Project Number: WVA00024
CRIS Number: 0032576
MISCELLANEOUS INSECT AND INSECTICIDE STUDIES
Investigators: Amrine, J. W., Butler, L., Hogmire, H. W.
Performing Department: Plant & Soil Sciences -- 1825
Start Date: 01/01/1995
Termination Date: 12/31/2006
Reporting period: 01/01/2001 to 12/31/2001
Progress Report:
In collaboration with the Northern West Virginia Medical Examiner, Dr. Jack Frost, MD, and the WVU Forensic Identification Program, collections of arthropod specimens were made from two additional human bodies and associated crime scenes in West Virginia in 2001. Collected arthropods were identified and the information added to our computerized database, facilitating improved identification of forensic specimens of importance in West Virginia, improving interpretation of information from crime scenes, and allowing us to use additional species for the estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI). A two-year grant for research in Forensic Entomology will be funded, beginning in 2002. Data from larvae of Phaenicia sericata, collected from a homicide scene in Fairmont,WV in 2000, were analyzed and the PMI calculated in preparation for a court case now scheduled for April, 2002 [additional information can not be provided until after the case is completed]..
Publications: (No publications.)
Impact:
Collecting additional specimens from human forensic cases will allow expansion of our collections and computerized database of forensic entomology and help to refine techniques for determining the postmortem interval (PMI) in crime cases. This information will be diseminated to other forensic entomologists to aide them in their forensic entomology service.