I am running behind and want to add comment on all the new posts but it doesn't look like I have time right now. I did want to quickly tell Elyssa that I believe Rab did research this. Hopefully he will read this thread and post what he found out, or you might want to register and utilize the "private message" feature available to all Members and send him one with your question.
I have a copy of James Walsh's report on this matter. He was one of the Investigators who worked for Fawcett. Walsh claimed to have checked up on all of the weather reports for the 72 days from the abduction to discovery of his body. He said the average temperature for March was 37 degrees, for April was 49 degrees, and for May 55 degrees. He adds that 20 days in April never broke above the 30's, and reminds the reader that the body had been found partly buried and in a shady section under brush and trees and points out the temperature would be even a few degrees lower in that spot as a result.
Now Walsh's contention is this corpse was far too decomposed under the circumstances. I will try to list some of his points made within his report (not word for word unless quoted)....
1. External conditions affect the decomposition which are air, moisture, and temperature. Air modifies putrefaction according to the amount of moisture it contains.
2. The temperature most favorable to the process of steady decomposition is 70 degrees. He says it is arrested at 32 where most microorganisms are killed. He claims the lower the temperature is below 70 the slower the decomposition until "
it gets to 50 degrees where the decomposition slows down and ceases altogether at 32."
Walsh mentions 50 degrees as the bench-mark for "
active" decomposition and 70 as the bench-mark for "
steady" decomposition.
3. Body found terribly decomposed and it was "
impossible" for it to be in this state of decay if subjected to the weather as indicated.
4. Walsh concludes this corpse was in an area of intense heat for most of the time he was missing or that he had been dead much longer minus this intense heat.
I don't know what his qualifications are other then a Private Investigator although I can tell he is consulting Experts for advice and opinions. For example, he contacts
Fischer's Laboratories in Chicago concerning the child's unclosed fontanel and they told him this should have been closed much earlier...etc. However, no source is listed for the above information.
Remember, this is coming from Walsh and not me so I suppose this can be easily checked by emailing and asking a forensic pathologist for their advice concerning what he has written.