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Monday, June 30
Today we started with a presentation on Anna about
osteology and estimating the demographic characteristics of a set of
remains. Then the class learned about the applications of forensic
entomology from the "bug doc," Dr. Dave Shetlar from OSU's entomology
extension. The life cycle of arthropod which are poikliothermic depends
largely on the on the temperature. This information can be used to
estimate the post mortem interval. In forensic entomology it is
important to document all environmental conditions. Samples collected
can be put into ethanol or a killing jar which consists of dried plaster
of Paris in a bottle and ethyl acetate. Live samples should be
collected in the surrounding twenty feet because DNA evidence from the
suspect can be found in blood that flying insects have eaten. We
finished the entomology session by examining a raccoon and groundhog
carcass to identify the major arthropods species.
Dr. Dave Shetlar of the OSU entomology extension service explaining the
concept of killing jars for killing insects to study them.
Some of the bugs Dave Shetlar has collected around Ohio.
A dead raccoon in sawdust - it has only been dead three weeks, but is
mostly decomposed now.
Empty pupae casing - these take at least fourteen days to mature so we
know the carcass must be over two weeks old.
In the afternoon session we discussed the
application of forensics to mass burials and disasters. In mass burial
search we learned that geophysical methods and witness accounts can be
used to locate mass burials. Forensics is used to gather evidence in
cases where genocide may be suspected. For both types of mass disasters
many different people are needed to work the scene. This can include
archaeologists, bureaucrats, odontologists, cooks, cultural and forensic
anthropologists and a host of others. It is the job of these people to
gather data, analyze and explain it to the necessary groups. For this
reason every part of the process is documented in tremendous detail
because the evidence may become part of the trial process.
If there was a major incident, in this case a simulated air crash, how
would manage the incident, who would you call, and how would you
maximize the evidence collected?
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