Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body

Welcome to Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body.

A dead woman's body was found rolled in a carpet along I-95 in Greenwich, Connecticut, around 4 p.m. on September 21, 1986. The investigator called on Dr. William Kinsky at the Yale University Medical School on September 22, and asked him to examine the insect evidence from the carpet and to help determine approximate time of death (postmortem internal, PMI) of the woman.

Gathering Evidence

Dr. Krinsky started his work on the case on the afternoon of September 22 and visited the Westport State Police Barracks around 1:20 PM to examine the materials left on the carpet from the victim's body. He collected a large maggot mass, a number of puparia (insects in a non-feeding stage between the larva and adult form where their last larval skin hardens), and few damage adult blow flies identified as black blow flies. He found neither eggs nor empty puparia. Only a small number of puparia (approximately 1%) were collected compared to the maggots (99%). He also noted that most of the maggots were large 3rd instar larvae (the last of the 3 larva stages).

On the afternoon of September 24, Dr. Krinsky visited the site where the body was found with on of the police detectives working on the case. At the site, Dr. Krinsky collected additional insect evidence as well as made other environmental observations including the vegetation where the body was placed, the direction of the sunlight, etc. Dr. Krinsky noted his observations and took the insect evidence to the laboratory for detailed examination and analysis.