European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

APPLICATION OF FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGY TO ESTIMATE POST-MORTEM INTERVAL (PMI) IN MAMMALIAN MODELS IN BANGLADESH

Rikta Khatun*, Md. Golam Mostafa and Saadia Ahmad

ABSTRACT

Forensic entomology is used as an important tool to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI) or time elapsed since death, which is crucial for linking a victim with a suspect in suspicious death case investigations. This research work included two case studies, in which estimates of the PMIs were performed using accumulated degree-hours (ADH) method. In both case studies, the PMI estimations were based on the biology of sheep blow fly, Lucilia sericata in two mammalian models- mongoose and mouse in Jahangirnagar university campus, Bangladesh. In the first case study, the calculation suggested the death of the mongoose at around 15.49 hours on 19th February 2018 and the calculated PMI based on the 3rd instar larvae was 3.65 days. The skeletal observations revealed that some of the bones particularly in the vertebral column of the cervical area were found displaced giving the proof of the death of the animal by traffic accident because the location of the death spot was a busy road. In the second case study with a mouse corpse, the estimation demonstrated that the death of the mouse occurred at around 01.08 hours on 2nd August and the calculated PMI based on the 3rd instar larvae was 2.62 days. Both case studies offer potentials and necessary tools in estimating PMI in case of the death for any kind of animals and particularly in the medico-legal investigations of homicide cases or any unauthorized killing of wild lives or domestic animals in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Forensic entomology, post-mortem interval (PMI), mammals, Lucilia sericata, ADH method.