Abstract
This study highlights the importance of insect evidence by evaluating 949 insect-associated cases, including 139 entomological reports, from 2001 to 2019 at the Institute of Legal Medicine Frankfurt/Germany. With a high number of cases in the summer months and a low number in the colder season, 78.5% of the bodies were found indoors, regardless of year or month. In more than 80% of the cases, where PMI information was available (n = 704), the presumed PMI ranged from 1 to 21 days, a period during which entomological evidence can provide a day-specific estimate of PMImin. In cases where insects have been identified to species level (n = 279), most bodies were infested by one or two species with a maximum of 10 different species. Overall, a total of 55 insect species were found. Information on biology, activity and distribution of the most abundant taxa is given and applied for 5 case histories estimating different PMImins of up to over 6 months. Despite proved importance and scientific development of forensic entomology, insects are still rarely considered as a tool in forensic case work. The main reasons are a lack of awareness and (too) late involvement of a forensic entomologist. Our work shows that forensic entomology is an independent discipline that requires specialist expertise.
Highlights
Forensic entomology analyses insect evidence to draw conclusions on legal matters [1]
Forensic entomology is mainly applied for estimating the minimum postmortem interval ( PMImin), i.e. the time since the first insect colonization, by determining the age of insect stages developing on the human remains and analysing the successive patterns, pre-appearance [8
Forensic entomology has a long history of research and application and is one of the most important tools in court proceedings when it comes to PMI estimations (Gelderman et al submitted), not to mention its enormous importance in homicide investigations, especially during the first days
Summary
Forensic entomology analyses insect evidence to draw conclusions on legal matters [1]. Forensic entomology is mainly applied for estimating the minimum postmortem interval ( PMImin), i.e. the time since the first insect colonization, by determining the age of insect stages developing on the human remains and analysing the successive patterns, pre-appearance [8, 9], arrival, residency [10, 11] and departure of insects from a carcass. Larvae and pupae, more precisely their gut and tissue content, has promising information for the investigation of sexual crimes, such as rape [13, 14], especially when the victim was found in an advanced stage of decomposition [15], for genotyping human DNA to identify the source they fed on [16, 17] or for detecting drugs which were consumed by the deceased during life time [18, 19]. In times of climate change and further spreading of invasive species, the insect infestation of living people will be more common even in the Northern hemisphere and can be evaluated by analysing the fauna of the patient (to determine periods of neglect, to clarify questions of responsibility regarding neglect, etc.)
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