Kevin Neal

The Secondary Screwworm in Court

Defense attorney Greg Meyers immediately homed in on Haskell's assumption that the absence of the secondary screwworm was significant.

"Is it your testimony that the secondary screwworm was not in this area of Ohio until on or after July 14 of that summer?" he asked.

"No, that is not my testimony," Haskell replied. "My testimony is that I did not find that in the combination of puparia with Phormia regina...There could have been one fly flying around here. I definitely did not say that it could not be present somewhere in this area."

"You are trying to prove the positive by the negative," Meyers countered. "You are trying to prove the positive of July 14 by the negative — meaning the absence of the screwworm. Is that fair to your testimony?"

Haskell stuck by his assumptions.

"We have a positive with Phormia regina here by itself. And in the seasonal distribution study that I've done, we find that if we have Phormia regina by itself in the puparial stage that we would be sometime prior to mid-July."

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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