Wayne D. Lord

The Black Soldier Fly Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) As a Potential Measure of Human Postmortem Interval: Observations and Case Histories

The black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.), has been shown to be a ubiquitous inhabitant of both surface and buried human remains throughout the southern, central and western United States and Hawaii. Unlike most other species of forensically important Diptera, this species frequently dominates bodies in the dry/post decay stage of decomposition. Adults of the black soldier fly appear to initiate oviposition (egg laying) 20 to 30 days postmortem. Even at warm temperatures (27.8 degrees C), subsequent completion of the life cycle can require an additional 55 days. Life history data for H. illucens, when used in combination with data for other cohabiting arthropod species and viewed in the context of local environmental conditions, can provide medicolegal investigators with valuable parameters for estimating the postmortem intervals for badly decomposed remains.

Entomotoxicology. A new area for forensic investigation.

Insects and other arthropods can be valuable tools in death investigations. In addition to their use in the estimation of postmortem intervals, insects may serve as reliable alternate specimens for toxicological analyses in the absence of tissues and fluids normally taken for such purposes. Recent research has also demonstrated that the presence of drugs and/or toxins in decomposing tissues may alter the rate and patterns of development in arthropods using such tissues as food, thus potentially altering estimates of the postmortem interval. Current advances in the use of arthropods as alternate toxicological specimens and the effects of various drugs and toxins on arthropod development are reviewed here.

Insect Larvae Used to Detect Cocaine Poisoning in a Decomposed Body

Insect larvae are often found on human remains long after disappearance of the usual toxicologic specimens. It is important for forensic pathologists and toxicologists to recognize the potential of this unique specimen when routine specimens are not available. Cocaine and benzoylecgonine was extracted from Calliphorid larvae found on a badly decomposed body of a man who had been missing 5 months and was also identified in the decomposing skeletal muscle. This toxicologic information combined with the autopsy findings and the circumstances of the death and disappearance was essential in the determination of cocaine poisoning as the cause of death.

Child abduction: aged-based analyses of offender, victim, and offense characteristics in 550 cases of alleged child disappearance.

Crimes against children, particularly cases involving abduction and/or homicide, continue to be problematic as both a social phenomenon and judicial responsibility. Such cases routinely receive immense community and media attention and rapidly overwhelm investigative resources. Research in the area of childhood victimization, however, has only recently gained national prominence. While numerous studies on child abuse and neglect have been conducted, research on child abduction and homicide remains scant. Previous studies examining child abduction suffer from limited geographical scope or fail to base predictive analyses on victim characteristics. The current study reports the results of a nationally representative sample (47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) of 550 cases of alleged child abduction obtained from Federal Bureau of Investigation files for the period 1985 through 1995. Study results demonstrate that both offender and offense characteristics vary significantly according to victim age, gender, and race. Such differences appear critical to crime reconstruction, criminal profiling, and investigative resolution. Additionally, these data suggest that current child abduction prevention programs may emphasize inaccurate offender traits.

Behavioral Perspectives on Child Homicide The Role of Access, Vulnerability, and Routine Activities Theory

This article reviews existing research on the topics of child abduction and child homicide and attempts to identify and assess potential victim risk factors through a discussion of victim access, vulnerability, and routine activities theory. For example, are children of certain ages or genders more likely to be targeted by offenders? Who are the offenders in child homicides and what are the relationships between the offenders and their victims? Does motive or crime technique differ between offenders who have familiarity with victims versus those who are strangers? Ecological perspectives on child homicide are also discussed, including the concepts of competition, predation, and developmental victimology. Research that addresses these questions directly benefits law enforcement personnel, social workers, and forensic scientists actively working child homicide cases, and social scientists involved in the formulation of child homicide prevention programs and policies. In addition, this information helps improve prevention programs designed to protect children, helps children protect themselves, and provides potential avenues for identifying offenders in such cases.

Child Abduction: An Overview of Current and Historical Perspectives

This article summarizes research findings in the area of child abduction. Topics addressed include incidence rates and operational definitions of child abduction (legal and social), victim and offender characteristics, and motivation (e.g., maternal desire, sex, retribution, profit, and desire to kill). Risk factors for child abduction are discussed including offender reports of victim selection methodology. Practical application of research findings are considered including the development of more scientifically sound, effective child safety training programs and improved investigative resource management and search methodologies.

Mitochondrial DNA sequencing of beetle larvae (Nitidulidae: Omosita) recovered from human bone

The isolation, amplification, and characterization of human DNA from hematophagous (blood feeding) and necrophagous (carrion feeding) arthropods have been advanced significantly by the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) DNA sequencing methodologies. Historically, DNA technology has been successfully utilized to identify individual hosts upon which species of hematophagous arthropods have fed. The analysis of hematophagous insects gut content blood meals has led to major advances in medical entomology and vector-borne disease epidemiology. In the forensic arena, the ability to apply similar techniques to insects recovered from badly decomposed remains has been greatly enhanced through the advent of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) techniques. Mitochondrial DNA analyses have been utilized to identify both the human remains upon which fly larvae (maggots) have fed and the species of the larvae themselves. The preliminary work detailed here demonstrates, for the first time, the successful application of mtDNA sequencing techniques to the analysis of necrophagous beetle larvae. A small sample of sap beetle larvae, Omosita spp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), was collected from human skeletal remains during anthropological examination and analyzed for human DNA using mtDNA sequencing. The beetle larvae yielded mtDNA matching that of the host human bone. The results detailed here further demonstrate the robust nature of human mtDNA and the ability to recover valuable mtDNA evidence from forensically important, late decompositional stage insect species.

Combating Child Homicide Preventive Policing for the New Millennium

High-profile media coverage of crimes against children has heightened public awareness of critical child safety needs and issues. However, numerous research studies in the area of child homicide have illustrated the importance of the power of science to correct false perceptions and misinformation, improving how to best serve and protect our children. Age-based analyses of childhood crime patterns have vastly improved how law enforcement and social service practitioners identify, investigate, and resolve child victimization cases. Future protective efforts must involve multiagency and multidisciplinary collaboration. Law enforcement, social service clinicians, educators, and academicians should jointly develop and implement pragmatic and effective prevention, detection, and resolution programs and policies.

Comparative Patterns in Life Course Victimization Competition, Social Rivalry, and Predatory Tactics in Child Homicide in the United States

Culturally sanctioned child homicide practices and criminally motivated acts of child murder result in thousands of juvenile deaths each year. Whereas research elucidating the causes and mechanisms underlying child abuse and neglect has gained national recognition and prominence, studies specifically addressing child homicide have historically been scant. Recently, however, comprehensive empirical studies have facilitated the examination of child homicide as a successional, life course process of victimization. Although homicidal deaths occur in children of all ages, risks and dynamics are not uniform. Child homicide incidence is generally bimodal, peaking in early childhood and late adolescence, periods characterized by intense competition and social rivalry. Analogous patterns of conspecific lethality have also been noted in many nonhuman primates and other social vertebrates. Although not mitigating human responsibility, descriptive comparative analyses of the behavioral changes inherent in juvenile growth and development, childhood socialization, and social competition can provide valuable insights into the proximate and ultimate causation of child homicide.