Source: International Academy of Forensic Sciences (IAFS), Meeting in Montpellier, France, OC269

By M. Benecke

Objectives: Determination of flight height, and species of blow flies attracted to decaying flesh in a 20+ storey suburban apartment complex in Cologne.

Nature of the study: Police case report vs. on-site experimentation.

Materials and methods: A case report made by police officers (no homicide detectives) who directly responded to n notification call concerning a dead body in an apartment in suburban Cologne (Germany) is compared to experiments carried out in the same apartment complex using liver as a bait. The police officers had reported that no blow flies or larvae were found on a corpse during a warm summer season (August 2001). The now dead person was last seen ca. 4 weeks before the police was called. The body was found naked in a bathroom in the 20th floor. It was mummified to one part, and in greenish discoloration to the other part. The entrance door of the apartment was tightly closed. However, a door to a balcony was open, and was said to having been open as the police entered the flat. Therefore, the Crime Response Unit asked for a comment on the unusual non-presence of blow flies. Due to the number of storeys of the apartment building, it was suggested that flies might not reach the 20th floor under the conditions given in the suburban environment. We used liver baits to determine if blow flies can or cannot reach this hight in the given surroundings, and/or which height they actually reach. We were also interested in the question what species could be found in the highly contrasting habitat where the case took place: an untidy suburban apartment complex surrounded by fields, and rural structures, bordering to a large city.

Statistical analysis: Straight observation and counting, SD.

Results: Species list, flight height, scientific check of police report, relevance to determination of post mortem interval.

Conclusion: In progress.