-lk
t
)
n.
- Law. The material evidence in a homicide, such as the discovered corpse of a murder victim, showing that a crime has been committed.
- A corpse.
corpus de·lic·ti (d-lkt)
n.
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Occasionally, criminal
investigations reach a dead end because no victim can be found. Although it is
clear from the crime scene that a violent crime and abduction has occurred,
investigators are pressed to find a body. When no body is found associated
with a crime scene it is referred to as "no corpus delicti", no
corpse. Additionally, there are numbers of missing persons reported
by loved ones that go unfound. The
physical evidence associated with the crime scene is in the form of soil
and plant material on the primary suspect’s vehicle and footwear tread. This
evidence can be scrutinized for type of soil and plant material. The soil is
found to have come from Diabase parent rock, the underlying surface geology that
the soil has eroded from. The soil
is also identified as a particular type in the Brecknock or Neshaminy Series.
The plant material found on the wheel well is identified as seedpods
found in the soil originating from the soybean crop and mosses that only grow on
North facing slopes of the hills. Many of the small family owned farms in the
Middletown Quadrangle have soy and corn as their primary crop.
There are also urban areas and a large river nearby. None of the farms
are near the river because of the large amount of exposed surface rock
formation. Many of the farms are found within the limestone and sandstone rock
areas, although some are on the diabase even though it is poor farming land.