TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lutz, Lena
A1  - Verhoff, Marcel A.
A1  - Amendt, Jens
T1  - To be there or not to be there, that is the question - on the problem of delayed sampling of entomological evidence
T2  - Insects
N2  - The aim of the current study was to analyze two major pitfalls in forensic entomological casework: delayed evidence sampling and the effect of low-temperature storage of the body. For this purpose, temperature profiles of heavily infested corpses during cooling and cases in which insect evidence was collected both at the scene and during autopsy were evaluated with regard to species composition and development stages found. The results show that the temperature in the body bags remained at higher average temperatures up to 10 °C relative to the mortuary cooler, therefore, sufficient for larval development, with significant differences in temperature between larval aggregations on one and the same body. In addition, we found large differences both in species number, species composition, and the developmental stages found at the scene and during the autopsy. These data and observations underscore the importance of sampling evidence at the scene and recording temperatures throughout the cooling period of a body.
KW  - crime scene
KW  - autopsy
KW  - cooling period
KW  - entomological evidence
KW  - expertise
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/61792
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-617926
SN  - 2075-4450
VL  - 12
IS  - 2, art. 148
SP  - 1
EP  - 15
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -