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	[quote name="marko52, televisionwithoutpity.com"]marko52 View Member Profile Find Member's Posts Channel Surfer Dec 16, 2007 @ 11:01 pm Post#33 Slightly nitpicky (and altogether morbid) point on Lila's death: From first viewing, it looked like Dexter used a fairly short (3-4") double-edged knife (possibly a Gerber Command II or Guardian) to kill Lila, thrust straight or at a slightly upward angle through the ribcage. Her death looked pretty damned instantaneous. Believe it or not, there are reference works on this subject; according to them, this technique shouldn't have worked. Per Captain W.E. Fairbairn (co-inventor with Eric Anthony Sykes of the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife), former police official in Shanghai and trainer of British Commandos, U.S. Marines, and OSS agents in WWII, a strike to the ribcage is a fairly dicey maneuver. The killer must not strike in the center of the chest, lest he be blocked by the sternum. Even if he strikes to one side or the other, unless the killer turns the knife sideways (with the flat of the blade parallel to the ground) the odds of being blocked by a rib are pretty good -- that's what the ribcage is there for, to block trauma to the heart & lungs. Even if the blade is turned sideways (as I think Dexter did in killing Lila), the average heart is located 3-4 inches inside the skin. In short, even if his technique was perfect, the knife Dexter was using was barely long enough. It is for this reason that Fairbairn and others recommend using a much longer knife (my F-S fighting knife, measured tonight, has a 7 inch blade), and striking under the ribs at an upward angle. By this method, you avoid the sternum and the ribs altogether. According to the table on p. 99 of Capt. Fairbairn's 1942 magnum opus <i>Get Tough!</i>, a properly-landed knife stroke to the heart should result in immediate loss of conciousness, and death within 3 seconds.[/quote]