Resumen de The Use of Forensic Tests to Distinguish Blowfly Artifacts from Human Blood, Semen, and Saliva

Annalisa Durdle, R.John Mitchell, Roland A. H. van Oorschot

• This study investigated whether routinely used forensic tests can distinguish 3-day-old or 2-week-old fly artifacts, produced after feeding on human blood, semen, or saliva, from the biological fluid. Hemastixr, Hemident TM, and Hemascein TM were unable to distinguish blood from artifacts. Hemastixr returned false positives from negative controls. ABAcard r Hematracer and Hexagon OBTI could distinguish blood from 3-day-old artifacts, but not 2-week-old artifacts. Phadebasr and SALIgAEr were unable to distinguish saliva from artifacts. RSID TM-Saliva was able to distinguish saliva from 3-day-old artifacts, but not 2-week-old artifacts. Semen tests Seminal Acid Phosphatase, RSID TM-Semen, and ABAcardr p30 were all able to distinguish semen from 3-day-old artifacts, but not 2-week-old artifacts. The tests investigated cannot be relied upon to distinguish artifacts from biological fluids. However, if an artifact is identified by its morphology, a positive result may indicate which biological fluid the fly consumed, and this knowledge may prove useful for investigators searching for DNA