Kevin Neal

Cause of Death

The toxicology report came back indicating India had a blood-alcohol content of .02 percent. Although this may surprise a layman, the pathologists expected such a result. Just as with grapes turning to wine, the decay process of a body often leads to sugar fermentation within the body; as bacteria break down cellular material, one of the byproducts is ethyl alcohol. The tox screen also revealed that the girl had not been poisoned.

There were also no telltale marks on the corpses to indicate that a weapon had been used to kill the children. Nature had left more flesh on Cody's remains than on India's, but neither his mummified soft tissue nor the bones on either child showed  evidence of obvious entry or exit points for bullets or scratches on their bones that a knife blade would normally leave. There was not any flesh on the children's skulls to examine for the typical signs of asphyxiation, but the coroner's opinion was that some manner of asphyxia was the cause of the children's deaths. 

This conclusion was supported later by the forensic entomologists who would review the case. The entomologists did so by examining how the insects had consumed the flesh of the bodies. Following the doctrine espoused by Sung T'zu, they expected the skulls to be skeletonized and bleached by the sun — after all, there were so many orifices on the head where the blow flies would lay their eggs. The lack of clothing also gave the insects access to the children's genital regions, which meant that the feeding larvae would eat their way up through their abdomens to their chest cavities.

If there had been knife or bullet wounds, the pattern of insect consumption would have been different because wounds are even more attractive places for oviposition (egg laying). It isn't unusual for one hand to be skeletonized or at least infested with insects while the other is untouched. Wily investigators will know that this indicates the victim probably had defensive wounds on the hand that attracted the insects.

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1. Messages from the Dead
2. 700 Years Later
3. The Children are Missing
4. Unhealthy Family Dynamic
5. Complex Relationships & Conflicts
6. Search for Children Called Off
7. Behind the Scenes
8. Neal's Criminal Past
9. Lies
10. Sexual Predator
11. Bodies in the Cemetery
12. A Ghastly Find
13. Physical Laws of Death
14. The Stages of Death
15. The Bureau of Criminal Identification
16. Working the Crime Scene
17. Manner of Death
18. Not Much to Work With
19. Cause of Death
20. More Forensic Clues
21. "We Are Not in a Rush"
22. No Smoking Gun
23. "Hurt Someone They Love"
24. Incriminating Statements
25. The Physical Evidence
26. Forensic Botany
27. Bug Collecting
28. Forensic Entomolgy
29. How Flies Tell Time
30. After the Blow Flies Flew Away
31. Enter the Cheese Skipper
32. Date of Death
33. The Secondary Screwworm in Court
34. Battle over Bug Evidence
35. Cheese Skippers for the Defense
36. Counterpoint
37. The Body Farmer
38. Dr. Bass for the Defense
39. "The Liver Bothers Me"
40. The Jury Decides
41. Bibliography