#Hair Evidence In Forensic Science

[forensicfield]

The Importance Of Hair As Biological Evidence In Forensic Science

In a criminal investigation, the finding of biological evidence such as hair is useful to establish the crime scene's significance, to link a suspect to a weapon or the crime scene itself, to support witness statements, or even... #forensicscience #hair

Continue reading The Importance Of Hair As Biological Evidence In Forensic Science

[maiamore]

THE LINES WE CROSS: PART ONE - NO SAFE HAVEN

Pairing: Javier Peña x Forensic Scientist!Reader

Rating: 18+ | W/C: 2.1k

Summary: in the heart of Colombia’s war on narcos, you, a forensic scientist transfer in from the states. you find yourself working closely with Javier Peña and quickly find that he isn’t the man who stays—letting him in will only lead to heartbreak.

Tags: set during seasons 2 & 3 of narcos, mentions of drugs & violence, reader smokes briefly, no use of y/n, p in v, tinge or yearning, enemies/colleagues to lovers, talks of guns, javi comes with his own warnings 

A/N: excuse me while i bury myself, this series is going to hurt me

MINI-SERIES MASTERLIST | MASTERLIST

It had been a year and a half since you’d traded the sunny shores of California for Medellín. Forensic sciences had seemed like the perfect fit with your qualities considered–analytical, precise, and rooted in facts. You told yourself the move was for the greater good, that your expertise could actually help bring down Pablo Escobar’s goddamn empire. And you did help. Too well, in fact. Well enough to piss off the cartel, drawing their gaze in ways that had you flagged as a threat if you stepped too out of line.

Medellín wasn’t just dangerous, it had an endless pool of corruption. Moles lurked in the agency, evidence mysteriously disappeared, and the chain of command couldn’t always be trusted. You learned that lesson after getting fucked over a couple times, but Javier had learned it long before you.

So what did Peña do when things got messy? He cut through the red tape, ignored protocol, and went straight to the source.

You.

“The answer is no.” You pushed past the figure blocking your entry into the onsite lab at the CNP headquarters. “Crosby will have my head and you know that.” 

Negotiating with Javier Peña was like trying to argue with the tide–relentless, it always found a way to pull you under. He wasn’t loud or pushy. He didn’t have to be. 

But that wasn’t the problem here. He was asking for favors against protocol. “I don’t have the authority to hand you shit without–”

“Filtering through command,” he cuts in, his voice low and impatient. “Yeah, I know how the game works.” He shuts the door behind him, eyes darting to check for anyone lingering nearby. 

“You and I both know,” he continues, taking a slow step closer. Your brows furrow as he steps closer, though it doesn’t stop your heart from pounding into your ears. “Whatever you find here?” He gestures vaguely at the lab equipment and files neatly stacked on your desk. 

“It’s not reaching us with the whole picture, is it? It gets watered down, picked apart, buried. And then what? We’re chasing ghosts while Escobar sits pretty.”

He was close now–too close. His hand casually brushes the security badge clipped to your waistband. Your hips jump. Though Javier isn’t fazed, he merely twists it with his fingers, the motion deliberate, drawing your attention to his hands before his voice brings your focus back to him.

“We’re the good guys here, carita. You can either help me, or stand by while this whole fucking mess gets worse. Your call.”

You were silent. Biting the insides of your cheeks at his tone. Deep, calculated & with intent to pry into your conscience. 

“I can’t do that.” You manage to squeeze your way out the small space he backs you into, stepping around him and sinking into your chair, trying to put some distance between you two.

Javier sighs, dragging a hand through his hair. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. You were a hard worker—a little too on the books, but had a good heart.

His gaze drops to your purse on the desk. No movement, no reaction, just that sharp look of his, cutting through everything.

If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was to needle his way into people’s weaknesses and exploit it.

So he approaches you. 

“Peña, nothing you say will change my min—“

“Cute piece you’ve got there,” he interrupts. “P32, right? Semi-automatic.”

Your fists tensed on your desk. He wasn’t mocking you, there was no smirk nor condescension. Just a calm observation that hit like a punch to the gut.

He leans down, palms pressing flat against the desk as he lowers himself to your eye level. “Let me guess,” he continues, his tone steady, almost grim. “They told you this was just a job. Something to make a difference, maybe even save a few lives. Didn’t mention you’d need that to protect your own.” He nodded toward the gun in your purse, the weight of his words sinking in.

Your throat tightens, and you quickly zipped your purse shut, shielding the weapon from view. “We’re in Medellín,” you retort, albeit defensively. “It’s…not a crazy thought.”

Javier straightens, his hand brushing over a loose strand of your hair, tucking it behind your ear with ease. His voice softened, but the edge remained. “No,” he agrees, gaze unwavering. “It isn't. That’s the problem.”

“I can keep you safe,” he mutters with a gentle lilt. “Have my men escort you home. Make sure you don’t need to use that thing. You do your job. Let me handle the rest.”

The touch burned, your skin prickling where his fingers had grazed you. You jerked your head away, teeth gritted as you stared at the desk, refusing to meet his gaze.

He doesn’t wait for your answer. 

Instead, he reaches for your pen holder, scribbling his number on a loose scrap of paper. He tapped the desk twice, loud enough to draw your eyes.

“If you change your mind,” he said, sliding the paper toward you. 

You hadn’t planned to use it, not so soon, at least. 

Your mind was still on Javier and everything he embodied. He was hard to read, motives wrapped in layers of charm and deflection. He wasn’t a bad person, as far as you could tell. Morally grey, probably. No one sane smoked that much.

But most importantly, his reputation preceded him. That was one thing you did know for sure. 

Whispers followed you whenever you handed over findings to the DEA. Offhand warnings came when you casually asked about him. Avoidant. Shady. Persistent. Words spoken by people who worked with him longer than you had.

And his partner, Murphy, had warned you the same when he caught your lingering gaze.

Peña ain’t the guy you go to for a shoulder to cry on.

That stung.

He’s good at his job, don’t get me wrong. Hell, he’s the best we got, but don’t get caught up thinking he’s somethin’ he’s not. That’ll bite you in the ass faster than these fuckers can.

It effectively made you immune to his mild flirtations, knowing it wouldn’t go anywhere. Still, you liked to draw your own conclusions. Which was why you couldn’t shake what happened in the lab. The way he’d asked, the way he’d looked at you.

Like he already knew you’d cave.

It made you wonder if turning it down could’ve been the wrong choice. You wanted a win for once. 

You stepped out of the embassy one evening with a clouded mind, fatigue weighing on you as you clicked your key fob with a weary sigh.

Nothing could’ve prepared you for this. 

The deafening sound of the explosion knocks you backwards, the heat simmering into your skin even from a distance. You looked up and watched your car blown to fucking smithereens, reduced to a blazing wreck with the harsh smell of burning metal filling the night skies. 

It wasn’t just the fact that this was a deliberate attempt on your life–the bomb remotely detonated, waiting for you to approach. It was the brutal realization that you were no longer safe. Not even a few meters from the embassy.

Someone was watching you. 

A chill runs down your spine. Within blinks, officers swarmed the scene, shouting orders and securing the area, but their voices were distant, muffled by the high pitched ringing in your ears.

