Question

A Forensic Entomologist is called to a crime scene where a body is found with maggots covering it. The Entomologist takes samples of many of the maggots found and then turns to the Forensic Investigator and says "I can say with certainty that the time of death is about 4:00pm 4 days ago."

2) What would have been a more appropriate response?
3) What analysis should be performed in order to determine an estimated postmortem interval?

Answer 1

Answer 2:

A more appropriate response would be the investigator not saying anything with certainty without analyzing accurately. Although his depicted day might be correct but the depicted time can not always be correct by just simply looking at the maggots.

Step-by-step explanation:

Forensic Entomologists can predict much information of a crime scene by looking at the insects and their developmental stages which are present on the victim's body.

However, this kind of estimation or prediction cannot always be considered accurate because there are some limiting factors due to which the prediction can be wrong. For example, certain environmental conditions might have led to the development of the maggots too early or too slow.

Answer 3:

There are various types of analysis that can be performed nowadays to estimate the postmortem interval such as biochemical assessment or DNA technology.

Step-by-step explanation:

Some of the methods which can be used for estimated post mortem interval are :

Histo-morphological analysis: If an early phase post mortem has to be done, then this technique is effective. Blood cells can be identified and examined up to 84 hours of death.

DNA technology: This method is novel and most accurate for determining the post mortem interval. In this method, the degeneration time of DNA, mRNA or proteins allows us to predict when the death might have actually occurred.