Sri Adelila Sari, Yeni Rossito Hutasuhut, Lia Mardiana Nasution, Hanisah Hasibuan, Ho Soon Min
Cases of unnatural death, when the cause was unknown, were often followed by an autopsy to determine the cause of death. However, sometimes the victim's family refused the autopsy for various reasons, leading to many cases remaining unresolved. Deaths caused by illegal drugs, such as propoxur, could be analyzed using forensic entomology, which used necrophagous insect larvae to analyze the time of death when the body's internal organs had been degraded, and no usable blood or urine remained. The study aimed to analyze the levels of propoxur [2-isopropoxyphenyl N-methyl carbamate] as a cause of death by using necrophage insects. Maggot samples were extracted and analyzed using GC-MS, including those cultivated on fresh beef as a blank and meat mixed with propoxur as the test sample. The linearity, LOD, and LOQ were ascertained during the procedure. The concentration of propoxur in the sample was found to be 62.759 ppm, with a peak area of 259,904 and a retention time of 4.107 minutes. The linear regression equation y = 10906x – 424556 was used to determine linearity, and the R2 value was 0.9913. Furthermore, it was discovered that the LOD and LOQ values were, respectively, 13.48 mg/L and 44.96 mg/L. The study concluded that, in forensic applications, the simpler and more effective autopsy approach might be replaced by the forensic entomo-toxicology method employing maggots. © 2025 Seventh Sense Research Group®
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Universitas Negeri Medan, Indonesia; Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University, Malaysia
