CH 11 - The Photo Lab Fire
Apr 15, 2009

CH 12 - The Snowbound Motel Fire
Apr 15, 2009

CH 13 - "They put sugar in my tank!"
Apr 15, 2009

CH 14 - Defective Sinks / The Old Tractor Trailer Tanker
Apr 15, 2009

CH 15 - Toxicology Opinions / Critique/Cross Examination of Expert Witness and Data
Apr 15, 2009


CH 3 - The Blond Hair and The Missing Knife
2009-04-15
The Blond Hair and The Missing Knife

During an appeal case a group of lawyers asked for an opinion on an identification which had been made several years before, based upon visual matching of two collections of blond hair. All genetically true blond hair is very similar under a microscope and the definitive test is chemical analysis, which in this case, indicated that the hair came from two different individuals with inherited true blond hair. Heavy metals accumulate in the hair and qualitative and quantitative levels become as characteristic as fingerprints in their differences. DNA analysis is currently one of the most definitive forms of chemical analysis available when hair root cells are available for PCR amplification.


While examining furniture for bloodstains after a particularly violent stabbing homicide, it was found that the murder weapon had penetrated a corrugated cardboard backing several times. By measuring two different blade depths at a fixed incremental distance equivalent to the thickness of the two cardboard layers of the corrugation, a series of incremental profiles were established for the blade. Using an appropriate computer program and numerical analysis algorithm the complete shape of the blade was established. The computer curve fitting mathematics, which re-created the shape of the blade from the measured data pairs, found the curve to fit a simple parabolic shape with directrix at an odd number of sixty fourths of an inch, or an integer number of millimeters from the focus. Regardless of the implication of offshore manufacture a definitive blade shape for the murder weapon was found.