Replies

Hmmm,
Velly intelesting bit from the link you posted:

Although people cannot detect the odor from a newly-dead body, flies, especially fleshflies (Sarcophagidae) and blowflies (Calliphoridae), swarn to the odor from as far away as two miles. In wooded area, especially where there have previously been dead animals or humans, they begin to land on a corpse within seconds, and within on hour some species may produce maggots. Even in area without prior bodies, they land on exposed corpses within the first few hours (wrapping or burning a body delays this).

I can't be sure, but I think when they speak of "dry" conditions they're talking about a real desert - i.e. the Sahara - not San Diego (poison oak doesn't grow in the "real" desert IMHO). Note that these guys say blowflies "swarm from up to two miles away".

Unless DW had an accomplice it appears that he didn't do it.
IMHO, that is.

FRegards,
PrairieDawg

All this talk about weather conditions in San Diego is making me laugh.

I live here and our weather is rarely extreme. Dehesa Rd. is not like Death Valley or even like Palm Springs. Our temperatures vary somewhat from the coast to inland areas and the most extreme would be the mountains in winter.

El Cajon is not the desert and this whole talk of desert is very misleading to people that don't live around here.

VRWC - I was going to congratulate you for that great find - but when I went to the link I wondered who wrote it - so I went to the original site - did you? Bizarre. Found out who wrote the stuff and went to Amazon to see if I could find out what kind of guy this DR.Kenneth V. Iverson is - dunno much yet - but here's one of the reviews of this book that this stuff comes from....

Don't waste your money on this one ....,

July 27, 2001

Reviewer: A reader from Cardiff UK

This was a very disappointing book, particularly considering the good reviews it has obtained. The author bores his audience throughout with his stilted academic prose and the scholarship is weak, sometimes to the verge of pseudoscience. The section on premature burials is pure fantasy and many references are distorted or misquited to fit Iserson's preconceived theories. This book may well suit would-be morticians, but has little to offer any serious scholar.

I need to know more about this guy before I accept what he says as fact - let me know if you find anything else to support this stuff.

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Desert climates with low humidity not only decrease or obliterate fly and maggots activity, but can also halt other forms of decomposition. Very dry climates may cause a body to naturally mummify, converting its skin and tendons to a leathery and parchment-like wrapping surrounding the bones, while the organs decay by autolysis and putrefaction. Paradoxically, heavy rainfall also slows fly activity, including egg laying. Maggot activity, however, continues-but with fewer maggots.