BALLB 2013

Shashwat Jindal

Any person who gets involved in death investigations, becomes quickly aware about the
connection between dead bodies and insects. Insects are major players in the natures recycling
process and to them a corpse is just any other recyclable organic material. Left to its own
devices, nature quickly populates a corpse with a diverse population of organisms, all dedicated
to reduce the body into its basic compounds. For a layperson, signs of insects, worms, and
other organism on a decaying corpse is nothing but a sign of death, but for a forensic scientist, it
is much more. In 1235, Sung Ts'u, a Chinese death investigator, wrote a book titled 'The
Washing away of wrongs', where he gave a very interesting account of an incident, where flies
were to find a person guilty of murder; there was a murder in a Chinese village, and the victim
had been repeatedly slashed with a sickle. Even after a lot of investigation by the magistrate and
other investigators, nothing came out of it. Finally, all the men from the village were assembled,
and told to bring their sickles. In the hot summer weather, flies started assembling on the sickle,
which had residue of blood and flesh on it. Confronted with the evidence, the guilty person
confessed to the crime and was thus arrested by the magistrate. An example of how
entomological (evidence based on insect clues) evidence starting being used for investigation in
modern forensic science, was for the murder of a Lady named Isabella Ruxton, who was the
wife of a local physician in Scotland. On September 29, 1935, a woman found a severed human
hand over a bridge, which spanned over a small stream. After investigation, about 70 more
pieces of human flesh were found in that area, which has since also been known as the Devil's
Beef Tub. The pieces were finally identified as of Isabella and her maid Mary Rogerson. Among
all the evidence collected, it was found that a group of maggots were feeding on the
decomposing body parts. The investigators, identified the maggots to belong to a blow fly, called
Calliphora Vicina, and it was estimated that they were not more than 12-14 days old, on the day
of collection. The investigators concluded that since the maggots had developed from the eggs
laid by adult flies in the vicinity, the bodies could not have been there for more than 12-13 days.
This was the least time between the deaths and the finding of the dismembered bodies. Due to
a number of other reasons, the suspicion fell on Isabella's husband, Buck Ruxton, as only a
skilled physician like him could have so dexterously cut the body into pieces like this. Though
Buck never confessed to the murder, he was eventually found guilty and hanged.

Though presence of insects and other organisms on dead corpses has several times helped
forensic scientists in solving crimes, but they may also become an impediment for forensic
scientists while solving murder cases. Often, insects and other micro-organisms affect antemortem wounds on a corpse in such a way that the wound appears as larger than it originally
was. It may also happen that insects may leave certain marks on the body of the corpse, which
are mistaken for ante mortem wounds. In a study conducted by the 'Forensic Anthropology
Center at Texas State', it was found that marks left by arthropods on a dead body may often be
mistaken for "attack, abuse, neglect or torture". They also said that arthropod activity is often
"misidentified as sources of intravenous drug use, bite marks, [or] defensive wounds.
Entomologist Natalie Lindergreen from the SouthEast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility,

BALLB 2013

Shashwat Jindal

recounts an interesting incident, where an animal had bitten off the toenail off a dead body and
blood had started pooling at that place, making it look as if the cadaver had very brightly painted
toenails; one day, she noticed that a caterpillar had started chewing on a toenail of the cadaver
and because of which it had started looking as if a major ante mortem injury been inflicted on
the foot of the body. Insects and other organisms, usually start invading the bodies from the
natural body openings such as eyes, ears, nose and mouth, followed by the anus and genitals (if
they stay exposed). Sometimes, when there is an open wound, insects start entering the body
through these wounds; insects usually prefer to enter through ante mortem injuries or peri
mortem injuries, as these wounds often bleed profusely. Wounds inflicted after death are not as
attractive to insects as the blood flow slows down as the heart is no longer pumping blood. An
example of how real wounds were hidden due to wounds inflicted by an insect, is through an
incident which occurred in Tennessee a few years ago: The body of a young woman was found
in an advanced form of decomposition and it was difficult for the coroner to find the cause of
death. Investigators noted that there were some peculiar signs of insect invasion on the chest
and hands of the body. The case was then referred to the local entomologist and anthropologist
to determine the cause of death, even they were of the opinion that the patterns and marks on
the body were unusual and recommended further examination of the body. The body was thus
exhumed and the evidence revealed that the cuts to the ribs and hands were basically stab
wounds to the chest and defense wounds to the hands. This incident, further corroborates the
point that how insects may effect the dead body and make it difficult for examiners to determine
the cause of death.
Thus, a conclusion may be formed, that it is imperative for investigators to involve entomological
experts while solving crimes and make it a point to carefully examine evidence before creating a
conclusion. It is also important for investigators and other people involved in the handling,
examining and preservation of corpse to take care that no outside organism such as insects,
micro-organisms or even small animals and birds do not come and contaminate the corpse. For
this purpose, special provisions should be made, including cold storage and airtight containers
so that evidence is not tampered with.

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Shashwat Jindal

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