# Frozen Corpse (gross)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-corpse-gross/265837>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 24, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-corpse-gross/265837 "2004-09-24T07:03:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-corpse-gross/265837/1 "2004-09-24T07:03:38Z")

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A local businessman was kidnapped about 11-days ago. He was selling a vehicle and he was meeting with a couple from Tenn. who were interested in buying.

Poof, he was kidnapped.

Well today, he was found in a freezer in Tennessee (about 3 hrs away).

The police report said he was “frozen solid.”  
The coroner said his was going to do an autopsy today.

My questions … How long would it take for a healthy 64-year to freeze to death?  
How long would it take to thaw him out?

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**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-corpse-gross/265837/2 "2004-09-24T07:16:47Z")

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An adult can die from hypothermia in a relatively short period of time under the right conditions, immersion in cold water for example. Old people are more prone to hypothermia.

During World War II, many sailors survived the sinking of their ships by German submarines, only to perish from hypothermia before they could be rescued.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-corpse-gross/265837/3 "2004-09-24T10:25:44Z")

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In a domestic chest freezer just large enough to accomodate an adult, I’d wager that suffocation would occur before death by hypothermia (assuming the thing was sealed pretty much airtight) - the rate at which the refrigeration unit can pump out heat is limited - it is after all primarily designed to _maintain_ the frozen state of food and freeze down small amounts of cooled food - dropping in a large, warm human will raise the interior temperature for quite a while - the refrigeration unit will go like the clappers to try to bring it back down, but I’d imagine that this would take many hours, by which time the occupant (if still alive when he was put in there) would have suffocated.

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**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-corpse-gross/265837/4 "2004-09-24T17:39:40Z")

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> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> In a domestic chest freezer just large enough to accomodate an adult, I’d wager that suffocation would occur before death by hypothermia . . .

I know of the case to which the OP is referring, and the information released so far indicates that the victim had indeed died of suffocation, probably unintentionally due to duct tape placed over his mouth. It appears to be a botched robbery/abduction.

> [@jplacer](#):
>
> How long would it take to thaw him out?

Apparently, [longer than the Coroner’s Office thought:](http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/news/3757278/detail.html)

> [@](#):
>
> the condition of the body has forced them to delay the autopsy until either late Friday or early Saturday.

RR