Why does the skin become pale shortly after death?

The phenomenon of the skin becoming pale shortly after death is known as pallor mortis.1

This process typically begins 15 to 20 minutes after death. It occurs because the heart stops pumping, which causes blood to cease circulating through the body. As a result, blood no longer moves through the capillaries, the smallest of the body’s blood vessels, leading to the visible loss of skin color. While this process is universal, it is less immediately apparent in individuals with darker skin tones.12