Forensic Biology by Richard Li

1. Chapter 3: Crime Scene Investigation and Laboratory Analysis of Biological Evidence Forensic Biologyby Richard Li

2. Forensic Investigations Involving Biological Evidence • Requires: • Crime scene examination • Scene security, documentation, collection and preservation of evidence • Laboratory analysis • Utilizes scientific techniques for evidence examination, identification of biological fluids, and the comparison of individual characteristics

3. Crime Scene Investigation • Protecting and securing the scene: • Duty of the first officer on the scene • Only authorized personnel • Use log sheet • Obtain medical attention if needed • Proper supplies and devices must be utilized • E.g. Disposable suits, face mask, disposable gloves and booties

4. Crime Scene Investigation • Documentation • Sketch • Rough and Finished • Photographs • Use photo log sheet • Use scale • Video

5. Crime Scene Investigation • Chain of Custody- lists custody information at every point in time when evidence is handled or transferred

6. Crime Scene Investigation • Recognition of probative biological evidence • Corpus delicti evidence • Evidence that a crime has occurred • Context-dependent • Victim-to-perpetrator linkage evidence • Victim-to-scene linkage evidence • Perpetrator-to-scene linkage evidence • Case-to-case linkage evidence • Modus operandi • Ted Bundy

7. Ted Bundy • Serial killer • Murdered more than 30 women; may have been more than 100 (1972-78) • Modus operandi • Often approached victims in public places • Used various ruses to gain their trust • Pretended to have a broken leg (fake cast and crutches) • Posed as police officer, fireman • Targeted middle-class, young females (15-25) • Hand-cuffed and then raped and bludgeoned victims • Dumped bodies

8. Mug shot taken after arrest in Utah, 1975 Items taken from Bundy’s Volkswagon, Aug 16 1975

9. Bundy victims: 1972 • January 4: "Joni Lenz" (pseudonym) (survived). University of Washington first-year student who was bludgeoned in her bed as she slept. • February 1: Lynda Ann Healy (21). Bludgeoned while asleep and abducted from the house she shared with other female University of Washington students. • March 12: Donna Gail Manson (19). Abducted while walking to a jazz concert on the Evergreen State College campus, Olympia, Washington. Bundy confessed to her murder, but her body was never found. • April 17: Susan Elaine Rancourt (18). Disappeared as she walked across Ellensburg's Central Washington State College campus at night. • May 6: Roberta Kathleen "Kathy" Parks (22). Vanished from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon while walking to another dormitory to have coffee with friends. • June 1: Brenda Carol Ball (22). Disappeared from the Flame Tavern in Burien, Washington. • June 11: Georgeann Hawkins (18). Disappeared from behind her sorority house, Kappa Alpha Theta, at the University of Washington.

10. Bundy victims: 1974 • July 14: Janice Ann Ott (23) and Denise Marie Naslund (19). Abducted several hours apart from Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah, Washington. • September 2: Unknown teenage hitchhiker, Idaho. Confessed before his execution. No remains found. • October 2: Nancy Wilcox (16). Disappeared in Holladay, Utah. Her body was never found. • October 18: Melissa Anne Smith (17). Vanished from Midvale, Utah, after leaving a pizza parlor. • October 31: Laura Aime (17). Disappeared from a Halloween party at Lehi, Utah. • November 8: Carol DaRonch (survived). Escaped from Bundy by jumping out from his car in Murray, Utah. • November 8: Debra "Debby" Kent (17). Vanished from the parking lot of a school in Bountiful, Utah, hours after Carol DaRonch escaped from Bundy. Shortly before his execution, Bundy confessed to investigators that he dumped Kent at a site near Fairview, Utah. An intense search of the site produced a human patella (knee cap), which matched the profile for someone of Kent's age and size. DNA testing has not been attempted.

11. Crime Scene Investigation • Locard Exchange Principle: • Cross-transference of evidence occurs when a perpetrator has any physical contact with something or someone else

12. Crime Scene Investigation • Searches • Alternate Light Source (ALS) • Types • Spiral • Strip (parallel) • Grid • Quadrant/Zone

18. Crime Scene Investigation • Collection • Only done after documentation is complete • Consider collecting entire item if small enough or mobile; sometimes may have to collect large item (e.g. car – see Bundy’s Volkswagon next slide) • Considerations • Bloodstain pattern evidence • Multiple analysis of evidence • Trace evidence • Control samples • Size of the stain • Wet Evidence

19. Crime Scene Investigation

20. Crime Scene Investigation • Packaging and Transportation • Goal: protect and preserve evidence • Avoid heat and humidity • Package items separately • Allow wet items to air dry • Use paper! • Label properly and seal

21. Laboratory Analysis • Identification of biological evidence • Comparison of individual characteristics of biological evidence

22. Laboratory Analysis • Class Characteristics • Can be placed into a category with other similar materials • Examples? • Individual Characteristics • Evidence possesses characteristics that share a common origin with a reference sample • Examples? Proof?

23. Laboratory Analysis • Final steps: • Reporting results • Expert testimony