![]() Often flies can help estimate the time of death, as an entomologist can identify the flies or maggots, look at environmental conditions such as temperature, and thereby calculate the amount of time they have been growing.įorensic entomologists are often involved at crime scenes, and many suspicious deaths of humans and animals have been solved with the help of insects. Since then, research on blowfly growth rates, decomposition patterns in different environments and use of blowflies to clean up the wounds ( debridement or “maggot” therapy) have gained momentum. Meet the maggot: how this flesh-loving, butt-breathing marvel helps us solve murders The discipline of forensic entomology as we know it was not born until 1894, with the publication of Carrion Fauna: The Application of Entomology to Legal Medicine, by the French army veterinarian and entomologist Jean Pierre Mégnin. It was several more centuries before the scientific method was applied to the use of flies in criminal investigations. He showed how thinking “outside the box” using clues from nature can help in forensic investigations. Sung T'zu wrote about the case in The Washing Away of Wrongs, the oldest known book on forensic medicine, printed in 1247. After a short time, several flies swarmed on one of the sickles, attracted by the smell of invisible traces of blood. ![]() ![]() The first recorded instance of flies helping out in a murder case was during the 13th century.Ī Chinese judge named Sung T'zu was sent to investigate a fatal stabbing in a rice field.Īt the scene of the murder, he asked all the workers to lay down their sickles. ![]() From flies on a sickle to modern forensics ![]()
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