What does livor mortis indicate about a body?

Livor mortis refers to the pooling of blood in the lowest parts of the body after death due to the effects of gravity. This phenomenon occurs as the heart stops pumping blood, causing it to settle in the dependent areas, resulting in a purplish or reddish discoloration of the skin. The presence of livor mortis can provide valuable information regarding the position of the body at the time of death, as well as whether the body has been moved after death.

While livor mortis does not provide direct information about the time of death, it can help establish a timeline based on its development and the patterns observed, thus offering clues that can be combined with other factors such as rigor mortis and body temperature to estimate the time of death more accurately. Livor mortis is not an indicator of rigor mortis, the decomposition of internal organs, nor does it involve the physical change of organs directly. Thus, identifying livor mortis as the settling of blood after death makes it clear why this choice is the most accurate.