Corpus delicti

In general, all corpus delicti requires at a minimum: • The occurrence of the specific injury; and • some criminal act as the source of the injury. For example: • Homicide: 1) An individual has died 2) as a result of action (or inaction) by another person. • Larceny: 1) Property is missing 2) because it was stolen. In essence corpus delicti of crimes refers to evidence that a violation of law occurred; no literal 'body' is needed. ==Murder cases==

When a person disappears and cannot be contacted, many police agencies initiate a missing person case. If, during the course of the investigation, detectives believe that they have been murdered, then a "body" of evidentiary items, including physical, demonstrative and testimonial evidence, must be obtained to establish that the missing person has indeed died, and that their death was by homicide, before a suspect can be charged with murder. The clearest evidence in these cases is the physical body of the deceased. However, in the event that a body is not present or has not yet been discovered, it is possible to prove a crime took place if sufficient circumstantial evidence is presented to prove the matter beyond a reasonable doubt. For example, the presence at a missing person's home of spilled human blood, identifiable as that person's, in sufficient quantity to indicate exsanguination, demonstrates—even in the absence of a corpse—that the possibility that no crime has occurred, and the missing person is merely missing, is not reasonably credible. ==See also==