maneesha pandey is a consultant to this program. pandey: in a hanging, usually what i would look for is a ligature to see, you know, how the neck is, what kind of ligature has been used. and what is a ligature? it's anything which is used to compress your neck. narrator: a hanging will usually create a v-mark at the back of the neck because the pressure is coming from below, from the victim's weight. it goes upwards and goes up behind the ears and then comes up to the back of the head in a v-shaped fashion, so it will come out like this because the noose is at that "v." narrator: but if someone is strangled, the mark looks different because the pressure usually comes from behind the victim. there's no v-shape. there's no angling up behind the ears, and it just goes around. and the ligature mark is going to be similar to all the -- you know, whatever ligature has been used. narrator: scott claimed that when he found margaret's body, the first thing he did was cut the rope from around her neck. but amazingly, after her exhumation and