With shaky hands, you grab the crumpled paper Javier had scribbled his number onto from the bottom of your bag. The line picks up after a couple of rings.

“Peña.”

“They blew up my car,” you whispered, the words barely making it past your lips.

There was a pause, a sharp inhale on the other end, he didn’t need to know who was calling.

“Where are you?”

“The embassy.”

“Be there in ten.”

He was there in five. Javier takes a look at your car–or what was left of it–with a cringe before he falls into step beside you. He stayed quiet as Pinzón’s men canvassed the scene, the cigarette he lit casting a faint glow in the dark.

You lean against a patrol car next to him–thumb digging hard enough to bleed into your palms. 

“Ballistics CTI found a few days ago traces back to Pablo’s sicarios,” you said quietly, breaking the stillness. You gave him information that wasn’t on the books, not for the DEA yet at least. Something you weren’t supposed to share. 

It was an unspoken agreement, a concession to the protection he could offer. 

Javier looks at you, pulling the stick away from his lips as he exhales the tobacco. Taking in your words.

Though he recognises the anxiety painted on you. A cloud of smoke wafts within your peripherals. Weirdly enough, it was reminiscent of warmth. A reminder that he was there. By your side. 

“Didn’t come here for that.” There was a slight insinuation in his words. Flicker of vulnerability in him perhaps. Admitting that he wasn’t here so you could hold up your end of the bargain. That he might’ve cared more than he was letting show. 

You held out your hand, palm up. It took him a beat too long to realize what you wanted. “You smoke?”

You nearly wanted to roll your eyes at the utter disbelief in his tone. As though you weren't capable of meeting his imaginary expectations.

But he was right. You didn’t smoke, never had. This war had a way of chipping away at the person you thought you were. 

As you place the cigarette he hands you between your lips, Javier shifts closer, his lighter flaring as he cupped his hand around the flame to shield it. 

His gaze lingered, just for a moment, on the way your lips curved around the white stick. Briefly, his thumb slips from the spark wheel. Studying your features in the faint glimmers of flame. 

He shakes away a thought as though it burned him just to think. He tries again, with a crackle from the mechanism, the tip of your cigarette ignites.

“Slowly.” 

You look at him through your lashes as you take a slow drag, letting the burn fill your lungs. Immediately, you begin coughing at the first puff. 

He lets out an amused scoff at your struggle. Though you feel a warm palm drag down your lower back in rhythmic taps. 

“Bienvenida a la guerra, carita,” (Welcome to the war.)

“Javi—…can’t anymore.”

You feel your legs falter. Slumping onto Javier’s body, forearms flat against his chest. You didn’t know how long you were going for. He just didn’t fucking let up. The sweat from your thighs sticking to his has you lazily grinding onto his still throbbing cock, your legs aching from bouncing on his lap.

 “Pobrecita. Getting tired?” (Poor thing.) He cooed as he thumbs the dip of your waist as a soothing gesture, taking in the sweet noises you’re making for him. You shoot him a disgruntled look, which only seems to spur him on further.

He couldn’t come. Not yet. He willed himself not to spill into you, focused on the dull sticky squelches from where you both connected. 

You let out a sharp whine when you feel his hand tangle around your hair. He hikes you up to jolt you from leaning your weight against him. “Hold on–fffuck, neña, almost there,” words spilling out with a growl. 

Two palms shoot out to grab your wrists as he steadily fucks you. “God—Javi, Javi!” Your throat was hoarse, feeling overstimulation consume you while he snapped his hips upwards. Thrusts growing meaner and clumsier. 

He feels the buildup. With his head thrown back, he groans out in reverence, the feeling of your perfect fucking pussy swallowing him greedily. “Fuck–”

“I-Inside–…” 

He frowns at your words, as though he were battling his own thoughts. But he decides quickly and you feel him hike your hips deeper into him. You feel him grip around your arm, other grabbing your waist to get you as close as possible.

He tenses. Grunting in short bursts as he reaches his high. Spilling into the rubber. 

What he doesn’t account for, is seeing the wide tear of the condom as he pulls out. Watching as milky residue pools around the base of his cock, bubbling back into you. “Shit!”

And he physically jolts. A strained gasp leaves his lips as he blinks quickly awake. Sleepy gaze darting around the empty room.  He slowly sits upright. Surveying the room. Void of you. 

Gabby lays next to him. Sound asleep with her face buried in the pillows. Javier drags a palm down his face with a prolonged groan. 

The sticky evidence of him cumming in his sleep like a fucking teenager–evident with the damp spot blooming on his blanket. “…Fuck me.” –

SERIES TAG LIST (Feel free to DM for removal):

@gothcsz @nicolebarnes @hangmanscoming

[starswheeledoverhead]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/01/oj-and-jeffrey-toobin-black-bogeyman-auctioneer/

I wish that ESPN would take my name off of their racist production “O.J.: Made in America”. I thought that Ezra Edelman, the black producer, would have some control over the project, but higher ups apparently decided to take Jeffrey Toobin’s racist line that blacks are “incapable of recognizing reality.”* He says that the black jurors in the criminal trial and elsewhere can’t think as well as whites, and shouldn’t receive “a pat on the head.” The late Norman Mailer, Mr. Incoherent, suggested something similar in New York magazine. This is a Eugenics line, which holds that blacks make decisions based on emotions, and not reason, which must come as a surprise to the black scientists who work at NASA.

The second part of Toobin’s pro-police, pro-prosecution theory was that the decision in the criminal case was the jury paying the LAPD back for its past brutality against blacks. (One of the jurors was white!) Bill Hodgman got sick and wasn’t able to try the case, yet there he was on “O.J.: Made In America,” voicing his theory of the case.

In the series, other prosecutors yammered on and on about theories that were disproven in court. A detective who might have planted evidence was allowed to take up time. In order to make the case that the decision in the criminal trial was based on black grievances about the LAPD, or Mark Furhman, they used a black juror whose opinion fit this marketable line instead of jurors who voted on the basis of evidence that had been tampered with. The late Philip Vanatter never explained why he carried a vial of the victim’s blood to O.J.’s estate.**

Of course, Toobin, who is Harvard trained and Harvard married and whose parents were well-off, refuses to believe that the police plant evidence, even when Mark Furhman had a history of such practices.

Those who are making money from black Bogeyman marketing, in this case O.J. is the commodity, neglect to mention that the jury in the criminal trial included a white and a Hispanic. Interviewed recently, the Hispanic juror said that he was convinced that the police had planted evidence. Are Hispanics prone to conspiracy theories or just blacks? He’s backed up by three of the top American forensic experts: Henry Lee, Michael Baden and Cyril Wecht. Wecht believes that O.J. Simpson was guilty, but believes that the police planted the blood on the sock found in O.J.’s bedroom. Other blood evidence was obviously taken from the lab because it was tainted with a chemical preservative.

One of the positive results of the trial was that it exposed the sloppy way that evidence is handled in the country’s crime labs, resulting in thousands of innocent people being sent to prison. Though much was made of O.J.’s shoes appearing at the crime scene, Michael Baden said that policemen, who refused to wear booties, made most of the prints.

