If I was murdered and placed into a freezer, wouldn't my skin become frostbitten and turn black?

Question

We all know that your skin can get frost bitten if you get stuck in the cold. But, I have never heard of a frozen body being completely black from frost bite. However I have heard of a black foot, or a black hand. Why is that? Why or why not would my whole body turn black from frost bite?

Answer 1

I don't think it would turn black while still frozen in the freezer.    Frostbite victims have parts turn black when the tissue dies after thawing.  

Edit:  Fingers and toes are most likely to be frozen regarding frostbite victims.    When thawed, this tissue is likely to die.   Frozen cells might be considered to be still alive.  At least they are not deteriorating.

Answer 2

I think the turning black part only happens when you are still alive.  I worked with handicapped kids once and some of them had problems with circulation , especially with spina bifida, which is basically a congenital disease, in which there is no transmission of feeling below the waistline.  It affects pretty much, their legs only.  So having no feeling in the lower extremities they could not sense cramping due to circulation being cut off to their feet and legs.  Often this would go un-noticed for  a short while and a short while was all it took for their toes, it always seemed to crop up there first, to turn a almost black.  It was really a very deep purple.

We would then immediatly try to relieve any source of the pinching off of the circulation, elevate their feet and massage and whatever to get the circulation going again.  The black stage, if it gets there can require surgery to remove the now dead tissue.  And this can happen very fast, same as with frostbite and also bed sore problems.

We saw some films on bed sore patients and it was scary, as it could happen in a matter of hours and the people had to have an operation which I forget what they called it, but all the dead muscle tissue had to be cut away and removed.

I got the impression that the diseased tissue or muscle could cause a toxic effect to the surrounding tissue and it became an emergency to remove it.

But I think if you freeze a dead body this doesn't happen.  Although I have never seen it except on a murder mystery where the culprit is trying to throw off the coroner by keeping the body cool or frozen.

Answer 3

You know those food savers are really a great invention.  They take the air out and save the meat and it looks so FRESH!. Actually, freezer burn will just frost the upper layer.  It won't be black unless it was rotten when frozen.  If you soak in Vinegar first the meat will be just so tender! Yours truly Heloise!