Tag Archive for: homicide

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Solving Murders Using Maggots and Canned Tuna

Female blowflies lay eggs, hundreds of them, on moist and juicy decaying matter that’s rich in microbes. These egg-laying sites include, among others, rotting food and the decomposing corpses of animals and humans.

Immediately after hatching, the creepy offspring of their fly parents—maggots—go to work using enzymes and bacteria to break down their food source into a mouthwatering broth.

Blowfly maggots consume their tasty meals much in the same way as gluttonous Sunday afternoon diners at all-you-can-five-dollar-buffets—heads down and without stopping to breathe.

Maggots, though, have an advantage over human buffet-eaters. They’re able to enjoy their feasts while simultaneously breathing through their specially adapted rear ends. Humans, however, are forced to come up for air at least once or twice during a roadside steakhouse feeding frenzy.

In addition to having poor table manners, maggots are a useful tool for homicide investigators. In fact, the first known instance of flies helping out in a murder case was during the 13th century, when Chinese judge Sung T’zu  investigated a fatal stabbing in a rice field.

Flies Don’t Lie

At the scene of the murder, judge Sung T’zu instructed each of the workers to lay down their sickles. Soon, attracted by the smell of blood, flies began landing on one of the sickles, but not the others. Sure, the murderer cleaned their weapon prior to the judge’s arrival, but the faint odor of the victim’s blood was still present. It was clear to T’zu who’d committed the killing. In 1247, T’zu wrote about the case in the book The Washing Away of Wrongs, the oldest known book on forensic medicine.

Today, in murder cases, a maggot’s rate of growth can help estimate time of death. For example, when detectives find maggots on a body that are in their early larvae stages, when they’re 5mm in length, officers then will have a pretty good idea that the victim has been deceased for only a day and a half, or so.

When maggots ingest human tissue as nourishment, they simultaneously absorb remnants of substances previously consumed by the deceased, such as illegal and prescription drugs, and poisons. Subsequently, traces of those substances are retained within the bodies and exoskeletons of the maggots.

An insect’s hard external skeleton is made of chitin, a substance that’s similar to the keratin protein from which hair is formed. Since an insect’s chitin stores consumed toxins for a long time, and blowfly maggots shed their exoskeletons twice as it passes through each of three larval stages, a toxicology analyses of those exoskeletons could be helpful in determining the drug use of the victim, poisoning as a murder weapon, and more. This is an especially important tool when working with skeletal remains. In fact, a forensic analysis of insects is more dependable than hair as a means to detect drug use immediately prior to death.

Mummy-“Flied”

How long are substances (toxins, etc.) retained in an insects exoskeleton? Shed fly puparial cases been used for toxicological studies of mummified bodies found weeks, months, an even years after death. Some scientists believe it’s possible to detect drugs in the insects associated with ancient skeletal remains. After all, cocaine has been discovered in the hair of 3,000-year-old Peruvian mummies, so why not the same for the bugs who once feasted on those bodies?

Most evidence, of course, comes from live maggots collected from the body at the crime scene. Those specimens are gathered by crime scene investigators and transported to a forensics laboratory for testing. The trick is keeping the wiggly maggots alive until an analysis is performed. Therefore, some scientists recommend that crime scene investigators stock cans of tuna as part of their evidence collection kits.

Pop the top on the can and maggots are then able to feed on the tuna until they’re properly secured and handled by a qualified forensic entomologist.

It’s also important to place maggots in a container with air holes (even though they breathe through their butts, they’ve still got to breathe to survive).

Now, who’s having tuna for lunch today?

Yum …

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Academy Instructor Detective Sergeant Dilly Pickle: Homicide Crime Scenes

Good morning, cadets. My name is Detective Sergeant Dilly Pickle. I’m your instructor today and my topic is Introduction of Homicide Crime Scenes.

