QMy killer buries a body in a field. He wants to toss something on the body to aid decomposition. I remember something about throwing lime over the body to help destroy it. Is that right or should he use something else?
Simon Wood
Author of Paying the Piper
Bay Area, California
AThe putrefaction of a corpse is dependent upon bacterial growth. Anything that promotes bacterial growth will hasten destruction, and anything that kills off or slows the growth will slow it. Heat is the major factor. Warmth favors growth and coolness slows it. Just like refrigerating beef.
Acids and lye might destroy some tissues, but they can also kill bacteria, so they might actually work against your killer. His best bet would be to stash the body in a warm place and add bacteria. Fertilizer, the manure kind, not the chemical kind, would add a large amount of hungry bacteria to the corpse, and the decay process would take off.