Determining How Long A Person Has Been Dead

Let's have a hypothetical scenario.

On November 7, 2017, a person finds a cadaver on a grassy lawn in the middle of Bagumbayan, Manila. It's a man with black hair, in his 30s. Perhaps he was born on June 19, 1861. We don't know.

Surrounding the cadaver are flies. They're coming out from his mouth, his ears, and his nose. Upon looking closer at the body, the person observes that there are also minute eggs in the cadaver.

Distraught, the person goes to the police and reports about the cadaver. Police arrives and cordone the area.

One of the questions the police have to grapple with is "How long was the person dead?"

Maybe he was just sleeping?

The types of insects and what stage they are in their life cycle helps determine how long a person has been dead.

Jessica of apricotpie.com cites Roxana Ferllini, author of  "Silent Witness" as basis:

"If the body is found covered with flies—not eggs— but have no odors or other signs of decay, then the body has been dead for less then 1 hour. Once eggs have been laid, and are now hatching, the person has been dead for at least 12 hours. As the body begins to dry out by 24-36 hours, the beetles will come and feast upon the dehydrated fleshy tissue. By the second day, spiders, millipedes and mites come and will eat the insects that were already on the corpse. So, because each species of bug will come at specific stages, Entomologists can safely estimate when someone has died. (Ferllini 76-80)"

Read in full: http://www.apricotpie.com/jessica/forensic-entomology-how-bugs-reveal-the-time-of-death

An egg takes one day to hatch. There is a summary of the life cycles of these insect at the Australian Museum website.

Read in full: http://australianmuseum.net.au/decomposition-fly-life-cycles

Source: http://www.sciencebuzz.org/sites/default/files/images/maggots_under_skin14.preview.jpg

And so, as the police realizes that the person has been dead for at least twelve (12) hours, they next ponder on the identity and cause of death of the cadaver. Suddenly, someone pops in.

It was Captain Rafael Dominguez. He knows this man, he says. He was shot on December 29, 1896 in the morning at Bagumbayan. His name is Jose Rizal.

Of course not.