...Blood Spatter Pattern Analysis Kimberley Kanuch-Brown Everest University Abstract Given that blood spatter analysis is an emergent field, with rapidly occurring developments have significant probative implications for the court system, this project will seek to examine the multi-faceted elements of blood spatter analysis to provide an overview of the field’s different dimensions. Focusing on technical developments, analytical interpretation and court relevance, the project will propose that blood spatter’s analysis as a mainstream element of the CSI toolkit results from the combination of physical sciences and analytical rigor which lies at its core. Beginning with questions of technical and physical science, the project will examine the manner in which blood spatter analysis is increasingly capable of understanding how human usage of different weapons impacts the static nature of a given crime scene. Moving to questions of interpretation, the project will touch upon the manner in which information technology is improving the rigor and caliber of analysis, and thus leading to greater continuity and replicability in blood spatter analysis. Concluding, it will examine the manner in which the court system is now viewing blood spatter analysis with greater heft because of these developments. Blood Spatter Analysis and Science Beginning with questions of science, the work of Randall (2009) demonstrates how even the most esoteric of weapons can be analyzed using blood-spatter...
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...Forensics of Blood Blood evidence is the most common, most recognized and possibly most important evidence in the world of criminal justice. Throughout the history of violent and fatal crimes, bloodstain evidence has recently begun to emerge as a recognized forensic skill. “Blood is one of the most significant and frequently encountered types of physical evidence associated with forensic investigation of death and violent crime” (Eckert & James, 11). When a violent crime has been committed, blood is commonly left behind at the scene of the crime. This blood evidence allows police investigators to piece together the events of the crime. The texture, size, shape, and distribution of the blood can be used to determine when the crime occurred, what weapon was used, how the victim was standing, how many times the victim was hit, and more. Even if the perpetrator attempted to cover up the crime by cleaning the blood, evidence of blood still remains. Forensic investigators have different tests that can see where blood has been, whether it is blood, saliva, or semen, and also can test whether the blood is even human or not. Going even further, more tests can be done to compare the blood of different individuals to determine whether or not they were the perpetrator. Within the blood, there is a liquid portion called plasma making up about 55% of the total volume of blood. The plasma contains mostly water with some nutrients, minerals, and oxygen. In the plasma, there are red and...
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...Week 7 Bloodstain pattern analysis is defined as the examination of shapes, locations and distribution patterns of bloodstains, this source has been a helpful resource to the law enforcement with solving there case and recognizing what type of criminal act was committed. Bloodstain patterns can help investigators understand the actions and motions of the victim and the suspect throughout the crime scene. The patterns may indicate that a crime first thought of as a suicide was in fact a homicide. The analysis of bloodstain patterns is a complicated discipline and requires much experience with many different situations to learn to do an accurate reading. The bloodstain pattern analysis plays a very important role in the reconstruction of many crime scenes. The various types of bloodstains account for how the blood was projected from the body. Blood may be dripped out of the body, sprayed from an artery, oozed out through a large wound or flung off a weapon that has struck another person. Through bloodstain pattern analysis, analysts can determine, among other things, the type of injuries received, the order in which the injuries were received, whose blood is present at the scene, and more. As I read throughout the chapter I notice that bloodstain pattern analysis can form a very interesting story that keeps the media itself entertained. The reason I said this is that, it turns out that the location where the blood lands, and the shape of the blood on the landing surface, reveal...
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...Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA) is the examination of the shapes, locations, and distribution of patterns of bloodstains, in order to provide an interpretation of the physical events that gave rise to their origin. When BPA is done properly, many things can be discerned including distance from the blood source to the target, direction of travel and impact angles, nature of the force used to cause the bloodshed, sequencing of multiple bloodshed events, and interpretation of contact or transfer patterns. When it has been properly documented, BPA can also be used to confirm of refute the position of a victim, witness, suspect, or defendant, determine if there is evidence of a struggle, or if the assault was “one sided”, and confirm or refute statements made by the principles in a case, as in telling if the patterns match accounts given by victims, witnesses or defendants. Blood has specific characteristics that are exhibited in the way it behaves when separated from the blood source. Blood is always spherical in shape until it impacts a particular surface. This is due to the fact that blood naturally pulls in on itself, both horizontally and vertically, due to its specific surface tension. Spatters of blood occur when blood is acted upon by force and travels through the air before landing on a target surface. Transfers occur when a blood source comes in direct contact with the target surface area. Depending on the surface texture of the area, bloodstains...
