Register or Log In. The Magazine Shop. Login Register Stay Curious Subscribe. Newsletter Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news. According to federal agents, the procedure involved filling a drum with litres of water, adding two sacks of lye, heating it until it began to boil, and then adding the bodies and cooking them for 8 hours.
Anything that remained was burned with gasoline. When police finally went inside they discovered vast vats filled with green gloop and bone fragments — the remains of human bodies dissolved in hydrochloric acid. The first victim, Alan Gergeri, had been killed in — his throat slashed with an ice pick.
The second, Mohammed al Jader, was shot dead in The Dutch family responsible apparently acted out of revenge; they believed Gergeri had raped one of their sons and accused al Jader of trying to blackmail them. The killers — the mother and one son — were sentenced to 15 and 13 years, respectively. Another son and an accomplice were also jailed for helping to dispose of the bodies. Image: NFI. Trending Latest Video Free.
Read our privacy policy. Forensic scientists have a way all of their own — how these substances destroy soft tissue, hair, nails, teeth, and bone. The annals of crime are filled with gruesome tales of using chemicals for body disposal. In , American biochemist Larissa Schuster used hydrochloric acid in a scheme to get rid of her husband. Thanks to the work of forensic scientists, we can piece together exactly what happened in these attempts to remove a corpse. When it comes to soft tissue, select acids and bases — typically H 2 SO 4 , HCl, NaOH, and KOH — wreak destruction via hydrolysis of large biomolecules such as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids , with possible further demolition of smaller units.
This better cleavage also explains why bases breakdown hair and nails more quickly than acids. Hair is primarily composed of keratin proteins , which are packed with the amino acid cysteine and therefore have extensive disulfide bonds. These contribute to the strength and stability of keratin , and help to resist solubilisation by solvents that readily dissolve other proteins.
Disufide bonds, however, fall prey to alkaline hydrolysis: hair dissolves in minutes in bleach or NaOH something anyone with a blocked sink or shower knows. Nails are also full of keratin; as with hair, researchers have observed they are more susceptible to destruction by bases than acids. Acids at very low pH beat bases when it comes to destroying bone and teeth, most likely because of the greater solubility of calcium apatites in acidic conditions. However, destruction of bone in acidic conditions is no quick job; at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, it can take nearly a day — or longer, depending on the acid — for bone to dissolve when fully submerged.
A team led by Cristina Cattaneo from the University of Milan, Italy, has examined the effect of acid and base immersion on porcine bones macroscopically, microscopically, and chemically.
Essentially, while acids to a better job in dissolving bone, highly concentrated and strong bases still cause significant damage. How do I know? Recently, a group of forensic scientists decided to engage in a gruesome act of myth-busting, and tested whether or not flesh really does disintegrate within minutes when dunked in acid. Massimo Grillo of the University of Palermo in Italy and his colleagues presented their results at a Feb. When the researchers placed pieces of pig carcasses in sulfuric acid, the flesh took several days to dissolve.
When they added water into the mix, they were able to reduce the dissolving time to 12 hours for muscle and cartilage, and two days for bones.
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