Before we begin I want you to totally scrub your minds clean of everything you’ve seen about crime scene investigation on television and film, and that you’ve read in many crime novels. Much of the stuff out there is a convoluted tangled mixture of information that’s bad, good, and downright fantasy, so it’s best we start fresh, with the basics.

Now, let’s see a show of hands. How many of you think you know where a homicide scene begins?

You there, in the back … Yes, you are 100% correct. A homicide crime scene begins at the point or place where the suspect’s thoughts of committing the murder transformed into action. And, the “crime scene “continues to any place where evidence of the crime could be found, such as the entire route taken by the suspect as he left the place where the crime occurred—through the back door, into and around a garden shed, across the neighbor’s lawn, down an alleyway, the sidewalk on Maple Avenue, the abandoned dirt lot the kids use for baseball games, and, well, you get the idea.

Any questions? No? Let’s continue.

The primary homicide crime scene, however, is always the location where a body is discovered. Sometimes victims are murdered in one location but their bodies are transported to other areas as a means to conceal the crime. In those instances the place where the body is found is the primary homicide crime scene. The site of the murder, when it becomes known, then becomes a secondary crime scene. All other locations where evidence could be/is discovered—footprints, a cigarette butt discarded by the killer in the backyard, the murder weapon in a dumpster three blocks away, are secondary crime scenes. Of course, many times the primary homicide crime scene and the location of the body are one and the same.

  • A crime scene is any location where potential evidence may be located.

  • Scene of the crime is the specific, physical location where a crime occurred.

There are nearly as many different ways to approach and investigate a crime scene as there are detectives in line at donut establishments. I suspect their orders—chocolate-covered, glazed, bear claw, etc.—are as diverse as their personalities and ways they approach the job. But, despite the menagerie of varying quirks and thought processes, there are things that should be done at all homicide crime scenes. For example …

Document the findings at the crime scene:

1. Document air temperature at the scene (ambient air).

2. Document body temperature—cold, warm, frozen, etc. This is “to the touch.” Cops do not insert thermometers into any portion of a human body.

  • Algor mortis is simply the cooling down of the body after death. It’s the quest to reach room temperature.One method of determining the time of death is to take the rectal temperature of the deceased. Next, subtract that number from 98.6 (average, normal human body temp), and then divide the remaining number by 1.5 (the average cooling rate of a body per hour under average conditions). The result is the approximate number of hours that passed after the victim kicked the bucket.

3. Document livor mortis (lividity)—was livor mortis present, and at what stage? Was it fixed? Was body position consistent with the stage of livor mortis? Did someone move the body?

  • Livor Mortis, or lividity, is the pooling of blood in the lowest portions of the body. Lividity is caused by gravity and begins immediately after death. The telltale signs of livor mortis, the purplish discoloration of the skin, begins the moment the heart stops pumping. This process continues for approximately 6-12 hours, depending upon surrounding conditions, until it becomes fixed, permanently staining the tissue in the lowest parts of the body. When large areas become engorged with lividity, the capillaries in those areas sometimes rupture causing what’s known as Tardieu spots. Tardieu spots present as round, brownish blacks spots.

4. Document rigor mortis—what stage of rigor? Was the rigor consistent with the crime scene? Did someone move the body?

  • Rigor Mortis, the contracting and stiffening of the muscles after death, takes a couple of hours to begin and completes in approximately 8-12 hours. The process starts in the smaller muscles of the head and face and moves downward to the larger muscles. When rigor is complete, the process reverses itself starting with the lower large muscles and ending with the smaller face and head muscles. The entire process can last for approximately 48 hours. The body will quickly decompose after rigor is complete.

5. Document degree of decomposition—skeletonization, putrefaction, mummification, etc.

I know many of you have plans to travel to the beach this weekend, so before you go you should study the article below. And, yes, you”ll be tested on the information. So, please click the image to begin reading.

Bacteria Beach: Postmortem Decomposition and the Talking Dead

6. Document animal activity—was the body in any way altered by animals?

7. Photograph the body exactly as it was found. And, the ground beneath the body should be photographed once the body has been removed.