Toobin’s idea of evidence is hair samples found at the crime scene, which he says belonged to O.J. Many scientists dismiss hair evidence as junk science. Moreover the hair found at the crime scene was dyed. O.J.’s barber said that O.J. didn’t dye his hair. The media neglected to mention that hair identified as Caucasian hair was also found at the crime scene and the DNA found under Nicole’s fingernails gathered there when she fought off her attacker or attackers didn’t belong to O.J. Instead of turning the blood evidence over to the lab, one of the detectives carried it around.

Toobin’s book, The Run Of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson, was used in both O.J. series.”O.J.,Made in America,” and Fox’s “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” The book was used to cover up police and prosecutorial misconduct. He recently said that the idea of prosecutorial misconduct is “ridiculous.” Tell that to the thousands of black and Hispanic defendants in jail because of lying policemen and prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence. Incidentally, one of the black jurors was a DNA scientist. She didn’t appear on either of the O.J. moneymakers because she would have upset the line promoted by ESPN and earlier Fox, that blacks played the “Race Card,” instead of being persuaded by the arguments made by Barry Scheck and the other forensic scientists. In order to stir media’s big money maker–The Racial Divide–ESPN showed the usual footage of blacks cheering the decision and whites expressing gloom. Whites in a Buffalo bar cheered the decision. O.J. played football in Buffalo.

As for the civil trial held in Santa Monica, 64% of the white jurors mostly*** believed in O.J. Simpson’s guilt before they were seated. They finally captured the coon in Las Vegas where he foolishly invaded a hotel room for the purpose of retrieving his own memorabilia. ESPN omitted the fact that the F.B.I. was informed of the sting weeks before it happened.**** The O.J. revenge sentence was delivered by Judge Jackie Glass, who had to insist that it had nothing to do with the Brentwood murders. She gave him 33 years. Some saw this as excessive. It was. It was meant to make up for the life sentence that the jury in the criminal case refused to deliver.

ESPN suggested that O.J. deserved the sentence by preceding the Las Vegas caper with scenes of a decadent O.J. partying with scantily clothed white women, a scene that has always been a big money maker for the perverse to leer at, which is why the porno movie genre called combo is a big hit even among KKK members. This porno angle has brought power to people like Tennessee’s Senator Corker, who won an election by pairing his black opponent Harold Ford, Jr. with white Playboy bunnies. Corker is on the short list to be Trump’s Vice Presidential nominee.

When the “producer” Ezra Edelman interviewed me, I made all of the points I’ve enumerated here. Moreover, James Poniewozik in The New York Times, June 20, 2016, made none of these important points in a friendly summary of the two O.J. entertainments. It was a Times reporter who agreed with Toobin that the murderer’s gloves fit O.J. He, like Toobin, didn’t witness the demonstration.

My interview wasn’t used because it would have disturbed this entertainment that was meant to comfort a white audience into believing that all of the questions about the Brentwood murders have been answered. They haven’t. 35 million people watched it. That’s why it faithfully supported the line of the prosecutors and the police, regardless of whether O.J. is guilty or innocent of the Brentwood murders.

Meanwhile Jeffrey Toobin, the black Bogeyman entrepreneur, has probably made more money pimping O.J. than all of the money made from Virginia slaves during a given year. He’s the new kind of slave trader. He wants more. Who is the next black Bogeyman that Toobin will deliver to an audience that can’t get enough of this garbage in, garbage out? It’s been announced. It’s Cinque of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Fox will make a film about Patty Hearst using Toobin’s point-of-view.*****

HOW AM I STILL GETTING OJ QUESTIONS

[coochiequeens]

Say hello to an ancestoress

More than 4,000 years ago, a young woman who died in what is now Scotland was buried in a crouched position within a stone-lined grave. She remained buried for millennia, until excavators at a stone quarry unexpectedly unearthed her bones in 1997.

Little is known about the woman — dubbed Upper Largie Woman after the Upper Largie Quarry — but now, a new bust-like reconstruction reveals how she may have looked during the Early Bronze Age.

The reconstruction, which went on display Sept. 3 at the Kilmartin Museum in Scotland, shows a young woman with dark braided hair who is wearing a deer-skin outfit. And she appears to be looking at someone nearby.

"Making a reconstruction I usually think that we are looking into their world, [meaning] they don't see us," Oscar Nilsson, a forensic artist based in Sweden who crafted the woman's likeness, told Live Science in an email. "I thought it could be an interesting idea to twist this a bit, and actually thinking that she can see us. And as you can see, she looks a bit critical to us (I don't blame her for that...)!"

Upper Largie woman, who died in her 20s, lived during the early Bronze Age of Scotland. (Image credit: Oscar Nilsson)

After the discovery of Upper Largie Woman, a skeletal and dental analysis revealed that she likely died in her 20s and experienced periods of illness or malnutrition. Radiocarbon dating found that she lived between 1500 B.C. and 2200 B.C., during the Early Bronze Age, according to the museum. Meanwhile, a look at different isotopes, or versions of strontium and oxygen from her remains suggested that she grew up locally in Scotland, but the team wasn't able to extract her DNA, so her ethnic heritage, including her skin, eye and hair color, is unknown.

However, archaeologists found sherds of Beaker pottery in her grave, hinting that she was part of the Beaker culture, named for its peoples' bell-shaped beakers. Research suggests that the Beaker culture started in Central Europe with people whose ancestors came from the Eurasian Steppe. Eventually, the Beaker culture reached Britain in about 2400 B.C. DNA evidence indicates that the Beaker culture replaced most of Britain's inhabitants, including the Neolithic communities that had built monuments such as Stonehenge.

"The carbon dating suggests she might be a descendant of the first Beaker newcomers," Sharon Webb, director and curator of Kilmartin Museum, told Live Science in an email.

For the reconstruction of Upper Largie Woman, her skull was CT (computed tomography) scanned and then 3D printed in Scotland. However, "she lacked her mandible [lower jaw], and her left side of the cranium was in a quite fragmented condition," Nilsson said. "So, the first thing I had to do was to rebuild the left side of her cranium. And then to create a mandible, a rather speculative issue of course."

Then, Nilsson took her age, sex, weight and ethnicity into account, as these factors help determine tissue thickness. "So, in this case: a woman, about 20-30 years of age, signs of undernourishment in a period of her life, and a probable origin from the region," he said.

Nilsson pulled from a chart of modern individuals who fit these characteristics, then used their tissue measurements to begin sculpting the reconstruction. Pegs placed on the replica skull helped him measure the tissue depth, which he then covered with plasticine clay as he molded the facial muscles. Based on her skull's contours, he noted that Upper Largie Woman's eyes were wide set and that her nose was broad and "probably a bit turned upwards." She also had a rounded forehead and a broad mouth.

"I found it interesting that once she was reconstructed, I did not see that much of her malnutrition," Nilsson said. "She had a very rounded facial skeleton, which helped her looking a bit more healthy than she may have been."

However, he was clear that "the colors were all qualified guesses, based on other burials from the time and the region, where the DNA was in better shape than this one."

