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[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

A body will sink without weights. The reason for the 600 ft rule is that at depth, the pressure is sufficient to keep the gases formed by decomposition from causing the body to achieve positive bouyancy. In other words, remains committed to less than 600 ft may return to the surface. Hence, concrete galoshes are required in the East River. Conversely, remains committed to 600 ft or more shouldn't require weighting. This is why some folks who drown in Tahoe (avg depth 1,000 ft) are never recovered. Off my local coast, because as recently as the Pleistocene the coastline was a full 30 miles farther out to sea, you don't reach the proper depth until you're past the Farallones. Most murderers don't account for the distance to the continental slope, and the ones who do, we obviously hear less about. It's pretty hard to reach a 600 ft depth in a freshwater body of water, which is probably why most people automatically think the Mafia way is best practice.

You've gathered a rather disturbing amount of facts about this. But have you accounted for the different buoyancy of salt and fresh water? And what the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow is?