The 2026 Animal ForensiCon in Orlando, Florida

BUGS!!! Dr. Samantha Sawyer shares information about what we can and cannot learn from insects in crime scene investigations as well as the do's and don'ts of insect collection.

For more information about the Animal ForensiCon, visit https://animalforensics.vetmed.ufl.edu/training/2026-animal-forensicon/

Dr. G:

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All right.

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First talk of the morning has been

done, and I have to say, I hate

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bugs- ... but I love entomology.

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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Okay.

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Dr. G:

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So how about you let our audience

know who you are and what you do?

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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I'm Dr.

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Samantha Sawyer, and I'm a board-certified

forensic entomologist, and I'm an

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assistant professor of forensic

science at the University of New Haven.

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So I do both teaching, research,

and I privately consult on the side.

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Dr. G:

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Excellent.

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Let's start with the basics.

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What is forensic entomology?

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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Forensic entomology is the use

of insects in a legal setting

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to answer legal questions.

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So forensic entomology spans a

wide variety of different topics.

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The most common one is called medical

legal forensic entomology, which was

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the one in the workshop today, um,

which is involving death investigation,

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neglect, and abuse, and how insects

can answer questions around that.

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Primarily, forensic timelines,

trying to determine time of death

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estimations or time of neglect.

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Dr. G:

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People get this idea, right, like the CSI

effect and the stuff that they see on TV.

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So what are the myths and realities as

far as what you can tell from insects?

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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So I think in forensic entomology,

the biggest myth is that we do

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what the medical examiner does.

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Like, we give that postmortem

interval estimation.

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Um, and, you know, sometimes outside of

the United States, you'll hear people

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use postmortem interval for entomology.

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But currently, since 2011, people have

really shifted to time of colonization

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estimates because we really do more

than just the postmortem interval.

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So it is also that idea where if insects

are colonizing a living individual, we

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can still come in and provide that time

of colonization estimate that gives

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the investigators that timeline still.

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Also, I think people assume

entomologists just exist in crime labs.

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We don't.

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We're mostly academics or doing

some other full-time job, and we

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do private consulting on the side,

so we all have our own private

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businesses and things like that.

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Um, there is one person out

of the Houston Crime Lab.

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Her name's Michelle Sanford,

and, um, she's awesome.

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And so she does that as her full-time

job, but all of the, the rest of us

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are doing it as private consulting.

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Dr. G:

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So it's not quite the, you know, you

go into, into the field and find a

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bug and say, "This has, this body

has been here for three days," right?

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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Yeah, yeah.

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The, the classic, like Gil Grissom,

like- Right ... picks up the maggot.

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Yeah, no, it's definitely not that simple.

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Um, sometimes though, uh, it is

interesting 'cause people will

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get impressed 'cause you're

like, "Oh, it's this species."

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So I think there is still that

perception of it, but it's not

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like it is in the TV shows.

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Dr. G:

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What are the common mistakes

or things that people do when,

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when doing entomology samples?

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And I guess I'll preface it with , again,

I love entomology, and whenever there

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are bugs in a case, I get really excited.

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So what are the things that you see,

that if somebody's listening that

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does this kind of work, you know,

easy things that they can prevent?

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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I think the biggest mistake that

individuals make is they will just take

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a maggot, they'll throw it in isopropyl

alcohol, and they'll ship it off.

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And that's good 'cause

you have the specimen.

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Um, sometimes people will just take

photos, and they think because sometimes

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you can be savvy and there's certain

species that you can look at and identify,

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that they think all you need is photos.

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So it can really limit what, um,

an entomologist could provide.

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Um, but I would say the biggest

thing is making sure that you hot

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water kill your insects, put them

in ethanol if you can, and then

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get them right to an entomologist.

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Dr. G:

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Excellent.

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Anybody interested in learning more

about entomology and how to make

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submissions and how to do things

right and getting, you know, like,

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the paperwork and everything required,

how can they get that information?

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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I can take emails directly and

point individuals, either to

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a workshop that I'll be doing.

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Um, I regularly do online training.

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I do in-person training.

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Most of my job is really trying to

educate people on how they can use insect

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evidence, so I'm always happy to do that.

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And if I'm not doing a training currently,

I can direct you to someone who can

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give you the appropriate training

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Dr. G:

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Excellent.

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So how, where can people find you?

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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You can email me either at my university

email at ssawyer@newhaven.edu,

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or you could do my case specific

email, which is sjsawyerfe@gmail.com.

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Dr. G:

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Excellent.

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Thank you, Dr.

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Sawyer for talking to us and

for this amazing presentation.

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Dr. Samantha Sawyer:

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Awesome.

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Thank you.