Question

The police received a report about a body found in the woods behind the local shopping center. The forensic investigator collected 5 different types of living insects on the man’s body. It’s important to stress that investigators found all 5 insects alive on the body at the same time. The insects were sent to the forensic entomology lab, where they were raised under similar conditions to those found around the dead body. The following chart describes the life cycles of each of the five different types of insects found on the dead body. How long has the man been dead? Justify your answer.

Day
Insect 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Blowfly 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Species A 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
Species B 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
Species C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Species D 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1
Update:
The police received a report about a body found in the woods behind the local shopping center.? Forensic science
Update 2:
The police received a report about a body found in the woods behind the local shopping center. Forensic science question?

Answer 1

The man has been dead for 9 days. This is because this is the only day on the chart where all the types of insects coexist.

Explanation:

5 species of insects were found at the same time alive on the dead man's body.

These 5 insects are then sent to the lab to be studied and larvae/eggs from them, raised under similar conditions to the conditions of the dead body.

The activity the eggs are them studied and presented in the chart provided

Insect/Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Blowfly 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0

Species A 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1

Species B 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0

Species C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Species D 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1

Note that 0 represents a non-activity on the part of the egg of the insect specie.

From the chart, the first time all 5 insects coexist together at the same time just like they were found in the dead body is on the 9th day. Before the 9th day, all 5 insects do not coexist at the same time and even beyond the 9th day, on the 10th day, insect specie B stops existing.

So, it is evident that the man has been dead for 9 days as that's the only day on the chart where all the types of insects coexist.

Hope this Helps!!!