would lead to shock in most people. So, if the blood were removed from your victim rapidly, his BP would fall and he would begin to show signs of shock.These signs and symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, dizziness, chills, thirst, and as it progresses, confusion, disorientation, sleepiness, coma, and death. This could happen over a few minutes or an hour or so, depending upon how rapidly the blood was removed.

If the bleeding is slow (your villain removing a little blood each day) the person will become progressively anemic. In anemia the RBC count is low, so the ability of the blood to transport O2 to the body is reduced. Why? Less RBCs per ounce of blood means that each ounce of blood pumped by the heart carries less O2. This means the tissues receive less O2 and the symptoms of anemia reflect this reduction. They include shortness of breath (particularly with activity), fatigue, weakness, lethargy, headache, pallor (pale appearance), and chills. If your perpetrator bled your victim to death slowly, by removing blood little by little, these symptoms and signs would develop and progress as the anemia worsened. This could occur over many hours, days, or weeks.

Q: A character in my story is trapped in a cool, dark cave with no food or water for several days. The gist of the story shows the rescuers trying to find him intercut with scenes of what he goes through emotionally and physically. He is in excellent physical shape, early twenties, but almost dies from the experience. How long would that take? Any gritty details?

Tammy Guest
Atlantis Project
Deydreem Productions

A: If your victim had a sufficient supply of good air, the major threats to his life would be dehydration and hypothermia (low body temperature). If he had enough warm clothing or materials to make clothing from, such as canvas or some other material, hewould be able to avoid hypothermia for a longer period of time. If not, he would lose heat from his body fairly quickly. How quickly? That depends upon the actual temperature within the cave and whether the environment was damp or dry. Cold and wet would do him in more quickly.

The symptoms of hypothermia would be shivering, fatigue, weakness, and aching in his muscles and joints. As it progressed he would become lethargic, confused, and disoriented. He might even hallucinate. He would ultimately slip into a coma and die if not rescued. The presence of dehydration would magnify these symptoms.

Dehydration is sneaky and comes on at varying rates. If he is well hydrated at the beginning, has no significant medical problems, takes no dehydrating medications such as diuretics, does not consume alcohol, and doesnt overexert himself (sweating and heavy breathing take water from the body very quickly), it could take a couple of days before he showed signs of dehydration. It would then take several more days before he got into trouble, and a week or more before he was in danger of dying. It is highly variable, so this gives you great leeway in how you construct your story.

The symptoms of dehydration are similar to those of hypothermia. The general order of their appearance is: thirst, fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, dizziness, disorientation, confusion, delusions, hallucinations, loss of consciousness, coma, and death. In a hot desert this sequence could play out in twelve hours, more or less. In your scenario it could take three to eight or so days, depending upon the above variables.

Q: Im writing about a twelve-year-old boy of average build who jumps out of a boat off the coast of Maine. The average water temperature in that area is approximately55 degrees Fahrenheit. How many minutes could he live before dying of hypothermia?

A: Hypothermia onsets in the young and the old more quickly than it does in the average adult. Water temps in the mid 50s can definitely lead to hypothermia in a short period of time. The exact time is widely variable, depending upon such things as the victims size, weight, percent of body fat, type of clothing, last meal, alcohol or drugs in the system, general health, and the movement of the water, to name a few. Large, obese, well-clothed people last longer. A recent large meal or alcohol intake will hasten heat loss, as will moving water. Think wind chill, only in the water. A cold stream or a choppy sea would remove body heat faster than would a calm cove.

Youve no doubt heard of children drowning in frozen lakes and being pulled out forty-five minutes or more later and surviving without any problems. The reason is that the water is so cold (near freezing) that the metabolic processes in the body are slowed, and thus the body survives with no oxygen. This seems to occur only in children. But, your 55 degrees wont work in that fashion. Thats just not low enough to freeze the body.

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