Webb called the reconstruction "absolutely amazing, we wanted her expression to be asking questions of the visitor, wondering who they are, and what their lives were like so that visitors might also ponder her life."

Upper Largie Woman's remains are now "sensitively 'reburied'" in the same position and orientation she was likely buried in 4,000 years ago, Webb said. Visitors can see her reconstruction at the museum's permanent exhibit.

[kawarikisaki]

How obsessed do you think Hakuba is with forensic science? Because I feel like he would be

Oh almost definitely.

The closest we get to actually see to him actually doing that sort of investigation is him trying to analyze Kid's hair when he gets ahold of some (even if the data he got from that was kinda nonsense), but he is also the one that gives us the explanation of Luminol in the Gathering of Great Detectives (though he wasn't the one that brought the Luminol).

But I definitely think he's the type to value evidence that can be validated in someway or another over simple circumstantial evidence when possible, and he probably keeps up with all the latest advancements in forensics just to have more potential tools under his belt.

[practically-an-x-man]

trying to plot the story so thought I'd ask my first question now XD since you know more about this kind of forensic stuff, if you were Ricki what would your next steps be? :)

Oooh, good question!

(fair warning, this got LONG)

(and again take all this with a grain of salt since I'm not a professional forensic scientist, it was just my major before I dropped out of college. If you plan on going deep into the science/technical side of things, I'd definitely suggest asking people who are active in the industry)

So I think there are two sides of this: how the case will proceed, and how Ricki will proceed. Those are two different things, since Ricki absolutely defied crime scene protocol in that first chapter and the forensic scientists will have a different protocol. But let's get into this!

The case: At this point, further law enforcement will be called to secure the scene. Extensive photos of the scene will be take both before any changes are made and after the evidence is identified and labeled, and these photos will include close-ups, mid-range shots, and shots that encompass the whole scene from various angles. They also will investigate well around the scene in order to identify any further evidence or directional clues. Because the scene is outdoors, they don't necessarily have a set size to make the active scene (it's a little simpler with indoor scenes, since they'll close off the room, floor, or whole building), so it'll depend on the size of the event and where potential evidence may be found. Sketches may also be drawn of the scene, as a second measure to identify interacts between pieces of evidence.

Anyway. Since Ricki and her partner were first on the scene, they should be the first to call it in as a crime scene, and should stay to keep watch over the crime scene until other enforcements arrive and the scene is closed. Technically, they should have avoided tampering with the scene entirely upon discovering it, since they aren't forensic scientists (the one exception would be if they were able to save the victim's life - medicine can supercede preserving the crime scene if it's time-sensitive), but since they haven't...

Ricki and her partner will both be fingerprinted (they should already have prints on file, but a new set will probably also be taken in case of temporary changes such as cuts or calluses), and will likely have DNA samples taken (so their DNA can be ruled out when other evidence from the scene is sampled).

Assuming it's known that Ricki entered the crime scene herself and came in close contact with the victim, she will absolutely have her DNA and prints taken, and her clothing may be confiscated as evidence for analysis (especially if there's visible blood, toxin, or other evidence staining her clothing). She will be questioned about her role in the scene, and will likely be reprimanded for diving right into the scene the way she did. She may also be given a physical exam - those are typically given to victims, witnesses, and potential suspects present at the scene when the crime occurred, but since Ricki entered the scene before it was closed and the age of the scene could not be fully determined when she did, they may choose to give her an exam as well.

As for the scene itself, all points of potential evidence will be identified and assigned a specific number. Photographs will be taken, using numbered plastic "tents" to label them as well as small rulers placed near (but not touching) the evidence to get an approximation of size. Small pieces of evidence, such as hairs or clothing fibers, will be given a number and a written description, and will be placed into a bindle. Liquid evidence will be swabbed and placed in a sealed container, which will also be labeled. Wet or bloodstained clothing will be wrapped in paper, taking care not to touch or wipe off the evidence any more than is necessary - liquids that are still wet are easier to identify than dried liquids, especially when it comes to blood or other biological substances. Evidence that cannot be transported, such as footprints or those claw marks at the scene, will be extensively photographed and logged, and will be left as intact as possible for the forensic scientists to examine more thoroughly at the scene. If possible, a small portion of the sample may be removed for lab testing (i.e. a bloodstained patch of carpet from a carpeted floor), but this depends on the substance.

Everyone who enters and leaves the scene will have to clock in with an assigned manager (someone whose only job is to record everyone who enters and leaves, and when). There is no food, drink, or smoking allowed on the crime scene for risk of cross-contamination, and all who are in the crime scene are to avoid coughing, sneezing, or even talking more than is necessary to avoid biological contamination. All evidence will also have custody forms, detailing who had the evidence at what time - you want as few different people handling the evidence as possible, to reduce the risk of loss or cross-contamination. Evidence will be given to lab technicians as needed for analysis, and the scene will remain sealed until all analysis is complete (it's important that more samples can be collected as needed without the risk of cross-contamination).

The body will be strictly photographed, verbally described, and labelled before it is removed from the scene, but once it is removed it will be sent to a coroner or medical examiner. Those two are NOT the same: medical examiners have a medical degree and extensive training and are the ones you WANT to have examining the body, while coroners are elected positions that require minimal to no training.

In a city like Gotham, I'd expect MEs rather than coroners. They will determine the identity of the victim, assess any damage done to the body and label all injuries, and assess the age of the body based on rigor mortis, livor mortis, forensic entomology (for example, blowflies can colonize a corpse in as little as 5-10 minutes when undisturbed!), and other means. They will almost certainly bring in a toxicologist to examine the poison on the knives. The victim's clothing, as well as the knives themselves, will be taken as evidence for analysis as well.

Particularly if it's a large crime scene or will draw a lot of attention (this would qualify), a defined area for journalists will be assigned OUTSIDE the active scene. The information released about the case will be extremely limited at first, but news personnel are still given their own area for whatever information they are allowed to gather.

It's a PROCESS, and you can see how long this got even when I'm trying to simplify it. And of course, this is the best-case scenario as well - even with these guidelines, evidence may be missed or cross-contaminated, detectives may bring food or drink into the scene, and other fallacies may happen. Hell- one already did, with Ricki jumping into the scene, and that's bound to have some repercussions both for her and for the analysis of the scene. But that brings me to the second part:

For Ricki: She has her own piece of evidence, doesn't she? Now, technically speaking she SHOULD NOT have done that, for a variety of reasons. For one, that wasn't standard collection or identification procedure, and it could make that substance harder to identify (due to cross-contamination, age, being stored improperly, etc.). And on top of that, depending on how observant the other technicians on the scene are, they might notice that the blade was tampered with after the crime was committed, which is a wrench thrown in the plans. Either Ricki needs to fess up and face the consequences of tampering with the scene, or she could be sending the other scientists on a red herring. And it's not just the knife - her footprints, her fingerprints, lost hairs, fibers from her clothing that got caught on the scene, and any accidental nudges to other pieces of evidence could also throw off the analysis.

