Susquehanna Township High School

Forensic Science Class

Death Scene Investigation 2008

Death Scene Data Sheet Thurs., May 15, 2008

	AM observations	PM Observations
Ambient Air Temperature	76.2^OF	77.5^OF
Body Surface Temperature	77.7 ^OF	91.9^OF
Under Body Temperature	62.4^OF	70.5^OF
Soil Temperature (4 cm depth)	63.5^OF	71.1^OF
Maggot Mass Temperature	No maggot mass at this time	none

Football Stadium ticket booth at Susquehanna Township High School

Observations:

In the past 36 hours the deer corpse was moved from its location on the hill behind the school to on the roof of the football stadium ticket booth by some mischievous High School Seniors. The school district grounds crew was nice enough to take it off the roof and place back by the fence. Unfortunately , this changed the experiment because the body was moved . So with that said, this is what we found today...

The Death Scene Investigation continued today with observations made by the Forensic Science Class periods 6/7 and 10. Rose B. and Nick R. were our Crime Scene Photographers. The body was covered in what looked like a black powder, which upon closer observation, turned out to be fly eggs. When the body was flipped over, numerous clumps of eggs where located under the body. It seems that 2 different species of flies have left there eggs in different locations on the deer corpse.

The body has moved into the bloat stage of decomposition. The odor near the deer along with the distended abdomen are good indicators of this transition. The eyes were gone and rigor mortis is starting to be released . It was surprising not to find any larvae on the corpse. But with the large number of eggs we found today, they should be in full swing by tomorrow.

The gapping wound on the hind quarter is receiving the most attention from the blow flies.

The bloated abdomen is an indicator of this stage of decomposition.

An investigator checks the status of the rigor mortis in the limbs of the corpse.

Blow flies are searching for mates and places to lay their eggs on the corpse. Blow flies can find a dead body with several hours of death.

Other investigators were willing to get into the thick of things to collect insect evidence.

Beetles were quickly collected from under the corpse.

Temperatures will be collected from the scene on a daily basis. Since the deer has entered the bloat stage of decomposition, a strong order is evident at the scene.

Female blow flies searching out the prime ovipositions for their eggs.

Investigators use insect nets to collect adult flies from the scene.

Crime Scene Photos by Nick R. and Rose B., nice job !

Go to Day 7 of the Investigation

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