8. Document victim’s physical characteristics—description of the body, including scars, marks, tattoos, clothing, jewelry, and obvious wounds).

9. Make note of the type of on-scene emergency medical care, or the lack of treatment.

10. Document presence of body fluids and where they’re found (mouth, nose, beneath the body, etc.). Also note if there’s no indication of body fluids.

11. Bag the victim’s hands (and bare feet) in clean, unused paper bags.

12. Collect, or arrange for the collection of trace and other evidence.

13. Determine the need for alternate light sources and other specialized equipment.

DSC0097014. Photograph the victim’s face for future identification purposes (remember, most present-day identifications are done via photograph or video).

15. Make note of the presence of insects. Photograph and collect samples of each.

16. Protect the body from further injury and/or contamination.

17. Supervise the placement of the body into a body bag, and install the proper seal/securing.

18. Ensure the proper removal and transportation of the body.

19. Who, What, Where, How, and When. Who discovered the body? Who was present when the body was discovered? Where was the body discovered? How was the victim killed? When was the body discovered? Who witnessed the murder? Etc. Document all, no matter how insignificant it sounds at the time.

20. Document EMS records/activity. Obtain a copy of the EMS call sheet/report, if possible.

21. Document witness statements—what they observed, the victim’s actions prior to death, killer’s description, etc.

22. Note medical examiner’s comments.

23. Obtain witness statements and contact information.

24. Document the names and contact information of everyone present at the scene (officers, EMS, medical examiner, witnesses, etc.).

25. Be certain that all evidence has been recovered before releasing the scene.

Well, that’s it for today’s class. You have twenty minutes to change into your PT attire and assemble on the lawn outside the dorms. We have a nice five-mile run lined up for your enjoyment, followed by an hour of stimulating exercise.

See you tomorrow.

 

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OMG! Death of Person Killed By Cops Ruled a HOMICIDE

Yeah, well, don’t let those click-bait headlines get your unmentionables all bunched up, because ALL, and I repeat, ALL killings of human beings by other humans are homicides. And certain homicides are absolutely legal.

That’s right, L.E.G.A.L., legal.

New Picture

Yes, each time prison officials pull the switch, inject “the stuff,” or whatever means they use to execute a condemned prisoner, they commit homicide. All people who kill attackers while saving a loved one from harm have committed homicide. And all cops who kill while defending their lives or the lives of others have committed homicide. These instances are not a crime.

It’s when a death is caused illegally—murder or manslaughter—that makes it a criminal offense.

Murder is an illegal homicide.

For example, in Virginia:

§ 18.2-32. First and second degree murder defined; punishment.

Murder, other than capital murder, by poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, or by any willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or in the commission of, or attempt to commit, arson, rape, forcible sodomy, inanimate or animate object sexual penetration, robbery, burglary or abduction, except as provided in § 18.2-31, is murder of the first degree, punishable as a Class 2 felony.

All murder other than capital murder and murder in the first degree is murder of the second degree and is punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than five nor more than forty years.

Therefore, those seemingly dramatic headlines that read “Shooting By Cop Ruled a Homicide,” well, they’re often nothing more than words used to affect people’s emotions, induce a reaction, or to encourage people to click over to their website, which, by the way, is how many “news” outlets pay the bills.

So please, un-wad those unmentionables and don’t be a victim of media sensationalism.

By the way, how many of you clicked over to this blog because of the headline/blog-post title? Gotcha …

There’s still time to register for this extremely rare opportunity where you will attend the same training offered to top homicide investigators from around the world! This course of instruction is typically for law enforcement eyes only, but the Writers’ Police Academy, in conjunction with Sirchie, the world leader in in Crime Scene Investigation and Forensic Science Solutions, has made it possible for to attend this, the only event of its kind in the world!

MurderCon takes place at Sirchie’s compound located just outside of Raleigh, N.C.

Please, do your readers a huge favor and sign up today while you still can.

MurderConRegsitration

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