This an ideal case from a number of points of view. First, it
represents a situation where 1) the temperature remained nearly
constant between the time the person died and the time they were
discovered, and 2) this temperature was nearly identical to that
at which the ADH for the species involved had been originally
calculated. Second, it is unusual in that I was able to collect
a large number of live maggots at the death scene, to rear through
to adult flies. And third, and perhaps equally important, the death was obviously natural, and the coroner only wanted the approximate day it occurred.
This case is more typical than Case I. It is much more complicated.
First, it describes a situation where all calculations had to
be made from the identity and degree of development of preserved
maggots. Second, the temperature at the discovery site varied considerably,
between the time of death and the time the body was discovered.
Third, for the species involved, the ADH as experimentally
recorded varied non-linearly between temperatures. And fourth and last, the death was a murder, and the coronor wanted to know as exactly as possible when it occurred.