CASE REPORT   

Minerva Medicolegale 2017 June;137(2):48-51

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4849.16.01761-2

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Spontaneous corification: a case of anomalous decomposition

Enrico DE DOMINICIS ¹, Giovanni ARCUDI ², Silvestro MAURIELLO ³, Luigi T. MARSELLA ³ ✉

¹ Institute of Legal Medicine, “Tor Vergata”, University of Rome, Rome, Italy; ² Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery “Tor Vergata”, University of Rome, Rome, Italy; ³ Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, “Tor Vergata”, University of Rome, Rome, Italy

We report a case of a natural corification of a woman found dead in her house after two years from her disappearance. The subject was a 63-year-old woman found in an apartment of a condominium located in the outskirts of Rome. Forensic autopsy showed a very well preserved corpse through a corification process with no external injuries observed. Corification is a special transformation process observed in corpses closed in metal lined coffins. This case report highlights the unusual characteristics of this special form of decomposition found in a domestic setting. The process producing this previously never encountered phenomenon is discussed.

KEY WORDS: Postmortem changes