Forensic cases murder case

The John VoUman case in Neu Brunswick. Canada, in l )5S W as the lirsi murder case in winch neutron aciivalion anal>-sis (NAA), then labeled in the press a.s "atomic evidence. plaved a major role in ihc outcome. Since then, NAA has been widely used and accepted in forensic science for determining trace elements. 

This case example serves to illustrate several points first, that forensic microscopy should be applied as an early line of examination rather than a late one. The above case is a prime example of an examination in which an investigative, rather than comparative, approach may have likely led to an earlier resolution of a serial murder case. Second, the scientific approach pursued in each case involving the microscopic examination of trace evidence may be different. Thus, the forensic microscopist must be a true scientist who is able to adapt the techniques and methods available to the requirements of the case at hand and not be bound to a standardized procedure devised for the use of technicians. 

The use of DNA profiling in forensic science is not restricted to humans. In a recent murder case, it was applied to hair from a cat named Snowball. Snowball s hair was found on a jacket that linked her owner to the victim, ultimately leading to conviction of the cat s owner. 

In cases of sexual assault and homicide, the transfer of single fibers often have important forensic significance. The case that most significantly impacted the realization of the importance of fiber evidence was the Atlanta murders that occurred between 1979 and 1981 (33,34). The bodies of 28 boys and young men were foimd under similar conditions. Although many of the bodies contained fiber and hair evidence that compared closely, Wasuie Williams was prosecuted and convicted for only two of the homicides. The conviction was based solely on multiple transferred hairs and fibers with an emphasis on imcommon carpet fiber found in the bedroom of Williams s home. 

Forensic scientists work with physical evidence, ie, "data presented to a court or jury in proof of the facts in issue and which may include the testimony of witnesses, records, documents or objects." Physical evidence is teal or tangible and can HteraHy include almost anything, eg, the transient scent of perfume on the clothing of an assault victim the metaboHte of a dmg detected in the urine of an individual in a driving-under-the-influence-of-dmgs case the scene of an explosion or bullets removed from a murder victim s body. 

Such results have been used to both convict and acquit suspects and, in other cases, to establish paternity with an extraordinary degree of certainty. The impact of these procedures on court cases will continue to grow as societies agree on the standards and as formal methods become widely established in forensic laboratories. Even decades-old murder mysteries... 

In no case were the alleged murder weapons sought and found, i.e., examined forensically by international committees or by courts under the rule of law. 

False confessions are also studied in forensic psychology. Many crimes are solved based on confessions however, there is documentation that people give false confessions. For instance, there have been cases where people have confessed, with intricate detail, to murders, but then the victim was found alive, or there is no evidence of that person at the scene. Forensic psychologists also study why someone would confess to a crime they did not commit. 

Fig.2. DA/A fingerprinting. The forensic use of DNA fingerprinting. A, B, C D are DNA fingerprints from the victim, the evidence and two suspects, respectively, in a hypothetical murder/rape case.

Meier-Augenstein and Fraser [81] present a case where stable isotope data from human tissue were utilized as forensic intelligence to assist in the identification of a murder victim and subsequently the apprehension of the killers. Rauch et al. [82] demonstrate the application of IRMS to the measurement of stable isotope values (H, C, N) in combination with the measurement of heavy elements (Pb, Sr) of hair and teeth samples from an unknown body in Germany. These analyses assigned the man to Romania, in a situation where traditional forensic techniques (e.g., dental, fingerprint or DNA analysis) could not assist. 

Forensic entomology involves the study of insects that invade a hody after death to determine the time that has elapsed since the person s death. The saliva on a discarded cigarette contains enough DNA to identily the person who smoked it. The first use of fingerprint evidence to solve a criminal case was recorded in Aigentina in 1892. Police official Juan Vucetich used a hloody fingerprint found at the crime scene to prove that two boys were murdered by their own mother. Forensic comes from the Latin forensic, which means of the forum. The forum relates to the law courts in ancient Rome. In modern times, forensic science is defined as science relating to the law. 

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