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...Blood Stain Pattern Analysis: Blood stain pattern analysis is a form of forensic science that examines blood at crime scenes. From analyzing blood at the crime scene analysts can determine many different things about the crime scene. Some of which include: Where the blood came from What caused the wounds? From what direction was the victim wounded? How were the victim(s) and perpetrator(s) positioned? What movements were made after the bloodshed? How many potential perpetrators were present? Does the bloodstain evidence support or refute witness statements? Because blood behaves according to certain scientific principles, trained bloodstain pattern analysts can examine the blood evidence left behind and draw conclusions as to how the blood may have been shed. From what may appear to be a random distribution of bloodstains at a crime scene, analysts can categorize the stains by gathering information from spatter patterns, transfers, voids and other marks that assist investigators in recreating the sequence of events that occurred after bloodshed. This form of physical evidence requires the analyst to recognize and interpret patterns to determine how those patterns were created. Analysts must obtain a four year degree in forensic science or a Bachelor of Science degree before becoming an analyst. Often elastic string is stretched from blood droplets on the angle that of impact to determine where the blood originated from. Blood splatter can tell the police...
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...14 December 2014 Blood and Guns The world of Forensic Scientist is an amazing and fascinating place. There are so many aspects that go into forensic science but in this paper we are only covering bloodstain spatter patterns. Bloodstain spatter patterns are not solely used to solve crimes but I do feel it is one of the most important. Bloodstains never lie. A bullet is traveling at its fastest speed when it leaves the barrel of the gun. Bullets traveling after firing is said to be using kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy the bullet has due to its motion from the firing pin striking the gun powder causing an explosion that forced the bullet to discharge from the barrel. Now this bullet possess kinetic energy and will do harm to anything lying within its targeted path. (Kinetic Energy website) The kinetic energy given to bullets fried from rifles will be a higher velocity then that of a pistol or shot gun. Rifles barrels are longer and constructed to with stand more pressure and thus leading to a greater velocity of kinetic energy on a bullet (Warlow 67). Death can occur from firing a bullet straight up in the air. When the bullet is returning to the earth due to the gravitational pull it will pick up velocity. However the bullet can return either base or head side up (89). Powders also have different burning rates for different guns. When you have a longer barrel your burning rate of powder will be longer but if your barrel is shorter then you will have a faster...
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...Locard's Exchange Principle, and the limits of Forensic Science. Various case studies will also be analysed throughout the lecture. Case Studies Felicia Lee; Walter Dinivan; Madam Jetkor Miang Singh; Roberto Calvi; Buck Ruxton & the Jigsaw Murders; Acid Bath Haigh; 2005 London Bombings; "Brides in the Bath"; Gareth Williams; The Woodchipper Murder WEEK 2- CHEMICAL ANALYSIS IN FORENSIC SCIENCE Quote "Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea" The act is not culpable unless the mind is also guilty. Learning Objective(s) At the end of this topic, you should be able to: 2A. Atomic Structure & Spectroscopy 1. Explain the structure of the atom and Bohr's model; 2. Differentiate between emission and absorption spectroscopy; 3. Explain the chemistry behind EDX and SEM-EDX; 4. Explain the chemistry in NAA; 2B. Molecular Spectroscopy & Chromatography 1. Apply the principles of chromatography; 2. Describe the methods used in the analysis of compounds; 3. Explain the chemistry behind the methods for the analysis of compounds; 4. Identify which method is more effective for the analysis of compounds. Synopsis An introduction to spectroscopy and the structure of atoms. The comparisons...