She needs to get this chemical identified. Forensics labs are not standardized, which is a problem with the system as a whole but benefits Ricki individually here. The Gotham City Police Department likely uses a city-wise, state-wide, or federally-sponsored forensics lab, but Ricki could take her sample to a private lab and have it analyzed... well, not off the record, but at least without the police department getting involved. There may still be contact between labs, and having analysis done on the same chemical from the crime scene could still stir up some trouble for her, but she reduces that risk by going to an independent lab.

I'm honestly not sure where she should go from there. It depends on what she wants to get out of this - is she trying to solve the case, or just get a lead on who did it so she can Nightwing up and take them down? There's only so much information she can get from having that chemical analyzed, even if the analysis turns out to be successful. I'd say from here, her best bet is to try and lay low, follow the forensic examiner's lead, and get her story cleared - being reprimanded or written up is still better than having her cross-contamination misinterpreted and being seen as a potential suspect. It helps that her partner saw her interact with the scene, having that witness strengthens her alibi even if the situation is a little messy overall.

And of course... this is Gotham. It's a fictional city, and a city that's known for having superpowered crime on the regular. They may very well have differing procedures and responses to the ones we have here in the real world. Forensics as a science is constantly undergoing revisions and is subject to human error in a vast multitude of ways - it might benefit your worldbuilding to think about how analysis may differ in a science-forward, superpower-adapted world like this.

[meret118]

In courtrooms across America, “scientific evidence” used to imprison people for heinous crimes has been increasingly discredited. Blood-spatter patterns, arson analysis, bite-mark comparisons, even some fingerprint evidence have all turned out to be unreliable.

A quarter of the 3,439 exonerations tracked by the National Registry of Exonerations involved false or misleading forensic evidence.

But these exonerations are only the tip of the iceberg, some experts say. Many more people remain incarcerated despite questions about the forensic analysis of evidence used against them. Cases are not automatically reopened when a field of forensics is questioned or even discredited. That’s true of hair analysis, which has been under scrutiny for decades: Government studies have found that in hundreds of cases, hair analysts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation exaggerated their findings in reports and court testimony. 

A new report by the exoneration registry found 129 cases in which people were falsely convicted at least partly because of flawed hair analysis and testimony. Fifteen of the defendants were sentenced to die. Exonerees lost almost 2,000 years of their lives in prison and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. And there may be many more people behind bars who were convicted because of bad hair evidence.

“I am willing to speculate that—because the process of exoneration is so difficult—those exonerees could represent between two and 10 times as many wrongly convicted people,” said Simon Cole, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who is the director of the registry and an author of the study.

[forensicfield]

Role of Hair in Forensic Investigation

The contribution of hair analysis in crime scene investigation is very useful and reliable for the extraction of DNA and drug analysis from the last few decades. The microscopic analysis of hair helps us to differentiate between human and animal hairs.,,,

Continue reading Role of Hair in Forensic Investigation

[ailelie]

tl;dr: Don't trust (most) forensic science

"Bad Evidence" from The Intercept

Hair analysts testifying on the stand had made erroneous statements in at least 33 death penalty cases, according to the agency. “Nine of these defendants have already been executed and five died of other causes while on death row.”

[...]

Much of the recent upheaval in the forensics world can be traced back to a landmark study released by the National Academy of Sciences in 2009. Titled “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” the report questioned the scientific basis for virtually every forensic discipline used to convict people and send them to prison. With the exception of DNA analysis, it found, “no forensic method has been rigorously shown to have the capacity to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source.”

[...]

The NAS report, and an even more stinging critique of pattern-matching practices released by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2016, were particularly critical of bite marks. The “available scientific evidence strongly suggests that examiners cannot consistently agree on whether an injury is a human bite mark and cannot identify the source of [a] bite mark with reasonable accuracy,” reads the PCAST report — a problem the group did not think could be rectified. “PCAST considers the prospects of developing bite-mark analysis into a scientifically valid method to be low. We advise against devoting significant resources to such efforts.”

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward

By using the term “underresourced,” the committee means to imply all of its dimensions. Existing data suggest that forensic laboratories are underresourced and understaffed, which contributes to a backlog in cases and likely makes it difficult for laboratories to do as much as they could to inform investigations, provide strong evidence for prosecutions, and avoid errors that could lead to imperfect justice. But underresourced also means that the tools of forensic science are not as strong as they could be. The knowledge base that underpins analysis and the interpretation of evidence—which enable the forensic science disciplines to excel at informing investigations, providing strong evidence for prosecutions, and avoiding errors that could lead to imperfect judgment—is incomplete in important ways.

[...]

Although DNA laboratories are expected to conduct their examinations under stringent quality controlled environments, errors do occasionally occur. They usually involve situations in which interpretational ambiguities occur or in which samples were inappropriately processed and/or contaminated in the laboratory. Errors also can occur when there are limited amounts of DNA, which limits the amount of test information and increases the chance of misinterpretation. Casework reviews of mtDNA analysis suggest a wide range in the quality of testing results that include contamination, inexperience in interpreting mixtures, and differences in how a test is conducted.

[...]

Uniqueness and persistence are necessary conditions for friction ridge identification to be feasible, but those conditions do not imply that anyone can reliably discern whether or not two friction ridge impressions were made by the same person. Uniqueness does not guarantee that prints from two different people are always sufficiently different that they cannot be confused, or that two impressions made by the same finger will also be sufficiently similar to be discerned as coming from the same source. The impression left by a given finger will differ every time, because of inevitable variations in pressure, which change the degree of contact between each part of the ridge structure and the impression medium. None of these variabilities—of features across a population of fingers or of repeated impressions left by the same finger—has been characterized, quantified, or compared.

"How did we fall for the junk science of forensics?" from The Spectator

I believed in the polygraph test, in an unthinking way, right up until last week when I read a new book by M. Chris Fabricant, Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System, which carefully and unarguably explains that almost every forensic science is unreliable, and most are entirely bogus. It’s not just polygraphs, says Fabricant, but the whole damn shooting match: arson investigation, hair microscopy, bullet lead analysis, voice spectrometry, hand-writing and bloodstain spatter analysis. ‘The list of discredited forensic techniques is considerable,’ writes Fabricant.

"We Need To Get Junk Science Out of Courtrooms" from Current Affairs

Fabricant:  

I defined junk science in the book as subjective speculation masquerading as scientific evidence. And what I mean by that is that there is no scientific or empirical basis for the opinion. It’s based largely on training and experience and hasn’t been demonstrated to be valid and reliable through scientific research done through the scientific method and published in peer-reviewed journals, the way that mainstream typical science works.

In forensics, what we often have as compared to mainstream science are forensic techniques and knowledge generated by law enforcement. And typically, it’s done in an ad hoc basis. It will become useful in a particular case or a particular crime. Bite mark evidence is an example that I use in the book to demonstrate how a particular form of junk science gets introduced into the legal system. But it really only takes one case—one precedent-establishing case—or one judge to allow in one technique, and it’s very, very hard to exclude that evidence forever thereafter, no matter how junky it was to begin with.

[...]

