Insects Under The Skin? Ziploc And Matchbox Evidence In The Expert Forensic Stain Laboratory

Abstract

The idea of insects living inside and on the (human) body literally drives people affected by the thought crazy. We receive samples containing alleged insect stain evidence on a regular basis which on examination mostly turn out to be non-animal fragments of skin, hair, fibers et cetera. Those insects (mostly parts) found in the samples cannot survive in or on the human body and do not cause the reported health problems. We present cases from our forensic laboratory, collected over twenty years, together with information about the samples and our way to handle the clients.