Fatal Phosphorus Poisoning Elucidated by Exhumation Three and a Half Years after Burial

Abstract

The detection of elemental phosphorus in a body exhumed after a prolonged time has seldom been reported. In fact, it has been given in evidence that it disappears by oxidation. Bosnjakovic (1902) detected elemental phosphorus in an exhumed body 467 days after death, while Polson and Tattersall (1959) recently described its recovery from a body 13 months after burial. In 1954, the authors investigated a case 3 1/2 years after burial. They were able to obtain positive results to elemental phosphorus in a number of tissues and so 3 1/2 years after death were able to confirm a case of phosphorus poisoning.