Yes, it’s a fundamental problem with forensics. A lot of it goes back to what we were talking about earlier in terms of the difference between mainstream science and forensic sciences. One of the other examples that I point to in the book is arson investigation. Arson investigation, like bite mark evidence, hair microscopy, blood spatter evidence, firearms analysis—many of these techniques really operate in essentially a guild-like structure. The masters of the trade have the received wisdom that is passed down from mentor to mentee, generation from generation. A lot of it is folklore. What I mean is that it sounds science-y, and there are big textbooks, and there are leading practitioners of the field who become very high flying and high paid consultants. But it’s just never been tested.

[...]

One of the real problems with fingerprints and forensics, generally, is that there aren’t any standards nationally for, well, anything in particular—even as a threshold issue as to how much information you need in a latent fingerprint to make a so-called match. We know, today, that fingerprints have not been demonstrated as a matter of science to be unique. I think they probably are. I’m not arguing that they aren’t. But we don’t know this as a fact. What’s more important in forensics is that we don’t know how similar two fingerprints are. When you’re talking about latent fingerprints, these are smudges at crime scenes. If we don’t have any standards for how much information in that smudge you need, then you get a real problem with creating a potential wrongful conviction, a false positive, because some fingerprint experts will be willing to make a match based on very little information. What we get in that type of situation is the influence of cognitive bias on that conclusion. All forensics have a certain amount of subjectivity, some much more than others. Fingerprints are no different in that there aren’t any measurements being taken here to say that we need to have within a measurement of uncertainty, that when we declare a match that we know exactly what that means as a measurement, that this came within our one-millimeter degree of confidence in this measurement on this loop and this loop on this fingerprint. We don’t do that; it’s eyeballed.

[ellemonjuice]

Memory plays a joke on me. I remember little things.

Fear of heights. Dislike for bananas. Allergy to pumpkin. Disgust for toes. Favorite colors. Forgotten places. Rare smiles.

I wish I remembered something else instead. Something of greater value. Like this rule I couldn't apply during my midterm, or where I put my keys this morning.

The ghosts pass by after spending a while making home under my skin. The small parts of them linger, like skin particles and hair all over the apartment. I do not study forensic science, but I pick them up and put them in sealed bags.

The evidence of someone sharing truths and secrets with me somewhere in the blurring fog of the past.

I wonder if they carry those little bits of me with them too.

I wonder if my bag is still sealed in a corner of their memory.

[mirrordread]

You're on your own.

The words came like a cold shock, like ice water dumped over her head, but Imogen’s stunned expression was quick to shift into anger, sharp and hot. Her hands curled into fists. There was shock… but also… some twisted sense of satisfaction or relief, something vaguely positive that Imogen couldn’t identify.

"Ah…. okay so things drop off a cliff ONCE and you're leaving me in the lurch?"

"I'm done killing my peace of mind to cover your ass! I'm done hiding things, I’m done lying for you!" Harper said, fists clenched, a mirror of her twin sister. "I've ALWAYS looked out for you, Imogen, ever since we were kids. But I'm not going to sit here and let you take advantage of that anymore!"

"Take advantage?! I never ASKED you to "cover my ass", YOU'RE the one who kept sticking her nose in my business!"

"Because I'm afraid for you! YOU never know when you've taken things too far!!"

"And you do?" Imogen leaned back and folded her arms. "I was wondering when your pity was going to run out. If I'd known it would just take me getting arrested, I would've done something sooner."

"What do you mean, pity??" Harper said, incredulity seeping across her face. Anger returned to Imogen's features as she lunged to her feet.

"Oh don't start! Everything you've ever done for me, everything you've done to "protect me" didn't start until after I got sick. After I lost my leg. You’re like everyone else, from that point on you only saw what was missing and everything I "couldn't do" anymore! Anything you've EVER done for me was only because you didn't-- fuck, you didn't trust me to be able to handle it on my own! You never trusted me and you never stopped to ask if I even WANTED your help!”

Years of resentment was bubbling to the surface. This contempt had festered for so long that the very air between them was charged with loathing… even if the majority of it was coming from the mirror walker.

Harper sucked in a steadying breath, scrubbing a hand through her hair, but that didn't hide the upset quiver of her lips. Sisters were supposed to talk about things, they were supposed to be able to rely on each other… but if this was how Imogen really felt about her, then things hadn’t been good between them for a while now. She focused on her sister, trying to cover the hurt with anger of her own. 

"And you never tried to tell me this bothered you, so who’s fault is it really? Must feel good finally having it out in the open, but fine. I’ll stop trying. All this abusing your powers to break the law has finally come back to bite you, and now you'll get to watch your own back, just like you want. I'm sure you'll be thrilled to know you won't have to see me for a long while."

-----------------------

Imogen– Eido– awoke to the sight of her apartment ceiling, her mind darting through the events that followed that last conversation. Papers, an interrogation, a summer-hot holding cell, and her escape through the puddle of water she'd spread over the floor. Her anger at her sister had cooled over the last ten years, of course, leaving a practiced indifference in its place. Likewise the sting of betrayal had faded to a dull ache, something that only flared up when she thought about it too long… or dreams pulled everything to the surface again. 

She knew Harper was looking for her, as if a degree in forensic sciences would help against dimension jumping, magic, whatever her powers fell under. Authorities already had all the evidence they needed to lock her up… they just couldn't catch her.

And Eido was going to keep it that way.

[knifefightingbears]

Allow me to clarify:

Single source DNA is real.

Toxicology and drug testing are real.

Probabilistic genotyping accurately suggests sources are present but we have no way of knowing if the likelihood ratios are correct because the software has not been (and cannot be fully) independently verified and validated.

Firearm toolmark examiners disagree with themselves 60% of the time when they view the same casings or bullets a second time.

Fingerprints are unique but fingerprint analysis does not accurately identify fingerprints to the level suggested by analysts, being wrong roughly 1 in 20 times.

Facial recognition has huge racial biases and is not accurate.

Polygraphs, hair analysis, bite marks, and profiling are all comedically discredited. For some ungodly reason the odontology people are trying to bring bitemark back.

Bloodspatter evidence vastly overstates the amount of accurate information it can provide.

I was just at a conference where someone was developing the technology to "identify" people using nail beds and knuckle prints. When we asked them to show us the studies that indicate there is any level of uniqueness/semi-uniqueness to fingernail beds or knuckle prints they could not do so.

Bad forensic science contributed to over half of wrongful convictions overturned by the innocence project. While some of it has probative value, the level of accuracy indicated on TV (and stated in the courtrooms) is overstated to an irresponsible degree. People believe scientific testimony over video evidence and confessions. Real people are being falsely convicted because people saw wild shit on CSI, and prosecutors/forensic scientists count on that to obtain convictions.

Things that work in fiction but not real life

torture getting reliable information out of people

knocking someone out to harmlessly incapacitate them for like an hour

jumping into water from staggering heights and surviving the fall completely intact

calling the police to deescalate a situation

rafting your way off a desert island

correctly profiling total strangers based on vibes

effectively operating every computer by typing and nothing else

ripping an IV out of your arm without consequences

heterosexual cowboy

[worldwideinvestigationservices]

Unlocking Mysteries: How Forensic Biology & Serology Solve Crimes

In the corners that have not been explored, that's where you find the answers, which you may be looking for. From the set of fields Forensic Biology & Serology forensic science which took a couple of years to evolve, has today undoubtedly given to investigators methods, which they could easily and very precisely be sure of. Bio and Serology are the areas of the criminalistics science, which concern not only with the answer to the questions of where and when but also with the so-called "who." The world has witnessed the incidence of the wrong people being jailed or their executions just because of wrongful conviction, which only high-quality forensic evidence-based justice systems can help avoid.

