Forensic Entomology Booklet

Case 1 : California vs . Westerfield

This court case involved the kidnap and murder of Danielle van Dam , a 7-year old girl from San Diego , California (Ryan 1 . The crime occurred on February 1 , 2002 , when the girl disappeared sometime in the evening from their home and was discovered by her parents to be missing the next morning . The parents called 911 in to report the missing child and the body of Danielle was discovered three weeks later . The suspect in the case was David Alan Westerfield , whose residence was approximately two houses

away . Initial search of the residence of Westerfield showed that his clothes were stained with blood that was positively identified to be of Danielle 's . In addition , Westerfield 's home computer contained s of child pornography

The case involved forensic entomology techniques that involved the collection of maggots from the body of Danielle . The victim was discovered in a state of decomposition and it was important that the time of death of the child was established based on the forensic evidence that was provided by the developmental stage of the maggots The forensic entomology evidence was provided by David Faulkner , a researcher of the San Diego Natural History museum . Faulkner was able to scientifically prove that the time of death of the victim was some time between February 12 and 23 , suggesting that Danielle was still alive for the next few weeks since her abduction . The rate of decomposition of the victim 's body was pronounced because...