Forensics - A Case scenario : Various Problems With Decomposed Bodies

The Scenario

The badly decomposing trunk of a young adult female (approximately 65kg) is recover from a fresh wet stream. The bole is floating at the surface when it is discovered, and is caught on some branches. The body is recovered from the water and taken to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine for an promethium and toxicological testing, but the cause of death cannot be ascertained.

Condition/Insects:

The body was found floating in a freshwater stream, it is about likely to have both terrestrial and aquatic (maggot) inhabitants colonising the body (Byrd & Castner, 2001), maggots are the primary insects in carrion (Wallman, 2002).



Terrestrial insects would solo colonise the parts of the body that are not covered by the water, these may hold,

Lucila sericata (Meigen) (Calliphoridae, order Diptera)

Lucilia Cuprina (Weidermann) (Calliphoridae, Diptera)

(Australian Museum online, 2003)

Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) (Calliphoridae, Diptera)

(Byrd, 1998)

Musca domestica (Linnaeus Muscidae,Diptera),Sarcophaga aurifrons (Macquart) (Sarcophagidae, Diptera)

(Geocities website, 2005)

Ptomaphila perlata (Kraatz) (Silphidae, Coleoptera),

Dermestes cadavaverinus (Fabricius) (Dermestidae, Coleoptera),Creophilus erythrocephalus (Fabricius) (Staphlinidae, Coleoptera)(Australian Museum online, 2003)

The following two insects also backside their larvae on carrion but are considered aquatic because they have aquatic larva, these include Asmicridea edwardsi (McLachlan) (Hydropsychidae,Tricotera),Creophilus grisea (Mosely) (hydropsychidae, Tricoptera)(Australian Government: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, 2004).

All the above listed insects should appear on the carrion at various stages providing that the carrions environment is appropriate to each insects requirements, however the species that are most important to forensic entomology are from the orders Diptera (flies) and Coleoptera (beetles) (Amendt, Krettek & Zehner, 2004)

Identification:

In this case the (young females) body is too soberly decomposed to make a visual appellation and with no identification (eg. Drivers License) on the body to identify her other methods need to be administered for identification. Fingerprinting and DNA analysis...

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