Corpse by Jessica Snyder Sachs

Searching police reports, detectives ran across a nearby party in Catts' timeframe in which one enthusiastic partygoer had fired several shots into the air. Ballistics experts matched the bullet to the gun and traced the bullet's path from the party, to a metal beam of an adjacent garage, where it ricocheted into the victim's bedroom.

Sachs writes, "Clearly, death had not been instantaneous, given the apparent signs of struggle."

Ugly. But what a way to solve a crime!

Sachs also looks at forensic botany, a field I had never heard of. Plants apparently serve as fairly reliable witnesses, if properly interpreted. Advances in reading chemical markers have also been made and though the chapter discussing this area is short, the science sounds promising.

Accuracy is vital in the field of forensic ecology, and Sachs reviews the efforts of leaders who have made impressive discoveries, emphasizing caution and conservative estimates.

More on this subject:
About the Author: Jessica Snyder Sachs
The Fake Smell of Death
American Board of Forensic Anthropology
American Academy of Forensic Sciences Home Page
Entomology Expert Witnesses
Forensic Entomology
Insect Investigations
What the Blowfly Saw
When Will You Die? The Death Clock
Discover Forensics
Postmortem Changes and Time of Death
Time of Death: The Zoo Man and the Insects
U Botanist Aids Police with Plant Expertise
His Word Against History
Chemical Scanner May Give More Accurate Time of Death

Books:
What the Corpse Revealed: Murder and the Science of Forensic Detection by Hugh Miller
The Forensic Science of C.S.I. by Katherine Ramsland
Dead Reckoning: The Art of Forensic Detection by Jon Nordby
Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers by Michael Baden
Time of Death: Decomposition and Identity by Jay Dix
Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies? by Kenneth Iserson

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