Surnames: Messer, Rustad, Webb

----Source: The Star News (Medford, Taylor Co., Wisconsin) Thursday, October 14, 2010, online edition

Webb, Dr. James P. Jr., (November 30, 1941 - September 5, 2010)

Dr. James P. Webb, Jr., 70, Anaheim, Calif. died September 5 following a long illness. A memorial service will be held on October 13 in Garden Grove, California.

James Webb Jr. was born November 30, 1941 in Long Beach, California and was the eldest child of James Patrick Webb and Eleanor Lorraine Johansen Rustad. The family moved to Taylor County and lived in Rib Lake from 1946 to 1956.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Cal State Long Beach. Dr. Webb was a nationally know, forensic entomologist who was a pioneer in the study of using insects to determine how long a body had been dead.

He received his Ph.D. in entomology from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas in 1976.  The family then moved back to California where he did post-doctoral work at the UCLA Public School of Health.  He eventually started working at the Orange County Vector Control District in 1981 and retired in 2005 primarily due to poor health.  In all, he published roughly 100 papers and helped with dozens of murder cases. 

He was also featured in an episode of the “New Detectives” in 1999 and the work on chiggers was used on the CSI episode “Burked” in 2001.

He is survived by his wife of twenty-six years, Roberta Webb; four children, Patrick, San Jose, Calif.; Jason, Long Beach, Calif.; Robert James “RJ” and Elisa, both of Anaheim, California; a sister Patrica Messer, Fresno, Calif.; and four grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances of Dr. Webb may be sent to Justine Keller of the Orange County Vector Control District at jkeller@ocvcd.org