Body -- How long after death before odor?

There wouldn't really be any smell. Leave a steak on the counter under the same conditions, it doesn't have skin to protect it, but still there's no appreciable decay or smell from simply leaving it out over 24 hours without extreme heat/moisture.

If the body voided there would be the natural odours associated with that.

Look for the search term "Body Farm" that's a place where they take human remains and place them in a variety of conditions to observe the decomposition.

Probably not a whole lot of odor, but a violent death can produce an odor fairly quickly, as well as being gut shot. However, solve your problem quickly by arranging the wind in whatever direction works best for your plot.

For other discussion about bodies and odor, see The smell of a corpse, Smell of a Corpse, and dead body discovered scene.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I have been in two dear death experiences and my bowels let loose on me both times. I survived but stunk right away...

There's a great documentary I saw recently on the BBC to do with decay. Here's the link if you want to check it out.

They use a pig in a kitchen as an example, but it could still be relevant.

Karen Junker said:

...a body... overnight ...40 at night to 50s in the day...
How far away from it can she be and not notice the smell? ..

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There are a lot of variables. How did the person die? Was it violent? Are there scavengers in the area? Is the body intact? What did the body smell like before it was just a body? Some people you can smell from a block away and they aren't dead yet.

Drachen Jager said:

There wouldn't really be any smell. Leave a steak on the counter under the same conditions, it doesn't have skin to protect it, but still there's no appreciable decay or smell from simply leaving it out over 24 hours without extreme heat/moisture.
...Look for the search term "Body Farm" that's a place where they take human remains and place them in a variety of conditions to observe the decomposition.

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Although you are most likely correct, in that it won't smell much yet, the analogy is not sound. A body has a gut. The gut has a lot of bacteria that as soon as the immune system is turned off, will quickly spread along the blood vessels. To make the steak analogy work, you'd need to innoculate it with a small amount of feces and place it all inside a plastic bag.

Also, yes, the University of Tennessee Body Farm would be a great resourse. Apparently a bunch of other body farms have popped up recently too.

thothguard51 said:

I have been in two dear death experiences and my bowels let loose on me both times. I survived but stunk right away...

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If you are alluding to the concept of evacuating the bowels at the time of death, that is a myth that it is universal. There are many variables involved and it is the minority of people when that happens.

GeorgeK said:

If you are alluding to the concept of evacuating the bowels at the time of death, that is a myth that it is universal. There are many variables involved and it is the minority of people when that happens.

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I can only speak about my experiences...