[An attempt at estimating the time of death based on limited data from death scene]

The paper presents a case of murder, in which an important fact for the investigation was determination of the time of death. The problem was lack of relevant data from the death scene resulting from delayed and mismanaged external body examination, and particularly lack of body temperature measurement. Due to the gravity of the case, despite the lack of body temperature record, an attempt at estimating the time interval in which death occurred was undertaken. The time interval of 10 hours during which death most probably occurred was determined based on the stage of development of postmortem lividity, rigor mortis and also depositions of witnesses. If, however, body temperature at the death scene had been recorded, which should have been a routine action, the accuracy of the time of death estimation would most probably have been much higher.