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Case Study : ' Leanne Tiernan '

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Leanne Tiernan, a 16-year-old girl had been reported missing on November 26, 2000 in Leeds, West Yorkshire while she was walking back home after a day of Christmas shopping with her friend. Tiernan had taken a short cut home after a trip into the city and after departing ways with her friend, she was never heard from again. Police were desperate to locate the whereabouts of Tiernan as more than 1000 properties were searched, a 3 mile stretch of a canal was drained and garbage collections were stopped. Things were looking grim for the investigators as their only leads came from witnesses that said they saw a man walking his dog several times near the area where Tiernan had disappeared from. It wasn’t until nine months later, on August …show more content…

They first had to identify whether the body was indeed Tiernan’s or not and two days after the body was found, fingerprinting methods indeed determined that the body was Leanne Tiernan. Despite her body being found 9 months later, her body was still intact enough to gather fingerprints. Fingerprinting proves to be a critical method in forensic cases as no two individuals have been recorded having the same fingerprint, making it an ideal way to identify suspects or victims. Fingerprints are also individual characteristics making it nearly 100% chance that it could be traced back to a source. Getting something Tiernan may have touched can then be compared to a fingerprint(s) taken from her body. Fingerprints have ridge characteristics known as minutiae and can also be classified on their general pattern known as loops, arches, and whorls. Fingerprints also do not change unless damage is done to the dermal papillae, which makes fingerprints a powerful use of evidence. Extracting a fingerprint from Tiernan would require pressing a finger into an ink pad and then transferring the impression onto a card that would be examined by a professional. However, getting a sample to compare her fingerprint would require investigators to find a latent fingerprint (prints that are left on a surface which are invisible to the naked eye) of Tiernan. When we touch something, we leave impressions on surfaces due to the sweat and oil and as long as the

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