Criminals, including our country; Cases of putting corpses in a suitcase and throwing them into the sea, river, garbage can or deserted forest are quite common forensic cases.
We can speculate more or less about why the suitcases were preferred, but who would have thought of obtaining data that will help forensic medicine based on the suitcases? Of course, forensic scientists.
So why are suitcases used so often in murder cases?
As we can guess with a little reasoning, suitcases; They are vehicles that are large enough for a body to fit in and can be easily transported, usually thanks to their wheels, that can trap the odor for a while.
Forensic scientists also wanted to do an experiment on suitcases by turning this subject into a research object. Thanks to the experiment, they would be able to obtain data more easily on the corpses in the suitcases.
Forensic entomologists play a big role in this.
Forensic entomologists try to predict the victim’s time of death, manner of death, place of death, and cause of death by examining insects and other arthropods when forensic medicine fails or can be helpful. They can also use insects to detect the presence of foreign DNA.
Some scavengers have highly specialized olfactory systems that they use to detect the odor of decomposition. Attracted by the odors produced by a cadaver’s decomposition process, carrion beetles soon envelop the cadaver. Within a few hours, it lays eggs in the holes and wounds of the body, and the tiny larvae that emerge from these begin to consume the body.
An interesting experiment was carried out with the cooperation of suitcase simulation and insects.
Researchers; Concealed in a bush in Western Australia, he conducted an experiment with around 70 sample suitcases and corpses. This study, a first in forensic medicine, was intended to provide useful data for investigating similar cases.
Each suitcase contained a stillborn piglet simulating a dead body. Alana; Devices recording temperature, humidity and precipitation were installed. Despite the cold and rainy West winter, clusters of flies were observed on and around the zippers of the suitcases within a month of packing them.
Thanks to the suitcase simulation experiment, more detailed information about the time and manner of death will be obtained.
When the suitcases were opened at regular intervals, fly larvae, coffin flies and some insects were seen inside. This meant that the offspring of large flies and insects could reach the body through the teeth of the zipper.
Once the larvae inside the suitcases become adult flies, none of them can escape from the bag. These trapped insects represent a rich source of information as forensic entomologists know the habits and growth rates of various species and can find toxicology data preserved in their exoskeletons.
Thus, an expert; the time or season of death can alter the possible location of the body and assist in interpreting the causes and circumstances of death.
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