Lockwood's fiction comes to life in entomologist's testimony

by Dustin Bleizeffer June 13, 2011September 22, 2021

Lockwood’s fiction comes to life in entomologist’s testimony

The Casey Anthony murder trial isn’t big news in Wyoming, but recent testimony from an entomologist is eerily similar to an excerpt from Jeffrey Lockwood’s fiction novel (yet to be published) Dose Unto Others, which WyoFile published last week as part of a profile on Lockwood. Lockwood, an accomplished entomologist, left the science labs at the University of Wyoming to become an award-winning writer of non-fiction. Now the UW professor teaches philosophy and creative writing.

Here’s a sample of how Lockwood’s fiction in Dose Unto Others resembles real-life testimony in the Casey Anthony murder trial:

Warning: Both accounts are graphic and, well, gruesome.

Dose Unto Others:

The room, like the rest of the hotel, was overly air-conditioned and the coolness made the place more bearable. I wasn’t enjoying the odor, but at least it faded into the background. And this allowed me to concentrate on the flies. A dozen or so metallic-green flies were buzzing around in circles, evidently frustrated by having the object of their devotion zipped into a plastic bag and hauled off. The blow flies were looking to lay their eggs on a corpse they could smell but couldn’t find. From what I’ve seen, they favor bullet holes and knife wounds. A shotgun blast is a virtual nursery. But they’ll settle for most any orifice, including the openings that nature provides.

CNN Wire staff:

The flies suggest something began to decompose inside the trunk, but do not prove that the material was a human body, said Neal Haskell, a forensic entomologist from Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana. … Based on his analysis of temperatures and the reproductive habits of the small flies found on paper towels that another scientist found were soaked in fluid from decomposition, Haskell said it appeared that whatever attracted the flies had been in the car for three to five days.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Dustin Bleizeffer

Dustin Bleizeffer covers energy and climate at WyoFile. He has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for more than 25 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy... More by Dustin Bleizeffer

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