This article will explain to you the process by which Forensic Biology and Serology combine their efforts to clarify the situation, using the usual real-life procedures that are also easy to grasp for beginners who are not educated in forensic science.

What is Forensic Biology & Serology?

The term Forensic Biology & Serology relates to the scientific study of biological evidence used in criminal investigations.

Bio forensics is the branch of the science of forensics that deals with the identification of the DNA, cells, tissues, bones, and hair of the individuals who are the possible perpetrators or victims of a crime.

Serology applies to us finding the source of a stain such as blood, saliva, or semen.

When a crime is committed, there is usually potential evidence at the scene. The expertise of the analyst in the use of Serology and Forensic Biology can reveal who was the victim of the crime, identify culprits, and in the process, they can also prove the innocence of some of the victims. The technological advancement of the crime scene investigation domain has led to, for example, micro quantities of biological material being beneficial to the investigation.

Thanks to the modern developments in forensic science, skin cells, tiny traces of blood, etc., that used to be impossible to get prints, are now potential sources of evidence that can be used in an investigation.

If you've lost ransomware data, recovering it can be a challenging process, but there are strategies to help. First, ensure that the infected system is isolated to avoid further damage. Utilize backups to restore your files, or reach out to professionals who may offer decryption tools. In complex cases, you may need to apply forensic techniques to track down traces of compromised data. Forensic Biology & Serology methods, while traditionally used in criminal investigations, can sometimes be adapted to analyze digital evidence and identify the origin or alteration of files, helping you recover lost data securely.

How Forensic Biology Aids in Criminal Investigations

In most cases, the invisible that can solve the mystery to itself can indeed be seen through the use of a microscope. Forensic Biology and Serological research can bring out those hidden traces of evidence.

DNA Profiling: A Mute Testimony

DNA is one of the biggest game-changers in the domain of crime investigation. Each individual possesses a unique set of genes and by employing contemporary methodologies, DNA technology can take DNA samples from extremely inconspicuous sources such as a hair, or some saliva, for example.

According to the domain of Biology and Serology in Forensics, DNA profiling is like unimpeachable evidence, which, however, is exclusively based on science. If it's a case of convict to evidence relation or alienating suspects, DNA has become one of the most effective forensic evidence due to its reliability.

Instances when DNA obtained from deteriorated samples can still be used for identification and in the pursuit of justice, even some decades after a crime has taken place are the results of these technical advances.

Biological Traces Detection

A lot of times, pieces of evidence are not visible to the naked eye. Crime scene units who are engaged in the field of Forensic Science: Biology & Serology with the use of chemicals, nature light, and microscopic studies, can retrieve latent biological elements.

Tools such as flushing, an example of blood on a washed territory, or fine saliva droplets can be detected through the use of these devices ensuring that there will be no traces that can be ignored and in the end could be crucial to being missed out.

The Importance of Serology in Crime-Solving

While Forensic Biology delves into DNA and cellular structures, Serology is a source of the valuable information that helps in solving crimes.

Blood Typing and Pattern Analysis

If DNA testing is not possible or gives an inconclusive result, blood typing can still be informative in finding a solution to the case.

The examination of the blood can give information on many points, for example, a struggle, or what direction the blow was delivered, etc.

People, skilled in Serological and Biological Forensics are capable to understand the patterns and provide the necessary information that can positively or negatively corroborate a witness's words.

Identifying Bodily Fluids

In investigation of sexual assaults and physical aggressions, finding out the presence of bodily fluids and their type are important matters.

The respective domain of Forensic Serology and Biology carries out the necessary testing to detect the sexual assault, namely the presence of sperm, vaginal secretions as well as the saliva and be sure about the perpetrated crime.

Through the analysis of these fluids, the time and areas of contact between different individuals are established, thereby the investigation is further supported in regard to the integrity.

Real-World Impact: Success Stories from Forensic Biology & Serology

Through the careful use of Biological and Serological Forensic Analysis, many cases have been solved in a methodical way over the years.

Here are a few cases:

Solving Cold Cases: Once with no evidence, these were cases left to be forgotten and abandoned, now they are minutely reopened. Old biological samples, that have been kept for years, are re-examined by modern methods which leads to the detection and conviction of unknown suspects.

Exonerating the Innocent: The analysis done in the projects at Forensic Biology and Serology has been a factor in correcting mistakes that were made in the past and that have wrongfully accused a certain party, thus, upholding the belief that forensic science is not just about guilt or innocence, but also the truth.

Such true-to-life examples underline the importance of forensic science as a foundation for criminal justice in today's world.

Building a Career in Forensic Biology & Serology

For those who find fascination in science and justice, following a career in Forensic Biology & Serology can be a very meaningful and exciting path.

Specialists are in demand for the various roles such as:

Forensic Biologists: They are the professionals who are responsible for the examination of the tissue, DNA, and cellular material that are collected in laboratory operations.

Forensic Serologists: They are the individuals in the field of forensic science that are specialized in recognizing and studying the body fluids found at a crime scene.

Crime Scene Technicians: These are field experts who are responsible for collecting and preserving biological evidence. 

Conclusion: Science and Justice Move as One

With the help of some of the forensic branches like Forensic DNA & Serology, precision and science that exists through the latter, secrets are revealed, and justice is reached with a fervour

The rising technologies besides the one mentioned above, are proving the competences of forensic experts, that they are faster, more accurate and are making it difficult for the offenders to be hidden.

Every little drop of blood or exiguous DNA segment can really bring on some implications, and at last, through science, that is making the real difference is being exposed.

[literaturereviewhelp]

The famous “father of criminalistics,” Paul Kirk once described the importance of forensic science in identifying the identity of a criminal. He said: Wherever he or she steps, whatever he or she touches, whatever he or she “leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as silent evidence against him” or her / Not only his or her fingerprints or his or her footprints, but his or her “hair, the fibers from his” or her “clothes, the glass he” or she “breaks, the tool mark he” or she leaves, the paint he or she “scratches, the blood or semen that he” or she “deposits or collects - all these and more bear mute witness against him” or her (Kirk, n.d. cited in Pyrek, 2007, p.1). From that statement alone, one would think about the critical role that forensic scientists play particularly in crime scene investigation. Almost everything that a criminal leaves in the place of crime commission can be subjected to scientific study. A suspect can be proven guilty when the result of the forensic investigation matches his or her identity. The problem however is the correct interpretation of the scientific result in relation to the facts of the crime. An incorrect analysis of the factual and physical evidences will surely put an innocent person to jail while setting free the true perpetrator. In such case, this assumption should serve as a guide to individuals making up the legal profession (ex. private lawyers, prosecutors and judges). In arriving at a decision, it is to be presumed that they have fully understood the implication of forensic evidence. Forensic Science Inman and Rudin cited that forensic science is probably “the least understood and most misunderstood of all scientific disciplines” (2001 cited in Pyrek, 2007, p.1). Instead of apprehending its essence and purpose in the criminal justice system, the public mind has been corrupted with rumors regarding the forensic profession. Forensic practitioners themselves are the primary cause of this problem. Some are only inspired by the celebrity and notoriety character that await them after solving a difficult crime. This has led the public to believe that such profession is insignificant and is only an avenue for talent exhibition by selfish and greedy forensic practitioners. This attribute coupled with the inability of legal professionals to segregate the true expert from the fake ones has encouraged self-appointed experts (Inman & Rudin, 2001 cited in Pyrek, 2007). This is one of the reasons why some critics support the premise that the legal profession does not understand the implication of forensic evidence. However, before making such judgment, it is appropriate to define first the term “understand” in relation to the main ideas. “ Read the full article

