Entomologist: 'Coffin Flies' Found In Casey Anthony Car Trash - WKMG

Entomologist: 'Coffin Flies' Found In Casey Anthony Car Trash
Casey Anthony, 25, Charged With 1st-Degree Murder

POSTED: Saturday, June 11, 2011
UPDATED: 12:58 pm EDT June 11, 2011

Excerpt:

RLANDO, Fla. -- The state’s first expert of day 16 of Casey Anthony’s murder trial was a forensic entomology expert.

Dr. Neal Haskell is a professor of forensic science with a forensic entomology doctorate.

Haskell said he was contacted by Michael Vincent of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in September 2008 regarding entomological evidence in the Anthony case.

Vincent collected samples from the trash bag found in the trunk of Anthony’s car and sent them to Haskell to confirm they were forensically important.

Haskell said he found foreign flies and larvae that are commonly found in cases of human or animal decomposition. He has called them “coffin flies” in the past.

“We found a number of adults, 15 or 20 adults,” Haskell said.

Haskell said an abundance of larvae and a few adult flies were found in paper towels from the trash bag, leading him to conclude that the paper towel had been used to wipe decompositional fluids.

Haskell said the entomological evidence found in the trunk indicated that a body of a child been in the trunk of Anthony's car and removed within days.

More: http://www.clickorlando.com/news/28205737/detail.html