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...Samuel Sheppard Blood Analysis Name Institution Samuel Sheppard Blood Analysis Dr. Sam Sheppard was a well-known physician in the early 1950s in Cleveland. He was from a very wealthy family that was well known because of their acclaim as being physicians. He was liked very much by the Cleveland community, which put his life under great public scrutiny. The Sheppard case is a very good example of the trial happening in the public arena with the outrageous behavior of the media and the press[1]. The influence that the media and the press had on the Sheppard’s case contributed greatly to the inability of Dr. Sheppard having to receive a trial that was unbiased in terms of the jury. Marilyn Sheppard who was the wife to Dr. Sheppard was found bashed to death on July 4th, 1954, and at the arrival of the police at the scene, the house was in shambles and the bedroom was a gruesome scene that made Sheppard the primary suspect because he was present in the house. Despite the position of the body and the partial removal of clothes, the autopsy of the body, however, showed that there was no sexual assault since there was no evidence of anal or vaginal trauma as well as no evidence of seminal fluid or any indication that the victim had been sexually abused[2]. Marilyn was reported to have suffered a series of wounds and several blows to the head while Dr. Gerber stated that she had died from hemorrhaging caused by the blows she had got on her head. According to the...
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...why I have selected this topic is because I find it intriguing how physical evidence is broken down, evaluated, and reconstructed to actual tell how a crime occurred and what happened in the process. There are many television shows I watch daily that portray the crime scene investigation process in a certain light this is another reason why I chose this topic. I’d like to find out firsthand what actually goes on in the reconstruction process versus fictional exploitations of it on television. Crime Scene Reconstruction looks at the physical evidence and attempts to determine “What Happened? And how did it happen?” A similar method that is used is Criminal Profiling. Criminal Profiling is the application of psychological theory to the analysis and reconstruction of the forensic evidence that relates to an offender’s crime scenes, victims and behaviours. Crime Scene Reconstruction is the use of scientific methods, physical evidence, deductive reasoning and their interrelationships to gain explicit knowledge of the series of events that surround the commission of a crime. The goals of crime scene reconstruction is to encourage the exchange of information and procedures useful in the reconstruction of crime scenes, stimulate research and develop new and or improved methods of crime scene reconstruction, to promote the improvement of professional expertise, provide the...
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...Crime scene investigation is the meeting point between science, logic and law. Processing a crime scene is and long and tedious process and is the job of crime scene investigators (CSI). CSI has the responsibilities of collecting, documenting, preserving, reconstructing and presenting evidence. It is their job to examine any physical evidence that could remotely shed any light on what happened and who is responsible. There are no typical crime scenes, evidence or investigative approaches and every crime scene should be approached in a systematic sense. According to Robert R. Ogle Jr., a crime scene search is defined as a systematic, methodical search for any physical evidence at a crime scene. Before the job of CSI can begin, there has to be a crime committed. For instance, CSI are on call for murder scene investigations to collect and examine evidence. When CSI is contacted, their job begins. Evidence is a major part in any investigation. Without evidence, a case can grow cold quick. Anything can be evidence and when in a crime scene, everything should be treated as such. Evidence has many different categories: trace, firearm, impression, drug and alcohol, document, and biological fluids. All of these categories of evidence play an important part in finding out valuable information towards solving a case. The most important aspect of evidence collection and preservation is protecting the crime scene. When first approaching a crime scene, first responders should secure the...
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...object, then was struck again until she fell leaning against her kitchen sink, struck again then onto the floor where she fell against her fridge. Evidence shows that Molly was struck in her head at least eight times. Her business partner, & son in law David Hill stated that he found Ms. Wright in that position, & then tried to revive her but the (BPA) Bloodstain Pattern Analysis proved different. Because of the blood splatter that was found on Hill’s shoes, jeans, and denim jacket it was proved by Bloodstain Pattern Expert (BPE) Samantha Warna that Hill was no more than a meter away while Wright was being bludgeoned. Based on the size of the blood spots found on his clothing due to the cast-off motion, it left patterns that could not have been caused due to cradling Molly, or trying to revive her. A cast-off blood stain pattern is when blood is flown off the weapon in a swinging motion during the beating. The scientific findings proved that David Hill killed...
