Decomposing Body Found Sitting in Chair in Remote California Town

A dead body found in a home in a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains may have been decomposing there for several years, officials say.

The body was found sitting in a chair inside the house in Wallace, California, on August 14 when a Calaveras County Sheriff's deputy was attempting to contact the son of a different deceased man, who was thought to live at the property.

"Evidence suggested more than three years," Calaveras County Sheriff's spokesperson Lt. Greg Stark told California news site SFGATE. "Due to the condition of the body, the detectives were unable to determine the cause of death or identification of the deceased."

Newsweek has asked Calaveras County Sheriff's Office for comment.

Dead bodies begin to decompose rapidly after death, going through several stages of decomposition at varying speeds, depending on the environment that the body is in. The fact that the Wallace body was unidentifiable indicates that it had been decomposing for a long time.

According to Aftermath, a crime scene and biohazard cleaning company, decomposition of a human body begins approximately four minutes after a person dies, and subsequently goes through four stages: autolysis, bloat, active decay, and skeletonization.

Autolysis begins as the cells start to die and burst, with enzymes beginning to digest the tissues. During this first stage, the body enters rigor mortis, which is a stiffening of the whole corpse caused by calcium build-up in the muscles peaking at 12 hours after death. After 48 hours, rigor mortis passes, and the body begins to decay further, with skin slippage beginning to occur, and bloating from the gases produced from bacterial decomposition within the gut.

The pressure of this gas eventually ruptures the skin, creating new openings for flies to lay eggs inside besides the mouth, eyes and genitals. Once the eggs hatch, the body enters the active decay stage, being fed upon by the maggots and other insects as well as bacteria. This digestion produces several volatile compounds like putrescine and cadaverine which can remain around the body site for a while.

A decomposing human body in the ground will release 32 grams of nitrogen (1.1 ounces), 10 grams of phosphorus, 4 grams of potassium, and 1 gram of magnesium per kilogram (2.2 lbs) of dry body mass, according to a 2012 study.

Once most soft tissues have been digested and the maggots have left, chewing insects will eat away at the tougher materials left behind like ligaments and cartilage. Eventually, only the bones remain, which will in turn crumble into dust over many years.

"The degree of decomposition varies not only from individual to individual but also differs in different body organs," forensic scientist Gulnaz Javan of Alabama State University, told The Guardian. "Spleen, intestine, stomach and pregnant uterus are earlier to decay, but on the other hand kidney, heart and bones are later in the process."

The speed at which a body passes through these stages depends on the environment, including the temperature, humidity, soil pH and oxygen availability. Certain dead bodies may mummify instead of decaying, usually if the body loses water from evaporation or freezing faster than its digestive enzymes can work.

"What you're looking for is something extreme," David H. Thomas, an archaeologist with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, told The New York Times. "It has to be really dry, or really wet, or really frozen, or really high elevation."

Depending on the conditions inside the Wallace property where the body was found, the human remains may therefore be in a number of different states after a few years.

The identity of both the Wallace body and the original deceased man have not yet been disclosed by the sheriff's offices. According to Stark, there were no signs of foul play.