Entomology

To paraphrase Indiana Jones, "Bugs. I hate bugs..." But they are great evidence and can be used to determine time of death. In some cases, they can be used to determine if a body has been moved from one geographic location to another. Certain bugs incubate and hatch at certain known rates. If bugs are found on a corpse, the age of the bugs can be extrapolated backward to estimate time of death.

Forensic entomology can be said to be the application of the study of insects and other arthropods to legal issues. Forensic entomology is one of the many tools with the use of insect knowledge in investigation
For hundreds of years, investigators knew that maggots swarming on the soil meant a corpse was probably buried nearby. But they considered the bugs a nuisance, a disgusting but necessary part of the job. In the mid-1980s, though, these insects emerged as valuable forensic clues. Around 1985, scientists started wondering what information insects provided about a victim's time of death.

Bugs are, after all, some of the first to arrive at the crime scene. The science of forensic entomology, or medico-criminal entomology, grew out of this new respect for arthropods.The feature with arthropods that are most important in medico-legal forensic entomology is that they are important carrion feeders that eat dead vertebrate bodies, including man. It is a tool for the future...

Forensic entomology is a useful tool to decide:

How long human remains have been undetected,
To find out whether the corpse have been moved after death,
The cause of death
Solve cases of contraband trafficking.
Estimating the post mortem interval.
Murder.
Suicide.
Physical Abuse.

A-Z in Forensics

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Bullet Track : The path of a bullet or projectile as it passes through matter, such as a body or a wall.

Never let yourself be alone in a crime scene.

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