Why Is Lime Used For Dead Bodies. It is a commonly held belief that lime can be used to enhance the speed of decay to reduce the likelihood of detecting a body to destroy evidence and that ultimately lime will lead to the rapid and total destruction of human remains. Two pigs were buried with lime as the control group.
Dec 22 2000 A survey of case studies has shown that lime is sometimes placed in the grave by an assailant presumably to hasten the decay of the victimPreliminary results indicate that the presence of lime in the grave significantly slowed the decomposition of the soft tissues most likely because the substance dehydrated the remains and reduced access by necrophilous insects. Also during the time of the plague in Europe bodies were buried in lime to mark them and avoid digging them up and spreading disease. A new study by Schotsmans et al.
Dec 25 2005 In the case of Chlorinated lime the effect is much the same though it is used more often because of its disinfectant properties which serve to mask effectively the stench of decomposing flesh.
This will reduce the odour of decomposition. Whether its taking body temperature to determine time of death or checking for fingerprints to determine the murderers identity investigators trying to solve the crime puzzle benefit greatly from an uncompromised body. The military used lye pits. It will also neutralize and immobilize acidic components formed in the decomposition process.
