Forensic Science : How Our Cats Companions Can Crack Cases

The mystery behind child beauty queen Jonbenet Ramseys murder can be summed up into two theories connecting her parents to the crime or one of Johns coworkers. The investigation into the murder of Jonbenet Ramsey was marred from the outset by such police errors as allowing Ramsey family and friends to contaminate the crime scene before securing the area, allowing her father to search the house unaccompanied by police, and letting family members remove items from the home before the investigation was completed. This case highlights the need for proper crime scene management (Katz 1).

The popular television show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigations has been on the air for 12 years, and it has brought forth the behind-the-scenes actions of criminal investigations, even if its portrayals are not always scientifically accurate. This has caused an interest in the forensic sciences that has led most people to a skewed view of how a criminal investigation actually works. The reality of a criminal investigation is that it is generally more tedious and difficult than the theory of criminal investigation would have you believe. By examining the forensic and investigative procedures of the case of Pamela Foddrill, it is apparent that the theory of criminal investigation was not representative of the procedures concerning examination

The case I chose to write on is based on a DVD that we watched in class called ‘Beaten by a hair’. In this case, a woman was reported missing after she went to work and never returned home. After the police discovered a bloody pillow case in the woods, near her house, they linked it to the missing pillow case in the woman’s room, and then realized that they had a murder case on their hands. A mystery in the case was that one of the local neighbors had mentioned seeing the woman leave through the front door of her house but the evidence says different, so investigators had to find out who left the house that morning. I am interested in this case because it was very intriguing how the forensic officers put all the pieces

Hair connection to the case: The killers dog hair was found with her body,which connects the murder to the owners.

The Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory was developed to provide the highest quality of professional forensic services to the State of Louisiana. The commitment of the agency includes applying sound scientific principles in all analyses, being responsive to our customers, conducting our operations in a fair and objective manner, and being a leader in advancing forensic science. The mission of the laboratory is to assist all of the local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in Louisiana in the investigation of criminal activity (Office of Public Safety Services, 2015). The agency is also committed to providing accurate and timely scientific analysis of items of physical evidence and reporting the results of those analyses to appropriate entities in the criminal justice community.

The fiber and hair evidence collected from the bodies of the murder victims resulted in the conviction of Wayne Williams in 1982 (CNN, 2010). Investigations located green carpet fibers that displayed a specific pattern, red carpet fibers, yellow fibers, dog hair, as well as human hair on the different bodies from 1979 until 1981. This collection of evidence was compared to the carpet fibers from the home where Wayne Williams lived as well as the vehicle he drove. A sample of hair was also taken from his dog and compared to those found on the bodies. A yellow blanket was found under the bed of Wayne Williams, a sample of those fibers was also taken.

The various fiber evidence in this case was deemed essential and “the strongest scientific link in this case” (Nickell 2 of 2). There were over 28 fiber types involved in this case that linked to Williams, and of these 28, 14 were from a rug or carpet (Deadman 13 of 14). These fibers were associated with “a bedroom carpet in Wayne Williams’ home, his bedspread, a yellow blanket found under that bed, a leather jacket hanging in Wayne’s closet, a gray glove in his station wagon…” (Plummer 2 of 3). Dog hairs, which were traced to Williams’s German Shepard Sheba, were also found; as well as scalp hairs that linked Williams to one of the victims, Patrick Baltazar. The scalp hairs were 98% similar to Wayne Williams, and the DNA sequence of the dog hairs could only be found in 1 out of 100 dogs. The combination of the hair, and fibers at the same location strengthened the case against Williams. A multitude of “yellow green nylon fibers and some violet acetate fibers” were located on the bodies and clothing of the victims (Deadman 2 of 14). Fibers from 12 bodies

The first were from a dog collar on her body. The suspect had bought a few from the supplier, and the police department also found out that he often hunted in the area where the body was found. The twine used to tie the body bag were used for rabbit netting. The police department tracked down the supplier of the netting to a nearby city, who only produced a batch of it. The same netting was also found in the suspect’s house. The cable ties used to tie Tiernan’s hands together were tracked back to Royal Mail, a patent company of Parcel Force, who Taylor worked for. Finally, there were also pink carpet fibers found on Tiernan’s body, which was connected to Taylor’s home after the last three fibers were also tied back to his house. Hair and blood evidence were also used in the case, but they did not play as central of a role as the fiber

When analyzing the documentary, “The Real CSI” Frontline Correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates three cases dealing with forensic evidence. First being the long practice of latent fingerprint analysis, bite marks, and the odder of death.

Crime scenes are known to have many clues left behind. The obvious would be a the body or bodies, clothing, and sometimes even the murder weapon. While these are great way to solve a case there's another kind of evidence; trace evidence. Trace evidence are small pieces of evidence that are laying around a crime scene. There are many types of trace evidence some of them include metal filings, plastic fragments, gunshot residue, glass fragments, feathers, food stains, building materials, lubricants, fingernail scrapings, pollens and spores, cosmetics, chemicals, paper fibers and sawdust, human and animal hairs, plant and vegetable fibers, blood and other body fluids, asphalt or tar, vegetable fats and oils, dusts and other airborne

In the United States, crimes are constantly being committed. Some of the crimes that are committed are simple, and other crimes are extremely complex. Every complex crime comes with its own challenges in distinguishing material evidence. Some evidence can be tiny as a hair, or a fiber that can be located on a piece of clothing or carpet. Even though, the size of the evidence is not important, the information that it provides investigators is crucial to finding the suspect of the crime. With the assistance of trace evidence, investigators can obtain the small particles that can transfer from two objects come together. Collecting material from any crime scene can yield a plethora of information. However, by properly collecting material evidence like the tire print impression, pubic hairs, multiple dog hairs, and foreign fibers. Investigators, were able to convict Cecil Sutherland for kidnapping, sexual assault, and three counts of murder.

An alternate occasion that upset Williams was the passing of his feline toward the end of 2008. This was over a year after he conceded starting to break into houses. It's unusual to consider that the demise of a feline could bring about an acceleration of his law violations. Be that as it may this feline, named Curio, was similar to a child to Williams. “But it was almost certainly not an external event, such as the effect of the drugs, the loss of Curio, a dramatic change in his relationship with his wife or any other single catalyst,” the author continues further more. “Rather, in the collective opinion of the police, forensic psychiatrists and other justice system officials who took a role in the prosecution, there was a convergence of factors whose defining event was a conscious decision by Williams to indulge his long-suppressed

The primary residence of the decedent where the incident had occurred was a tiny two story apartment with a basement. The entrance was a wooden door with a glass window and a regular lock which showed no signs of forced entry. The main door opens into a small hallway that leads to the living room with the kitchen to the right and the entrance to the basement slightly to the left after that. The home was generally disorganised and unkempt. The living room was in a disarray with items strewn across every surface.

The field of Criminal Justice has so many different career paths that anyone can succeed in and it’s for that reason I have picked the Forensic Science path to explore. There are a number of reasons why I have chosen to explore and get an education in this career. The specialization of Forensic Science within the Criminal Justice is right for me because I feel that families should have closure, I feel that people who don’t deserve to be in prison should have a fair trial, I like watching crime shows all the time, and last but not least it’s a more challenging field of work and I love

I have always loved suspenseful whodunit television shows, movies, and books that use forensic science to crack the cases. My favorite television show is The First 48, my favorite movie is The Silence of the Lambs, and my favorite book is The Body Farm. Therefore, I was excited to have the opportunity to take this course and learn even more about the subject of forensics. This essay gives a summary of N. E. Genge’s book, The Forensic Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation, and includes the things I disliked and liked about the book.