Livor mortis is the effect of gravity on the non-circulating blood in a cadaver (corpse.) When a person dies, his heart stops beating, and when the heart stops beating, the blood stops circulating around the body. The heart acts as pump to get the oxygenated blood in all the organs, when it stops, can you imagine what the blood is like the corpse? It also stops moving. And so, the blood starts to move towards the ground under the effect of the gravitational force. Whichever way the body is facing, if it is lying on its back perhaps when it died, the blood will accumulate in the part closest to the ground, giving it a reddish-purple almost bruise-like appearance.
In the past, it was thought that the darkening color of the skin due to the accumulating blood were bruises.Now that we know better, we also know that if the part of the body that the blood is accumulating in is in contact with an object, that part of the body that is in contact with something won't get darker in color. This is because the capillaries are compressed and the blood cannot accumulate in those areas.
Livor mortis is very important in criminal investigations because it helps us know if the body has been moved after it has been killed. Livor mortis usually occurs within 3 hours after the person has died. If the person died facing down, then the blood accumulation would be towards the stomach. If the body has been moved and was placed facing another direction, then forensic investigators can tell that the body was originally facing down and has been moved.
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