ForenSeek, a Decision Support System Dedicated to Forensic Entomology

Abstract

Forensic entomology focuses on the study of necrophagous insects in the field of criminal investigations, mainly
to estimate the time of death. This method is particularly useful in case of post mortem interval (PMI) exceeding
some days, when medical examiners become unable to estimate the PMI with accuracy. The ForenSeek project is
a computer based decision support system (DSS) dedicated to forensic entomology. The core part of the program
is a model of behaviour and development of necrophagous diptera larvae based on a multiagent system (MAS).
This concept allows to model complex group behaviours from simple individual data, and thus is particularly well
adapted to study insect populations. Moreover, the results of this model are intended to be automatically computed
to extract relevant information to estimate post mortem intervals (PMI). In the future, this tool should allow a clear
increase of speed and accuracy of entomological forensic expertises