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...This week assignment was based on us to write about how biological evidence is obtained at the crime-scene. Biological evidence means the evidence that is commonly recovered from crime scenes. Such evidences are in the form of blood, saliva, sperm, hair, tissue, bones, teeth, blood, or other bodily fluids.Since blood, semen, and saliva originate as liquids, they quickly coat or penetrate surfaces they are deposited on, and when dried they are difficult to remove. Because no two humans are genetically the same (except for identical twins) these body fluids are unique to the person they originated from. By performing DNA analysis of these fluids or stains, a genetic marker profile can be obtained that is essentially specific to that individual. At a crime scene, many types of biological evidences may be present. Each type of biological evidence has a unique importance and its own probative value. Ordinarily, biological evidence are photographed or collected from crime scene and sent to the laboratory for a DNA investigation. The DNA specific to each individual is an effective means of identification. DNA analyst can associate evidence to a person and give the frequency of occurrence in a random population. However, microscopic hair examinations tend to be subjective and highly dependant on the skills and integrity of the analyst. For this reason a reported hair comparison must contain DNA information. DNA does more than just identify the source of the sample; it can place...
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...This week assignment was based on us to write about how biological evidence is obtained at the crime-scene. Biological evidence means the evidence that is commonly recovered from crime scenes. Such evidences are in the form of blood, saliva, sperm, hair, tissue, bones, teeth, blood, or other bodily fluids.Since blood, semen, and saliva originate as liquids, they quickly coat or penetrate surfaces they are deposited on, and when dried they are difficult to remove. Because no two humans are genetically the same (except for identical twins) these body fluids are unique to the person they originated from. By performing DNA analysis of these fluids or stains, a genetic marker profile can be obtained that is essentially specific to that individual. At a crime scene, many types of biological evidences may be present. Each type of biological evidence has a unique importance and its own probative value. Ordinarily, biological evidence are photographed or collected from crime scene and sent to the laboratory for a DNA investigation. The DNA specific to each individual is an effective means of identification. DNA analyst can associate evidence to a person and give the frequency of occurrence in a random population. However, microscopic hair examinations tend to be subjective and highly dependant on the skills and integrity of the analyst. For this reason a reported hair comparison must contain DNA information. DNA does more than just identify the source of the sample; it can place...
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...Insects are very location specific, and if insects are found on or within the remains that are not specific to that location, it can provide detail as to the place of death. Entomology can determine if a body has been moved or disturbed. This information can be critical to solving a crime. Bloodstain Pattern Analysis can be helpful in the determination of a crime scene provided that there is bloodstain present. It can determine whether something or somebody has been moved, and it can tell whether a crime scene has been contaminated through swipe patterns, and blood transfers. It can provide the direction of travel that the victim, or perpetrator moved, and offer a relative rate of speed. A perfect example of BPA offering information about the location is Sergeant Diane Cockle’s 2012 Kelowna Keith WIENS homicide case in which Cockle says, “ A retired mountie who killed his wife and staged the scene - BPA evidence was critical for the...
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...Forensic Chemist The trunk of a stolen car smells of decomposed flesh, a pair of Converse high tops with tiny specs of blood spatter are all alone in the back seat of the same car, and a half smoked cigarette rests softly on a freshly mowed lawn next to the driveway. These are clues of a crime scene. Each clue adds up to the story of something terrible. A crime has taken place, and law enforcement is on the scene. Whether it is a detective, county Sheriff or the FBI, the investigators will rely on their forensic teams to link all the pieces of the puzzle that don’t quite fit yet. A Forensic Chemist can make them fit by scientifically analyzing the evidence. Chemistry, biology, materials science, and genetics to analyze clue found at the scene of the crime, on the victims or in the bodies of the bad guys. Forensic Chemists go into a case with many unknow pieces of the crime scene they need to analyze to determine the nature of each sample. Most Forensic Chemists work in a lab. It is rare for private labs to do this kind of work so most of the time these labs are associated with Local, State, or Federal law enforcement agencies. From local Medical Examiner’s labs to state of the art FBI labs, Forensics Chemists often provide the strongest evidence in court against the defendants. They have many different types of test and methods they use to figure out what the samples mean. Each crime scene brings new types of clues and samples so a Forensic Chemist must always...
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