Dr. Richard English - Crime Scene & Forensics

  Our bodies lose hair daily. In fact, we shed hair from various parts of our body and in most cases are simply unaware of the occurrence. On many occasions, I have collected hair as evidence at crime scenes. What types of information can be gleaned from hair? Hair can be an important item of trace evidence. The shaft of a hair can reveal the type of animal it came from as all animals generate specific types of hair, while also providing identifiable characteristics on a class level. For example, a hair shaft contains Mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA. This type of DNA is passed down through the maternal line, provided by the great grandmother, grandmother, and mother of a person. This DNA is often used to identify victims of crime by connecting the victim to siblings, mother, and grandmother; it cannot identify a specific individual. mtDNA is DNA located outside of the cell nucleus, and is the power source for the nucleus; it is found in much larger quantities than nuclear DNA.  Nu...

Deoxyribonucleic Acid or DNA can be found in many types of biological forms of evidence. From saliva, to blood, semen, urine, and sweat, DNA profiles can be developed, connecting perpetrators of crimes to crime scenes and crime victims. In Lakeville, Indiana, three construction workers were murdered at a construction site. Police had little to work with and no leads in the case. However, one investigator observed someone on the property recently stepped in a pile of dog feces. The footwear left a clear impression in the feces. It was determined that the footwear that made the impression was not from anyone residing on the property or the construction workers. The impression was captured through photography, and a sample of the feces was collected. With no leads, days passed until a call came in from someone advising they believed they knew who was responsible for the killings. With a possible suspect identified, investigators obtained a search warrant for the apartment where the ...