[beyondcrimescenetapes]

Fur-rensic Science

The Disappearance of Shirley Duguay: A Case Solved by Forensic Science

On October 7, 1994, Shirley Duguay, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of five from Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, went missing from her home. Her disappearance sparked one of the largest searches in the history of PEI, involving neighbors, police, and even the military. What followed was a groundbreaking investigation that relied on forensic science to solve the mystery of her disappearance—a case that would make history in the field of criminal justice.

The Discovery of the Abandoned Car

The investigation began when police received a report of an abandoned car in a field near Shirley’s home. The vehicle had no license plates, and upon closer inspection, investigators discovered bloodstains inside. The blood spatter pattern suggested medium-impact trauma, consistent with someone being struck by a blunt object. The car’s serial number was traced back to Shirley Duguay, confirming her connection to the vehicle.

Shirley was known to occasionally disappear for a few days without informing anyone of her whereabouts. However, this time, the circumstances were far more suspicious. To confirm whether the blood belonged to Shirley, investigators collected a DNA sample from her father. Since a child inherits 50% of their DNA from each parent, the sample was compared to the blood found in the car. The results confirmed that the blood was indeed Shirley’s.

The Search for Evidence

As the search for Shirley intensified, investigators found a blood-soaked pillow near the abandoned car, which Shirley often used while driving. However, further forensic analysis revealed another blood sample at the crime scene that did not match Shirley’s DNA. This raised a critical question: Whose blood was it?

The search expanded to include land and sea, with authorities meticulously combing through the area. Desperate for leads, the Royal Canadian Police even sought the help of psychics and hypnosis. Weeks later, a breakthrough came when police discovered a shovel half a mile from the abandoned car. Two long hairs were attached to the shovel, and microscopic analysis confirmed they were a match to Shirley’s hair samples taken from her hairbrush.

The Leather Jacket and Sneakers

Fifteen miles from the abandoned car, investigators found a plastic bag containing sneakers and a blood-stained male leather jacket. The blood on the jacket matched Shirley’s DNA. Shirley’s father, who had his suspicions, pointed investigators toward her estranged husband, Doug Beamish. The couple had been separated for 18 months, and during their 15-year marriage, Doug had a history of abusing Shirley.

When questioned by investigators, Doug denied any involvement in Shirley’s disappearance. However, the sneakers found at the scene were size 9—the same size Doug wore. To confirm the connection, forensic podiatrist Dr. Keith Bettles' analyzed the sneakers. By comparing the wear patterns, pressure points, and unique characteristics of Doug’s feet (including his pronated feet and hyper flexed toes), Dr. Bettles' concluded that the sneakers belonged to Doug. Despite this evidence, Doug continued to deny ownership of the sneakers and the leather jacket.

The Cat Hair Breakthrough

The leather jacket contained 20 long white hairs that, under microscopic examination, were determined to be non-human. Human hair has thin medullas, while animal hair has thick medullas. Investigators recalled that during their interview with Doug, a pure white cat named Snowball had rubbed against one of the officers, leaving behind cat hair. This observation led them to suspect that the hairs on the jacket might belong to Snowball.

At the time, there was no established forensic testing method for animal DNA. However, investigators reached out to Dr. Stephen O’Brien, a geneticist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) who was studying hereditary illnesses in cats. Dr. O’Brien agreed to analyze the hairs. Investigators collected a blood sample from Snowball and delivered it to Dr. O’Brien’s lab.

In the lab, DNA was extracted from the roots of the hairs found on the jacket and compared to Snowball’s blood sample. Dr. O’Brien confirmed a match, stating, “We got a very clear match between the genotype of each of the markers in the hair to each of the same markers in Snowball.” To ensure the accuracy of the findings, blood samples from 20 other cats in the area were tested. The results showed significant genetic diversity, and the probability of another cat having the same DNA profile as Snowball was calculated to be 1 in 70 million.

The Discovery of Shirley’s Body

Seven months after Shirley’s disappearance, a fisherman discovered a body in a shallow pit along Canada’s Enmore River. The location matched a tip provided by a psychic, who had suggested searching near water and under pine trees. The body was identified as Shirley Duguay. An autopsy revealed that she had died from blunt force trauma, consistent with the blood spatter pattern found at the crime scene. Her nose was broken, her jaw was fractured in three places, and one of her front teeth was found lodged in her lung.

The Arrest and Conviction of Doug Beamish

Doug Beamish was arrested and charged with Shirley’s murder. In addition to the forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene, investigators found a threatening letter written in his blood, demanding custody of their children. Photographs also showed Doug wearing a leather jacket identical to the one found at the scene the day before Shirley disappeared.

On July 19, 1996, Doug Beamish was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison. His appeals in 1998 and 1999 were rejected, and in 2013, his request for parole was denied. The case remains a landmark in forensic science, marking the first time animal DNA was used to secure a murder conviction.

disclaimer: the cat picture is from https://daniellespires.wordpress.com/2023/07/31/snowball-the-crime-solving-cat/

[alotofweirdkinks]

This study was launched after the Post reported that flawed forensic hair matches might have led to possibly hundreds of wrongful convictions for rape, murder, and other violent crimes, dating back at least to the 1970s. In 90 percent of the cases reviewed so far, forensic examiners evidently made statements beyond the bounds of proper science. There were no scientifically accepted standards for forensic testing, yet FBI experts routinely and almost unvaryingly testified, according to the Post, “to the near-certainty of ‘matches’ of crime-scene hairs to defendants, backing their claims by citing incomplete or misleading statistics drawn from their case work.”

[...]

Since prison-crowding and justice reform are widely touted as issues that unite the left and the right in this country, going back and retesting the evidence of those who may well have been wrongly imprisoned should be a national priority. So far it isn’t, perhaps because the scope of the enterprise is so daunting. Or perhaps because nobody really cares all that much about people who’ve been sitting in jail for years and years. Says Garrett: “These victims may remain unrecognized and in prison—if they still live—and the same unscientific testimony continues to be delivered without limitation. … But hey, these are just criminal cases right?”

Millions of people, mostly POC and poor people, have suffered or had their lives ended over this, with long term negative impacts on their families and communities as well.

Remember when I talk about how people with records face denial of basic services and massive discrimination, or how prisoners are enslaved, just how corrupt the US courts are and always have been.