NCJ Number
216370
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 56 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2006 Pages: 972-999
Date Published
November 2006
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This experiment examined the usefulness in reconstructing crimes of the prompt analysis of bloodstain patterns from postmortem skin erosions caused by ant bites.
Abstract
The study found that postmortem bleeding from skin erosions caused by ant bites could be useful in diagnosing hypostasis (settling of blood in the lower parts of the body due to a slowing down of the blood flow begun at time of death) and in determining whether the body had been moved from the place where death occurred. Although the main value of hypostasis is as an indicator of the position of the body after death, it has also been found that if the position of the body is changed within 12 hours after death, then the hypostasis may change in position also. In the two cases described in this paper, ants were apparently the first group of insects to invade the bodies and devour the skin. Apparently, the tracks of bloodstains from these skin erosions increased in proportion to the time lapse after death. The first case study was used to show how the movement of a dead body was determined by using a bloodstain pattern from skin erosions caused by ant bites, and the second case study examined how bloodstains from ant bites caused confusion in the reconstruction of the crime. In addition to the analyses of two case studies, this paper also discusses the taphonomic significance of insects and ants, the criminalistic significance of blood stain patterns, and postmortem bleeding from skin erosions due to ant bites. 8 figures and 64 references