Postmortem Lividity Color Change During Rewarming Following Cold Storage: A Case Report of Drowning

Postmortem lividity typically presents as purplish discoloration due to the accumulation of deoxygenated blood in dependent body regions after death. However, certain pathological and environmental conditions can alter its appearance, occasionally resulting in a cherry-red hue that may mislead forensic interpretation. We report a case of drowning in which postmortem lividity appeared cherry-red following cold storage but gradually turned purplish during surface rewarming before autopsy. This observation illustrates the reversible, temperature-dependent behavior of lividity dominated by oxygenated hemoglobin (O₂Hb), contrasting with the stable coloration seen in carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Understanding such changes is critical in forensic evaluations to avoid diagnostic pitfalls associated with livor mortis coloration.