Identify corpses by maggots

For the first time, experts can determine the identity of the dead thanks to the gene pattern found in the maggot intestine that grows on the corpse.

Mexican police have discovered a black and unrecognizable body that was thrown back in the country. The lower part and the foot disappeared. No more evidence was found at the scene except for a ring worn during the high school graduation ceremony.

The corpse was so destroyed that investigators could not identify the gender. The soft tissue left to analyze the gene is a blackened piece of liver, so forensic experts have to give up when following this trail.

However, they could finally find the genetic material that could be used in an unusual place, the inside of the intestine of the maggots crawling in the neck and face of the victim.

Finding new uses of maggots - (Photo: AFP)

'This is the first case of analyzing DNA samples from extracting maggots to identify victims in a murder' , according to a team of experts from Monterrey (Mexico) presented in the Journal report. September's Forensic Sciences.

10 days before the body was discovered, a man told police that his daughter had been kidnapped. He recognized the ring, but could not determine whether the burned body was his ill-fated daughter.

Investigators took DNA samples from their fathers and compared them with genetic data found in maggots. The results showed similarities among genetic samples.

With such rare evidence, they found that the victim was female, and when conducting the test to prove that the kinship and homology of the two samples were 99.68%.

Maggots are often used to reconstruct a timeline of crime, due to the development of nymphs that may indicate that the victim has died long or short. However, a new test in Mexico showed that the insect could be used for other purposes during the investigation.

The study was carried out and reported by the team of Marta Ortega-Martínez expert of the Autónoma de Nuevo León University (Mexico).