If I had a career do-over I think I’d go to Crime Scene University and study forensic science.
I recently watched a TV show on the Investigation Discovery channel and it took me right back to the days when I was researching for my book Who Killed My Sister, My Friend – entomological evidence, processing a crime scene—basically extrapolating death information using forensics (forensic entomology in this particular episode). I thought it was fascinating!
And I learned something new. The investigator is supposed to follow the maggot trail to find the ones that have traveled the furthest from the decomposing remains—that helps determine how long the maggots have been there (because of their developmental stage) and subsequently how long the corpse has been there. (I don’t know if that was done in Cindy’s case—when I review inquest exhibit report #89-1136 which stated that “nine jars of insect samples were collected at the death site from under and on the body, from the hands and facial area, and from the coat found next to body and slightly under,” I don’t see a mention of a maggot trail.
And from the recent TV show I also learned that collection (using sweep netting and sticky traps placed near the corpse) of adult insects in the area “must be started immediately [upon finding the corpse]” because “a high amount of law enforcement personnel in the vicinity may disturb the flies enough that they will leave. Collecting the adult insects is very important as it provides an indication as to what species of insects can be found in the corpse in the larvae form.”
Now, I’m going to get a little graphic here so you can skip the rest of this if you want to…
When I was doing research for my book I learned blowflies deposit their eggs on decaying matter of animal origin—including decaying human bodies like Cindy’s. The larvae grow rapidly and moult three times so that within 14 days they have developed fully (by the way, Cindy’s body was found two weeks after she went missing on the evening of May 25th 1989). By identifying which stage of larvae development each of the recovered and preserved insects are in, and comparing them to notes, the investigator would be able to count backwards in days to determine approximately when the first insect eggs were likely deposited on the body, roughly giving the day of death—or at least when the body first received insect attention.
Since the length of time spent in each larval stage is variable, being dependent on temperature, humidity and foodstuff, the temperature and precipitation records for May and June in 1989, for Vancouver International Airport, were compiled in an effort to hopefully determine the day of Cindy’s death. Those weather records plus the development of the insects were used to estimate the elapsed time since death.
According to these studies, which showed above-average May temperatures and 24.1 millimeters of rain during May 25th, 26th, and 27th, it was determined Cindy’s death occurred before June 1, 1989. That is the only conclusion that could be made with certainty, and it was hardly helpful in figuring out whether or not Cindy died at the death site around the time she disappeared or whether she could have died elsewhere, and her body later dumped at the death site.
It was then up to the autopsy findings to determine if she died at the site where she was found or if she was dumped there after death (obviously definitely murder in that case)—but even the autopsy could not produce an answer to that.
Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My Friend
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TV Shows and Clips about the Death of Cindy James