Dubai: Decomposed body found in building; insects help police find time of death

Insects have helped the Dubai Police determine the time of death of an unidentified, decomposed body found in an abandoned building.

The General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology said it uncovered that the person had died exactly 63.5 hours prior to the discovery of the body.

This came thanks to a special forensic entomology database developed in collaboration with NSF International. It relies on the scientific application of insects and other arthropods that are usually found in decomposing vertebrate corpses or carrions.

The database hosts information on insects' larvae morphology, growth histories, species distribution and toxic contents in their tissue and how they change according to each stage of decomposition.

Major-General Ahmad Eid Al Mansouri, director of the General Department of Forensics and Criminology, noted that studying insect populations and larval stages enables the police to estimate the postmortem index, any change in the position of the corpse, and even the cause of death.

"Forensic entomologists can also determine and detect any alterations to corpse's position, manner and cause of death, which can help investigators find leads to close cases and provide reliable and scientifically proved evidence for court," Maj-Gen. Al Mansouri added.

Determining the exact time

Captain Dr Sarah Ali Al Maqhawi, head of the Medical Examination Department, said determining the time of death was “crucial”.

"In forensics, we normally give an approximate time of death for decomposed bodies, and in this case, a few days was our best estimation. However, things changed when we exposed a mouse corpse to similar conditions and observed the species of insects that came into being and fed on the dead rodent and waited until they evolved into the same larvae stage of the man's corpse in time of discovery.”

Experiments

Captain Dr Sarah said the team had started conducting experiments to collect data from dead mice that were exposed to different geographical environments and climates.

"We distributed corpses of mice in mountains, shores, deserts, industrial areas and populated cities. We then put these under close monitoring, studied insects that fed on the mice over the decomposition process, made notes on how the environment variable affected the dead creatures and recorded the insects' larvae stages.

"These experiments contributed greatly to the Dubai Police forensic entomology database and enriched our knowledge on the link between policing and entomology," she added.

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sahim@khaleejtimes.com