Kevin Neal

Enter the Cheese Skipper

The Cheese Skipper fly, , Piophila foveolata

One additional species of fly, Piophila foveolata, helped Haskell determine an approximate date of death for the two children. Known by its common name, the cheese skipper fly, Piophilidae prefers carrion in a significantly decayed form.

"Unlike the blow flies, which come in very, very quickly, the cheese skipper is one that likes more advanced decomposition," Haskell testified. "They like it when it's goopy and yucky and in a putrefaction state or beyond, in a liquefaction stage."

When he examined the tissue samples and the body bag soil, Haskell found "literally hundreds" of skipper larvae in the third instar — the final — larval stage. Using the Accumulated Degree Day method, he knew that to find larvae at that stage on September 6, 1997, meant that the adult skippers had to have visited the corpses between 45 and 90 days prior. That put the cheese skipper oviposition at July 23, 1997 at the latest.

Selvaggio wanted to remind the jury of the skipper's preferred carrion.

"Is it possible, based on your finding of the specimens on that frozen tissue sample, that a body could have ....started its decomposition on July 23?"

"No," Haskell replied. "Because the cheese skipper needs a more advanced decomposition."

"How much time would these skippers need?" Selvaggio asked.

"A minimum of a week, usually more." Haskell replied. "It could be two or three weeks."

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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