Identification of Booth's body

[Christine]

With all due apologies to Laurie for using the "freckles" word here. hahaha!

Anybody have any opinion about the possibility that Booth had syphyllis, which could explain the freckles, jaundice, and personality shifts? Obviously that would not have been uncommon during Civil War times, and he certainly had many opportunities to contract the disease. Interesting.

Another possibility about the freckles - how do we know he wasn't carried upside down or on his face after his death? Which would result in blood pooling in his head area, causing Tardieu spots.

And another possibility for those pesky freckles. Looked up petechiae. A petechial hemorrhage is a tiny pinpoint red mark that is an important sign of asphyxia caused by some external means of obstructing the airways. They are sometimes also called petechiae.

Anybody know if bone fragments or bullet went through his lungs? I guess if he was paralyzed his lungs may have been also, which could have caused asphyxia.

From the Mayo Clinic,other reasons besides asphyxia which cause petechiae:

Tiny blood vessels (capillaries) link the smallest parts of your arteries to the smallest parts of your veins. Petechiae appear when capillaries bleed, leaking blood into the skin. A number of things can cause this bleeding, including:

Prolonged Straining
Medications
Medical conditions

Prolonged straining

Tiny petechiae of the face, neck and chest can be caused by prolonged straining during activities such as coughing, vomiting, giving birth and weightlifting.
Medications

Petechiae may result from taking some types of medications, including:

Phenytoin (Cerebyx)
Penicillin
Quinine (Qualaquin)

Infectious diseases

Petechiae may be caused by any of a number of fungal, viral and bacterial infections, including:

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection
Endocarditis
Meningococcemia
Mononucleosis
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
Scarlet fever
Sepsis
Strep throat
Viral hemorrhagic fevers

Other medical conditions

Petechiae may also be caused by noninfectious medical conditions. Examples include:

Vasculitis
Thrombocytopenia
Leukemia
Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency)
Vitamin K deficiency

Hmmm. lots of things which could have caused Booth's 'freckles.'